Summer-themed posts

Here is a post with links to articles we've written that are relevant to this time of year. Happy Gardening!

Planting a fall and winter garden: Most home gardeners have one major planting in the spring and once these plants reach maturity and die, that's it for the season. By planting succession crops it's possible to increase the yield of your garden considerably. It can seem counterintuitive to start seedlings in the heat of summer for fall and winter crops but seeds need time to germinate before they can be transplanted out into one's larger garden area. Also, having just celebrated the Summer Solstice, each day reduces in length and by September this can have a marked impact on how much growth each plant puts on in a day. Follow this link for many tips on planting a fall and winter garden.

Transplanting Beet Seedlings: A few years ago, we discovered that beet seedlings transplant quite readily. Your nursery soil must be quite loose (so the beet roots don't get damaged when you dig them up) and you need to prep the receiving soil also to minimize transplant shock. This saves seed, and room in the germination process as you only transplant the viable seedlings.

Saving Tomato Seeds: Though for many of us in the northern hemisphere, in early July most tomatoes are only just beginning to ripen, here's a DIY guide to saving seeds for next year's plants. All you need is a half-gallon mason jar (or something similar) some cheese cloth to keep fruit flies from proliferating and a place to dry them out of direct sun and safe from mice (who love to eat the seeds!). Note: this only works with non-hybrid/open-pollinated/heirloom varieties of tomatoes.

Saving pea seeds - a low tech method to prevent 'pea weevil' damage: Pea seeds are very easy to save; most varieties (all?) will 'grow-true' (not cross-pollinate with other pea varieties grown nearby at the same time). The only tricky part is that in many regions pea seeds are susceptible to infestation of pea weevils which can make your pea seeds unable to germinate. Here's a low-tech method to prevent pea weevil damage that we have had great success with.

Tips for Maintaining a Well-Stocked Pantry: We understand that not everyone who follows our blog has garden-space or the ability to apply our gardening tips so here's a post for everyone! Whether your goal is to weather the next short (or long-term) power outage in your area, you want to stock up to hedge against rising food prices in anticipation of crop-losses due to fertilizer and water-shortages and other stresses on our food systems, or you'd just like to be able to open your cupboards and have some variety to choose from without having to go shopping so frequently, this post is for you!

A little farmer/gardener humor:  "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be farmers..." 

A Moneyless life: Living in the Gift Economy:
In 2015 Jo Nemeth left her job, closed her bank account and said goodbye to the last of her money. Eleven years later, Jo lives a healthy, fulfilling life while dramatically reducing her personal ecological impact. In this 16-min. video, she shares her journey from terrifying climate grief to a place of purpose and contribution. "Truly inspiring on so many levels!"

 

Love from Llyn and Chris and the Sharing Gardens (Image by Mike Brunt: https://www.secretlifeofseeds.com/)

Lettuce: From Seed to Feed - Part 2: Saving Seed

By Llyn Peabody 

If you grow your own lettuce, as the weather warms, it's not uncommon to have some of it "bolt" (try to go to seed). Saving lettuce seed is fairly easy and a good entry-point for those new to the process. Here is a re-publishing of a post we wrote back in 2011 but the information is just as relevant today. Happy seed-saving :-).

Saving your own seed is an important aspect of developing local food self-reliance. Relying on commercial seed farmers may become increasingly unreliable as climate change disrupts weather patterns and seed crops falter. Growing your own seed, slowly modifies your plants to be uniquely suited to your micro-climate and growing conditions. Networking with other seed-savers in your area builds a sense of community. LINK: Locally Sustainable Gardening in the Face of Supply-Chain Shortages, see also: Agrarian Sharing Network's Facebook page.

 

Lettuce flowers - close-up.

Seed-saving can seem intimidating at first. I know I felt that way. Many vegetables will cross with their neighbors yielding inconsistent results. There are many questions that must be answered before moving forward. For this reason I definitely recommend Suzanne Ashworth's "Seed to Seed". It is a comprehensive manual that covers all aspects of seed-saving. I am also grateful to my partner, Chris, for all he has taught me from his 50+ years of gardening. He's helped me translate the book knowledge into experiential learning. Saving seed appeals to the outlaw in me, I guess. Like treating illness with herbs I grew myself, there is something empowering about developing skills usually left to "the experts". As it turns out, it's not really that difficult at all.

