Urban Agriculture – Page 14 – Center for Urban Agriculture

Food Safety in the Georgia Community and School Gardens

November 30, 2015October 28, 2015 by Becky Griffin

How much do you know?

How much do you know about food safety in the garden? In the heat of the summer do you immediately store your harvested produce in iced coolers? Do you know the safe practices for using manure or compost in your garden? How about sanitizing the containers you use to transport your produce?

No gardener ever wants someone to become sick from the food they have grown. Whether growing food for your family, a food pantry or a farmers market you need to take time to learn some basic food safety.

On-Line Food Safety Course

UGA Extension Food Specialist Dr. Judy Harrison has adapted one of her trainings to become a free on-line self-study course. Enhancing the Safety of Locally Grown Produce is training for small and very small farms but the information is applicable to community and school gardens. Included in the course are printable fact sheets and even a safe practices check sheet. Topics covered include land and water use; worker hygiene; sanitation of equipment; and safe storage and transport.

The course takes about two hours or so to complete. At the end of the course you can take a short survey and print a certificate of completion. THIS IS NOT A CERTIFICATION COURSE, however, it is good training that follows the USDA’s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) principles and gets you started with basics of food safety. If you have any questions contact Dr. Harrison at judyh@uga.edu.

You local UGA Cooperative Extension office may also by offering food safety courses. I encourage you to invest the time in learning food safety practices and

Happy Gardening!

Sweet Potato Harvest Time in Georgia

November 30, 2015October 21, 2015 by Becky Griffin

It is sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) harvest time in Georgia. At this point your potatoes should have been growing for 90-120 days and you will want to harvest them just before frost.

School gardeners sometimes use sweet potatoes as a way to keep their gardens productive, and relatively carefree, during the summer. Harvest is a fun way to get students involved.

Community gardens sometimes have a plot just for community potatoes. Maybe it is time for a harvest party!

Sweet Potatoes Harvest Time in Georgia — Victorian Garden, Savannah

Home Garden Sweet Potatoes is a useful guide to growing and harvesting this delicious crop.

Harvesting Your Sweet Potatoes

Northern Georgia has already experienced a light frost (October 19th) so set aside some time to get this chore completed. Once temperatures get cold your potatoes may start to rot in the ground.

On harvest day your soil should be dry. It is difficult to harvest underground crops in the mud!

Find the primary stem of your plant. The crop may be formed up to 18 inches from that stem so use that as a guide. Garden forks work well if your soil is loose enough. Be careful; the potatoes can bruise very easily.

Storing Your Sweet Potatoes

After harvest, cure the unwashed potatoes by letting them air dry in a shady location at a warm temperature for several days. Next, carefully store them in a cool, dark area for several months. Do not store them in the refrigerator.

Some gardeners report success by wrapping each potato in newspaper and storing them in plastic bins. Others store their harvest in plastic bins of clean sand. Many community gardeners don’t have a large storage area and they use their attic or garage for storage. Which ever method you choose, protect your potatoes from rodents.

You can enjoy sweet potatoes in many forms – baked, mashed, and in muffins. Most Southerners have delicious memories of sweet potato pie!

Happy Gardening!

Ten Rules for Pesticide Use in Your Georgia Garden

November 30, 2015October 14, 2015 by Becky Griffin

Using pesticides can be intimidating. When using pesticides all gardeners want to get it right. We want to eliminate the pest with little consequence to our plants, our health or the environment.

UGA Extension partnered with Extension services from Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi to create some helpful rules for pesticide applications.

Dr. Ellen Bauske, part of the development team, says “Gardeners need simple, straight-forward guidance on pesticide use.”

Follow the Golden Rules

Put the right plant in the right place. Healthy, stress-free plants suffer less from pests.

Identify the plant first. Be aware of its normal, healthy appearance.

Identify the pest second. Not all suspicious characters cause problems.

Ask yourself, “Do I really need a pesticide?” This could save time, money and the environment.

Read and abide by the pesticide label. THE LABEL IS THE LAW.

Avoid having leftover chemicals. When choosing chemical controls, buy and mix only what you need.

More is not better. Use the lowest labeled concentration rate that will get the job done.

