Dear fellow gardeners,
It’s been a long and hard work, but I have finally made an inventory of all the extra seeds I want to share with you, as well as the ‘institutional gardeners’ in the 20-foot plots. I am donating these high-quality seeds for free, so please don’t go out and buy ordinary seed from just anywhere!
Following is a list of my seeds for free, as well as some free seedlings already started. With each item on the list is the number of square feet needed and if it grows so fast that it can be planted more than once during the summer.
The square feet needed are according to the “biointensive” method, meaning that plants are grown as close together as possible. This is perfect for urban gardening!
Our standard garden beds are 4-by-8 feet, meaning 32 square feet. 24 of them are already in place, with another 13 waiting to be moved from the COA parking lot.
The longer “institutional” beds are 4-by-20 feet, meaning 80 square feet. All eight of them are already in place, but they need a little more work to last a long time.
So, here are my list of seeds and seedlings, with the square feet they need and if they can be planted more than once during the summer. Also shown are the seed which can be trained to climb a trellis.
SEEDS TO SOW DIRECTLY
Arugula, Rocket 200 seeds by 12″ spacing for 100 square feet (Can be replanted in the late summer to weather mild winters.)
Carrot, Amarillo 500 seeds, broadcast over 20 square feet.
Collards, Champion 240 seeds, 150 square feet.
Corn, Bantam 150 seeds means 180 square feet. According to rules Jan has suggested to us, corn should not be grown in the main garden complex. (The same goes for all members of the mint flamily, including thai basil and even catnip. So, maybe we can place one or two frames south and east of prevailing winds, to grow these “prohibited substances”…).
Kohlrabi, Early White 135 seeds, 4inches apart, meaning 10 square feet.
Okra, Clemson 2 packets of 100 seeds, 12 inches apart, 120 square feet.
Pak Choi asian green 80 seeds, 40 square feet.
Radish, French Breakfast 750 seeds, 10 square feet!
Radish, Podding (meaning they grow on the branches) 60 seeds, 20 square feet.
Sunflower, Giant 50 seeds, 200 square feet, to be grown beside the trellises for support (great fun for our bird and squirrel friends).
PEAT POTS TO PLANT (ALREADY STARTED)
Celery, Leaf 280 seeds, 40 square feet.
Cucumber, Suyo Long 16 pots along the 13-foot trellis.
Pepper, Joe’s Hot 30 seeds, 20 square feet.
Pepper, Jalapeno 30 seeds, 20 square feet.
Pepper, Chocolate 30 seeds, 20 square feet.
Tomato, Cherokee 30 seeds, 100 square feet.
Tomato, Rose 30 seeds, 85 square feet.
I am sorry to write that I do not yet have anything to report on the pepper and tomato seeds I have tried to start. These are subtropical plants and not very happy up here in Wisconsin. They have so far been very unenthusiastic in my apartment windows!
If you really want to grow tomato or pepper plants, you should try Growing Power, 5500 West Silver Spring Road, 527-1546, or even nearer by, Kellner Greenhouses, 3258 North Humboldt, 264-6605. (Note from Jan: Fischberger’s Variety Store at 2445 N Holton also has heirloom plants and seeds!) You should probably get indeterminate tomato plants, because they will continue to produce small amounts of fruit during the later summer. Determinate tomato plants produce all their fruit at once, kind of overwhelming! (Pepper plants are all determinate, but their fruit can easily be dried.)
Having managed, with so much work, to organize all my seeds for sharing, I have offered to do the same for Jan’s seeds. She’ll be bringing me the packets she would like to share, at our work session this coming Saturday, starting at 10am. I’ll then calculate their square-food needs according to the biointensive method. The second time around, it shouldn’t be so hard!
So please remember: don’t go out and buy ordinary seed from just anywhere, when you can get high-quality seed for free from Jan and me! To reserve seeds or peat pots from me, please email me at saveland@uwm.edu. If you don’t use the internet, we’ll have to talk about this in person, this coming Saturday, May 23rd, starting at 10am.
In order to receive free seed from Jan and me, you must have a plot reserved in the Victory Garden. In return, everything we grow together can be shared by all of us. We’ll all also be responsible for taking care of all our plots all summer long. This is important to me, maybe others, because I’ll be out-of-town for two or three weeks later in the summer. Somebody else might have to stay home because of sickness…
Your friend in gardening, Walt Saveland (372-1998).
PS While taking a break yesterday, over in the COA parking lot, Paul and I were talking about how to get rid of the unusable lumber. We both had the idea of a gigantic Victory bonfire! Of course, this would require more community organizing from Jan to get the needed permits… We think that it would be better to have it in open space just west of the COA parking lot, so we don’t have to move unusable lumber over near the Victory Garden.
Enjoying wet spring weather, the risk of fire spreading is little, as long as the wind is not blowing too hard. Some might worry about the “carbon imprint,” the release of carbon dioxide into the air, by burning crumby wood, which contributes to global warming… Well, I have two comments about that.
First, hauling this stuff off to a dump on the outskirts of the city, or even to the Victory Garden itself, would involve a big pickup, and probably several loads. Second, it would be great fun for all of us who have worked so hard on the garden, at little expense to the environment. Instead of driving around this summer to buy our food, we’ll be able to get super fresh vegetables nearby!
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