"Red Sails" lettuce - blooming. "Red Sails" lettuce - blooming.

Saving Lettuce Seed: Like most things in gardening, a bit of forethought goes a long way. Ashworth recommends 12' - 25' separation between types of lettuce to prevent cross-pollination (the farther the better). Plan your plantings (and harvesting) to leave sufficient distance between the flowering plants. Though you may have enough time to bring a Fall crop of lettuce to seed, we usually do our seed-saving with the lettuce we plant in the Spring.

 

Note: Be sure there is no wild lettuce that is forming seed near the varieties of domesticated lettuce you are saving seed from, as it can cross. The plants that grow from these crossed seeds tend to be more bitter and coarse. There are several varieties of wild lettuce; this one is named Lactuca Serriola LINK.

Lettuce bolting - Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce bolting - Black-Seeded Simpson

 Lettuce is an "annual" crop. This means that the plants will produce seed in one season (without over-wintering). As the weather gets hotter and drier you will notice on romaine or "leaf" lettuce a definite lengthening of the plant. ("Leaf"-types form a loose rosette of leaves but not a tight "head). When it lengthens, it is starting to "bolt". Lettuce that is bolting gets noticeably more bitter (probably nature's way of protecting the plant in this important phase of its reproduction). 

 

On "head" lettuce (such as Iceberg), Ashworth says it can be helpful to slit the head, forming a cross-cut with a sharp knife, making it easier for the flower-stalk to emerge. She says some gardeners strike the head of the lettuce with the palm of their hand thus breaking the leaves away from the stalk. Without some effort to free the flower-stalk, head-rot from heat and humidity may kill the plant before it can go to seed. So far we have saved seed mainly from "leaf" lettuce. This summer we will experiment with our red and green 

"head" lettuces to see what works best for us and report back.

Lettuce marked for seed with bamboo. Lettuce marked for seed with bamboo.

As we are gardening with a group of people, we have found it essential to clearly mark the plants that we are saving for seed, so they are not harvested by accident. We have made small tipi's with bamboo sticks, tied a red ribbon around the plant or put a small sign on a stake and driven it in nearby. Even a plant that is obviously past an edible stage for harvest is not safe as a well-meaning fellow-gardener may assume the responsible thing to do is weed out your seedy lettuce plant and toss it on the compost pile!

Staked lettuce - the flowers get heavy. Staked lettuce - the flowers get heavy.

As the flower stalk grows it will produce a big head of flowers. You may need to tie it to a stake so it doesn't fall over. Seed production occurs 12 - 24 days after flowering. Ashworth says you can harvest seeds daily by shaking the stalk over a large paper sack. The ripe seeds will fall into the bag. The method we have used is to wait until the majority of seeds are ripe and to cut off the whole flower head and place that in a paper sack. Leave the sack open in a warm, dry place (like the top shelf of your tool shed) until the flowers are thoroughly dry. Be sure to label the bag with the name of the lettuce variety. If mice are a problem and you have the space, try hanging the open bag from rafters.

To winnow the seeds, roll the flowers between your fingers and the palms of your hands to free them . Lettuce seed is challenging to separate because the seeds are not much heavier than the chaff. Patiently drop small amounts of the seed/chaff over a tray, from a height of a foot or two while blowing gently. The seed should drop and the fluff blow away. Some people run the seed through screens but we have not tried this method. Commercially available seed-sifting screens are another option. They have different sized holes.

Put ripened lettuce flowers into a paper bag to finish drying. Put ripened lettuce flowers into a paper bag to finish drying.

Lettuce seed will remain viable for 2-3 years if kept in a cool, dark place, in an air-tight container.

The Sharing Gardens is a non-profit and tax-exempt organization. We exist entirely through donations. If you have found benefit from our project or our site, please consider making a donation through PayPal. (Click button below.)

Get your seed potatoes from your grocer's now...

Time to look for sprouting potatoes in your local produce section for planting! Be sure to get organically grown potatoes (ones grown conventionally can be treated with a chemical sprout retardant). Choose ones that are about the size of a large chicken egg. Also find ones that are already showing the first signs of sprouting. For more in-depth information, Sprouting potatoes? What to do.