Protect beneficial creatures. Spot treat the pest and avoid broadcast applications of pesticides.

Buy separate sprayers. Don’t mix herbicides with insecticides and fungicides.

Follow the label instructions for disposal. Do not put unused pesticides in household garbage containers.

Ten Rules for Pesticide Use in Your Georgia Garden — Read and follow all label instructions.

Pesticide Safety for the Homeowner has information about reading pesticide labels, storing pesticides and first aid.

If you have any questions about identifying a pest or determining what pesticide to use don’t hesitate to contact your local UGA Extension agent. He/she is trained to help you.

Happy, Pest-free Gardening!

Celebrate National Pizza Month With Pizza Herbs

November 30, 2015October 7, 2015 by Becky Griffin

October is National Pizza Month and gardeners can celebrate using pizza herbs from the garden. October is the time to harvest those delicious herbs before first frost. If you haven’t added herbs to your community or school garden, you should. They are easy to grow and wonderful to use.

Growing Pizza Herbs

The pizza herbs oregano and basil can be easily grown in-ground, in raised beds, and in containers. These need at least six hours of sun a day and well drained soil. The plants are easy to find at local nurseries or big box stores, usually available all summer long. You can also start pizza herbs from seeds early in the spring.

Herbs are most flavorful just before the plant blooms. As you see flowers develop, pinch them off. Throughout the summer it is very satisfying to harvest these fresh pizza herbs for homemade pizza night. They are delicious as a pizza topping or in homemade pizza sauce. Adding them to commercial jarred sauce adds a taste of freshness.

Harvesting and Preserving Pizza Herbs

Know that basil is especially susceptible to frost. You need to harvest all of your basil before the first frost. If you are growing in containers you can avoid those first frosts by bringing the containers indoors at night.

Herbs are best harvested in the morning hours, rinsed clean, and air dried. The pizza herbs are very easy to dry. Cut the stems as close to the soil as possible. Tie the stems together and hang the bunch upside down in a warm, dry, well ventilated area.

Once the leaves are dry you can crunch them between your fingers and store them in jars. Discard the stems. This is an easy way to enjoy homemade pizza all winter long. There are other ways to preserve the leaves. See Herbs in Southern Gardens for more information.

Herbs are a great way to reduce salt in your diet. Cooking with Herbs, Spices, and Seasonings gives great suggestions in using all of your garden herbs.

Enjoy National Pizza Month. Creating homemade pizza with those end-of-the season tomatoes and herbs from your garden is a delicious end to the summer!

Happy Gardening!

Grow Georgia Sweet Onions!

November 30, 2015September 23, 2015 by Becky Griffin

Onions are a wonder in the Georgia garden. They are cool-season crops that require very little work. Ever wanted to try growing them? Now is your chance as Willie Chance gives us valuable instruction. Willie says….

The Cherokee rose is the state flower and the brown thrasher is the state bird. What is the state vegetable? The Vidalia onion!

Actually, most gardeners cannot grow onions and officially call them ‘Vidalia onions’. Production of certified Vidalia onions is limited by a marketing order to a specific area in south-central Georgia. However, gardeners can grow sweet onions by following certain practices.

Onions have two major flavors. Sugars make them sweet but pungent chemicals make the onions ‘hot’. A sweet onion has enough sugar to make it sweet but more importantly – it has a low level of the pungent compounds. The most important factor in making onions ‘sweet’ is having low levels of these pungent compounds. Levels of these compounds in the onion are controlled by proper variety selection, fertilization, watering, and time of planting.

Garden Chores for September – October in Georgia

November 30, 2015September 16, 2015 by Becky Griffin

The change of seasons doesn’t mean that gardening chores stop. It just means they change a bit.

What Should We Do in the Garden?

According to the Georgia Vegetable Garden Calendar for this time of the year we need to:

Choose the mild weather during this period to plant or transplant: beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, collards, lettuce, mustard, onions, radishes, spinach and turnips. Plant your second planting of fall crops such as collards, turnips, cabbage, mustard, and kale.

Refurbish mulch to control weeds, and start adding leaves and other materials to the compost pile. Store your manure under cover to prevent leaching of nutrients.