The yellow one is showing the first signs of sprouting: tiny yellow sprouts at the site of the 'eyes'. That's what the red one looked like about a week earlier. 

One week later, both potatoes continue to sprout.

I have kept these sprouts under a towel while they are sprouting, in a cool (not cold) space. Once you expose them to light, they will pause extending their sprouts. Be careful handling them as the sprouts grow as they can be fragile at this stage.

Once sprouts are about one inch long, we move them to a room where they receive _indirect_ sunlight. This will 'chit' them (help them store up the sun's energy for better growing). Be sure they _aren't hit_ with direct sun.

The potatoes will turn greenish and the sprouts will stiffen. Once they are chitted, proceed with your favorite planting methods.

Here's a row of potatoes planted in our greenhouse about a month ago. Potato leaves are very frost-sensitive. We start early batches in our greenhouses in February and March (Oregon, USA, Zone 7b) and later batches in April and May once the threat of frost is past.

Happy planting!

Local food: Grow your own beans and grains

It's time to be planting grains and beans in our area (Willamette Valley, Oregon USA, USDA Zone 7b). Every year we grow a yellow corn and a blue corn, two kinds of sorghum and amaranth; all of which we dry down, hand-process and grind for use in cereal and baking. We also grow lots of Scarlet Runner beans (pictured left) and kidney beans to be dried and used for cooking throughout the year. Here are links to show you our methods. 

Grow Your Own 'Blue Corn' Blue corn is higher in protein than yellow corn and it makes a delicious, sweet addition to your hot-cereal mix or baking recipes - Crumb-Free, Whole-Grain Cornbread Recipe . Here is info on growing and processing this heirloom grain, native to north America.

Corn bread made from a combination of blue and yellow corn we grew ourselves.

 Grow Your Own Protein - Scarlet Runner Beans: If you're interested in growing your own beans for winter-storage, this is a great variety to choose. Because the beans are so large, they are easy to process in the fall after you harvest them. They DO need trellising but adapt well to growing on a teepee, giving you a beautiful and fun, shady hide-out through the summer. If picked young, the beans and pods are even edible!

Shelling dried Scarlet Runner Beans is a favorite activity in the fall....

 

Grow your own Sorghum for grain and flour: Sorghum is a relatively easy grain to grow and process on a small to medium scale. It doesn't require heavy-feeding/fertilizer nor lots of water. We grow two varieties, BaYeKi, short-season, short height, less sweet; ideal for chicken feed but also fine for human consumption. And Kassaby, tall, long-season (often needs trellising to prevent lodging); it has a sweet, wonderful flavor. Canes can be used for making syrup (but you have to choose either syrup or grain; you can't have both).

 

Kassaby sorghum being laid out to dry before being removed from stalks.

Most seed-saving doesn't happen till the fall but, if you want to save seeds from your crops, here are some things to be thinking of as you plant your crops in the spring:  Basic Seed-Saving on a Small Scale. Happy Growing!
 

Image credit: Seed abundance! Mike Brunt

Locally Sustainable Gardening in the Face of Supply-Chain Shortages

Originally posted at the beginning of the pandemic, in May of 2020, this post is even more relevant this year! Seeds are becoming ever more expensive and in some cases, harder to find. Also, due to current world events (spring 2026) fertilizer and other commercial amendments may also become more expensive and harder to find.

 

For years, the Sharing Gardens has been anticipating shortages, and higher prices on fertilizers and soil amendments. This is why we've been developing and perfecting our methods of creating soil-fertility from locally available materials such as leaves, grass-clippings, wood ash and coffee-grounds. (See links below).

Fertility without fertilizers (commercially-made ones that is...). Sharing Gardens - July 2019

Sharing Gardens - late July - 2019

This year we didn't purchase or use any fertilizers or amendments (including livestock manures) and we created our own potting mix from the worm-castings we harvested from our greenhouse paths, mixed with a courser compost our neighbor produced from hard-wood sawdust, coffee grounds, leaves and grass clippings (with a lot of help from his worms!)(Spring 2026: this will be our 6th season using 'veganic' methods). Here are articles about this "veganic" method we are using with great success.

Lovely compost!

Making your own "Veganic" (no animal manures) Potting Soil

Grass Clippings and Leaves for Mulch

Coffee Grounds and Wood-Ash for Fertility

 

The Ground to Ground Primer - Coffee grounds for your Garden

We have seen many headlines, and heard from fellow gardeners  about vegetable-seed shortages. If you would like to learn about saving many of your own seeds, here is a post with info on saving many kinds of seeds in your own garden for use next year.

Saving squash-seeds

Family Heirlooms: Saving Your Own Seed

Please keep in mind that sustainable gardening practices at a local level will be far more successful if you build cooperative relationships with your neighbors instead of trying to do it all alone. Here is a link to many resources about how to start a Sharing Garden in your own community.

Gardening with a group! Many hands make light work...

Seeds of Abundance - early spring garden Links

Good day to you all. Here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon (USDA zone 7b) spring planting has begun! Since we have large hoop-houses, we are able to start some cool-weather-loving crops even in January (see below) but for most folks, even with greenhouses, seed-starting doesn't usually begin until some time in February. This post contains links to info you may find useful in your own gardens at this time of year. Happy spring planting! (Image: Llyn Peabody "Radiance")

Organic solution to slugs: Here in western Oregon, slugs and snails can have a devastating effect on early spring plantings. Interestingly, the native Banana slug is a composter and only eats dead material but several species of non-natives prefer live foods. Iron phosphate is considered safe by organic standards. Effectively, it constipates the gastropods, interrupting their reproductive cycle. To read more:  Organic solution to slugs

Coffee Grounds and Wood Ash for Soil Fertility: At the Sharing Gardens, we have weaned ourselves off commercial fertilizers and other soil amendments. In our search for readily available additives to the composted leaves and grass that make up the majority of our soil's fertility, we have found that wood ash in particular, has really helped to keep our soil's mineral-content high. And, since we heat our home with wood, it's an abundant and free resource. Here's a post about using wood ash (and coffee grounds too).  Coffee Grounds and Wood Ash for Soil Fertility  (Image: Digging in wood-ash to our raised beds)

Why sunflowers are so great for bees: We all know that many species of bees are in trouble; both the imported honey bees and the diverse native varieties. In fact many other pollinating insects are also showing steep declines worldwide. They need all the help they can get! Researchers have found that there is a specific ingredient in sunflower pollen that acts as a boost to bees' immune systems. Growing sunflowers is great for birds too as their seeds come ripe in the fall when birds need to store up on a diet high in protein and fats for migration and winter health. Why sunflowers are so great for bees

Growing Celery from seed: We began growing our own celery many years ago with great success. The seeds are extremely slow to germinate but once established, a celery crop can be harvested multiple times (cut and 'come again') This feature extends this highly nutritious food with diverse uses well into the following early spring. The crop we have now (early March) is now on its third harvest and we're still cooking it into soups and juicing it fresh. Growing Celery from seed (Image: Chris and Donn take a celery snack-break mid-summer)

Growing Kale from seed: Kale and collard greens are the two most nutrient-dense foods (per calorie) available! Kale is easy to grow, can be harvested over and over again and fall-crops will often winter-over providing fresh greens during the early spring 'hunger gap' (a traditional term for the time when storage crops may be running low). When kissed by a touch of frost, the plants increase in sweetness and tenderness and, as they begin to flower in their second year, this 'raab' (pronounced "rob") is even more packed with nutrition than the leaves alone! No-Fail Kale: The Powerful Health-Benefits of Kale and How to Grow It (Image: Bella loves kale!) 

Planting techniques we use: Over the years we've developed different techniques for germinating seeds. Here are a few...

Planting seedlings in raised beds (for later transplanting): For crops that can germinate in cool soil, and that transplant easily, such as lettuce, cabbage, kale and beets, this method works very well. We plant dense lines of the seeds directly in our raised beds (see image at right). It's easier to maintain temperature and moisture-levels more consistently than by some other methods. When the seedlings are large enough to transplant well (and before their roots get too entangled or deeply established) we gently tease them out of the bed and transplant them into pots, egg-cartons (see below) or into their permanent growing spaces in other beds. (Note, this only works if you have very loose soil). Planting seedlings in raised beds 