Water deeply and thoroughly to prevent drought stress. Pay special attention to new transplants.

Harvest mature green peppers and tomatoes before frost gets them.

Harvest herbs and dry them in a cool, dry place.

And, most importantly, enjoy the cooler weather and enjoy your garden.

Happy Gardening!

Using Peat Pellets for Seed Starting

November 30, 2015September 9, 2015 by Becky Griffin

There are many ways to start seeds for transplants. Using peat pellets is a popular way and has some advantages. The peat has a naturally occurring antimicrobial property that helps control fungal diseases. The peat pellets are also easy to handle which helps with transplanting.

To get the pellets ready for planting you need to add water. Warm water is best. Package directions will tell you how much water to add. You want the pellets fully expanded, but you do not want them any wetter. You don’t want water sitting in the bottom of the tray. Too little water is better than too much.

You can see the pellets hold alot of water. — You can see the pellets expand considerably.

September is Hunger Action Month

November 30, 2015September 2, 2015 by Becky Griffin

September is Hunger Action Month. A 2014 Hunger in America study showed that 1 in 7.5 people in metro Atlanta and northern Georgia relies on food pantries and meal service programs. This includes over 164,000 children and 64,000 seniors.

As gardeners we may be in a unique position to donate fresh food to a local food pantry. Most food pantries are stocked with canned and dry goods. Fresh food for their clients could be life changing.

Is your community or school garden donating to a food pantry? Some gardens have specific areas dedicated to donation. The entire group is responsible for working those areas and someone is assigned to harvest and deliver the produce.

Some gardens were formed with the purpose of growing food for others.

Lettuce is Luscious in a Georgia Community or School Garden

November 30, 2015August 26, 2015 by Becky Griffin

Lettuce is a great cool-season crop to grow in Georgia, especially leaf lettuce. Growing leaf lettuce means you don’t have to wait for the lettuce to make a head. You can begin harvesting as soon as the leaves are large enough to eat. With names like Firecracker, Tango, and Drunken Woman the expectations for flavor are high!

Rabbits can be Rascally Foes in the Georgia Garden

November 30, 2015August 12, 2015 by Becky Griffin

This week we have Wilkes County UGA Extension Agent Frank Watson as a guest blogger. Extension agents have gotten many calls about rabbit damage in the garden; gardeners are frustrated! Frank has some information that could be useful. Frank says….

While rabbits may seem cute and fuzzy, the common rabbit or eastern cottontail can do considerable damage to flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs any time of the year in places ranging from suburban yards to rural fields and tree plantations.

Controlling rabbits is often necessary to reduce damage, but complete extermination is not necessary, desirable or even possible.

No toxicants or fumigants are registered for use against rabbits. There are, however, chemical repellents available at local garden centers that may discourage rabbit browsing.

Rabbits in the Georgia Garden — A rascally rabbit enjoying a carrot.

Repellents should be applied before rabbit-inflicted damage occurs and after a rain, heavy dew or the occurrence of new plant growth. If rabbits have already started feeding, their attraction to what they have been eating will most likely overcome their fear of the repellent.

Habitat modification and exclusion techniques provide long-term, non-lethal control. Remove dense, heavy vegetative cover, brush piles, weed patches and stone piles in or adjacent to the landscape.

Fencing made from chicken wire, with less than 1-inch mesh, can be placed around herbaceous plants. The fence must be at least 2-feet high and the bottom must be buried at least 3-inches deep. Quarter-inch wire hardware cloth made into 18- to 24-inch cylinders and buried at least 3 inches will protect trunks of young orchard trees or woody landscape plants.

In the winter months, live animal traps can be baited with corncobs, oats, dried apples or rabbit droppings. Traps can be bought at garden centers, hardware stores or from gardening catalogs. Place the traps where rabbits have been feeding or resting and close to suitable cover.

If the trap fails to catch any rabbits within a week, move the trap to a different location.

For more information about managing wildlife in the garden, search for wildlife on extension.uga.edu/publications. As always, your local UGA Extension office is a great source of information.

Frank hails from cattle country and while farmers use electric fence to keep their cattle in Frank uses electric fence to keep deer out of his garden!

Happy Gardening!

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