Planting lettuce in egg cartons: Whether we start our lettuce seeds in raised beds (above) or tofu-containers (below) they need an interim planting before they can go into the ground in their permanent spots. Egg cartons work really well for this. They use less soil than plastic 6-packs and, because the egg cartons are biodegradable, the seedlings' roots grow right through them. This makes transplanting them very easy (even for children and inexperienced volunteers) without causing root-damage or transplant shock. Planting lettuce in egg cartons

Starting seedlings in repurposed tofu containers: We try to garden with a minimum of environmental impact so, if we can repurpose things, keeping them out of the waste stream, we're all for it! Being vegetarian, we eat a lot of tofu. For many years, our favorite brand came in plastic tubs (image, right). By drilling holes in the bottom, we can use them to start, and grow-out many varieties of seedlings. The tubs are re-usable and use less soil than small plastic six-packs which extends our use of this precious resource. Starting seedlings in repurposed tofu containers 

Best video on pruning table grapes: Early spring is the time for pruning grapes. For many years we struggled to find a method that was easy to understand and implement, and that had great results. The following post links to a video which is the best, brief explanation for this process that we've found. Best video on pruning table grapes

Why we grow and eat organic food: There's an old saying..."You can pay your farmer or pay your doctor". Eating foods grown without the use of toxic chemicals or genetically engineered seeds just makes sense! But if you need some more evidence-based reasons to increase the amount of organically-grown foods in your diet, this post is jam-packed! Why we grow and eat organic food (Image: all, organically grown at the Sharing Gardens!)

May this spring season be full of abundance and blessings in your life and all those you touch. (Chris and Llyn in front of our first Monroe greenhouse, 2011 - with a spring rainbow)

Abundance through Sharing: Our goal is to teach and demonstrate not only the 'how'  and 'why' of growing healthy food but also to communicate the philosophy that underpins our project. We aim to: 

Follow this LINK to read a brief quote from a Lakota Sioux elder on the importance of 'teaching the children a helping way'.

Transplanting Beet Seedlings

A few years ago, we discovered that beet seedlings transplant quite readily. Your nursery soil must be quite loose (so the beet roots don't get damaged when you dig them up) and you need to prep the receiving soil also to minimize transplant shock. This saves seed, and room in the germination process as you only transplant the viable seedlings.

To initially plant the seeds, dig a shallow trench and water thoroughly. The trench assures that future waterings channel the water directly to the seedlings and their roots and they're less likely to dry out between waterings. 

Lay out seeds on the surface of the trench about 3/4" apart and cover them with a light sprinkle of sifted soil and gently push them into the soil so they have good contact. 

Beet seeds in the lower, left foreground. A clear plastic nursery cover placed over them keeps them moist (showing at left of picture). We've used plastic sheet-cake covers too, that we rescued from recycling. If the soil starts to dry out, water gently using a watering can (so the seeds don't float away).

To transplant: once seedlings have leaves that are 2"-3" tall, prepare another shallow, well-watered 'groove' to transplant them into. While the seedlings are still in the nursery, cut the tops off, leaving about 1-2" of greens attached to the root. The cut greens can be eaten in a salad or lightly steamed...Water the roots well before gently prying them out of the nursery soil. We put ours on a tray to carry them to the new transplant site.

If dug up when beet plants are young, they can be successfully transplanted to a new site with great success.

Transplanting is best done on a cool/overcast day to minimize shock. It can also be done in the evening so the beets have a chance to settle in before being subjected to full sun. Make planting-holes with your finger or dowel 4-5" apart. Place a beet root in each hole and gently squeeze soil back around them, even with the level they were in the ground in the nursery bed. 

Water them thoroughly, and water twice a day till they're well established. 

Here, Donn uses a piece of bamboo to make holes for the seedlings. They are planted about 4 inches apart.  

Three rows of beet seedlings shortly after transplanting.

In this picture, Donn is transplanting beets. Llyn, on the right is planting lettuce seedlings. (for more info, see below). 

Our current favorite way to grow lettuce seedlings: in egg cartons. Each seedling is torn individually from the carton, including the egg carton cell, seedling and soil. The roots grow right through the egg cartons. Transplanting them this way reduces transplant shock. Each 'cell' is planted 6-8" apart.  When they get big, we harvest every other one so the remaining ones can get even bigger. (Growing Seedlings in Egg Cartons).