Hope, gardens nourish town DHL left

Zucchini, cucumbers and beans are among the produce Gary and Carolyn Jones are growing as part of a Wilmington College effort. With the couple are their children, from left, Cameron, 11, Kendall, 9, and McKenna, 5. Wilmington College established community gardens to teach those who have lost jobs that they can grow their own food. Families get help from volunteers.

Wilmington College establishes plots; others push 'green' businesses
Sunday, July 12, 2009 3:26 AM
By Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

WILMINGTON, Ohio -- By 7 p.m., the garden party was in full swing.

Carolyn Jones was fishing foot-long zucchinis out of her raised plot. Her 9-year-old son, Kendall, was chewing on a tiny hot pepper and fanning his mouth.

A few plots away, Josh Gillis snapped green beans off a leggy plant as his 4-year-old son, Logan, wriggled in the grass.

Nearby, a pan of fried zucchini patties sizzled on a portable stove, serving as a tasty example of how the garden's produce could be cooked.

In a town where the loss of thousands of jobs this year threatens despair, hope is growing in unlikely places.

It's emerging in 20 garden plots that Wilmington College has built and persuaded 20 novice gardeners and their families to nourish. It's sprouting in the Buying Local First effort, a push to keep Wilmington businesses healthy. And it's germinating, slowly, in a plan to make the area a center for "green" business and workers.

The city of 12,000 has become a national poster child for the economic downturn since its major employer -- air-freight company DHL -- announced last summer that it would close its doors by this July, eliminating 8,000 jobs in a county with 42,000 residents. CNN, People magazine and NPR have stopped by to record the aftermath in this Clinton County town 60 miles southwest of Columbus.

Most visible are the gardens, an attempt by the college to show families who need an economic boost that they can save money by growing food. Since May, the families have come together every Tuesday evening to weed, pick whatever's ripe and meet with gardening mentors from the college, including one who cooks up some of the produce.

"I didn't think I could do a garden," said Jones, an eighth-grade teacher whose summer job at DHL has disappeared. Her husband, Gary, has been unemployed since November, so the spinach, beets, string beans, peppers and zucchinis they've harvested have helped feed the couple and their three children.

Gillis, who supports four children and a wife on his salary as a cook, said he plans to start a garden in his own yard next year, now that he knows how.

That's the result that Monte Anderson, the agriculture professor who's advising the gardeners, hoped for.

"There's a sense of sustainability when you know you can grow your own food," Anderson said. The plots, on college land, will double in number next summer, he said.

Less than a mile away, in the heart of downtown, other efforts are being fueled by the energy of two Wilmington High School graduates, Class of 2003, who recently returned home.

"We have to reframe what this community is and change the way Clinton County looks at itself and how the world looks at it," said Mark Rembert, 24. He graduated with an economics degree from Haverford College in Philadelphia and was home for a visit after training for the Peace Corps when he began tossing around ideas with Taylor Stuckert, 23.

Stuckert, a Butler University graduate with a philosophy degree, had returned to Wilmington in September after volunteering with the Peace Corp in Bolivia. He was planning another Peace Corp post -- he'd hoped never to live in Wilmington again -- when he decided he was most needed in his hometown.

"Everybody was yearning for a positive vision for this community," said Rembert. He and Stuckert came up with one: Make Clinton County a breeding ground for environmentally friendly businesses that use renewable resources and use that to spur its economy.

This month, the Wilmington City Council is expected to designate the town a Green Enterprise Zone, giving financial help to encourage energy-efficient improvements, green companies and training for green-industry jobs.

That's part of Rembert and Stuckert's Energize Clinton County effort, which they run out of a small office. They've also applied for millions in federal stimulus money for a home-weatherization project, tried to arrange training for jobs such as solar-panel installation and worked with regional planners to promote the Buying Local campaign.

"The idea is that, although we have huge issues with unemployment, there are people who still have jobs, and we need to support them," Rembert said. That includes the farmer's market, which they're trying to expand, and monthly concerts downtown where businesses can offer specials.

"Our point is to bring all these efforts together," Stuckert said.

There's no silver bullet, they know.

"It feels like we're pushing a very slow, heavy rock up a hill, and we have to push it every day," Rembert said. "But here you have this rural community embracing a very progressive framework for redeveloping itself, and that's an exciting story for other communities."

Great Photos from CG on Hudson & 4th St.

click on the title of this post to go to the dispatch slideshow..

More people getting hands dirty in community plots

Dana Kilgore has long loved to garden, but a spreading black walnut tree and growing shade made her Clintonville lot decreasingly productive.

So this year, she sought a solution in a community garden.

After some searching, she signed up for a new garden at 4th and Hudson streets northeast of Ohio State University. Now, she's enjoying the fruits of her decision: early radishes and spinach, and some new friends.

"I've made lots of great contacts," Kilgore said. "I think I'll be back for many years if they let me, as long as we can keep it going."

Survival doesn't seem to be a problem for central Ohio community gardens.

The area, already home to more than 150, is seeing at least 20 new such gardens this summer, said Bill Dawson, coordinator of the Franklin Park Conservatory's Growing to Green program.

"It's just taken off this year, with the White House garden, with the economy, the 'green' movement," said Dawson, who is active in the American Community Gardening Association, which is based at the conservatory.

Trisha Dehnbostel, who oversees 12 gardens in the University District, thinks greater Columbus might have as many as 50 new gardens this summer. Her organization, Local Matters, encourages Ohio-grown produce and is trying to build a comprehensive list of area gardens for next spring.

"The movement is changing," Dehnbostel said. "Now, so many people are doing it to produce food or to give back to food pantries because of our economy. And so many churches and social-service agencies are getting involved; it's not just communities."

St. John's Lutheran Church in Dublin, for example, is opening a 25-plot garden next to the church at Rings and Avery roads, said Millie Heath, a church volunteer.

"We just decided to do something for the community and perhaps bring someone over to our services as well -- and if people have extra, maybe raise some vegetables for our missions," Heath said.

Although many of the summer community garden plots are spoken for, plots remain available for newcomers.

Dawson and Dehnbostel offer these suggestions for people just getting involved:
• Find a convenient garden. The American Community Gardening Association's Web site (www.community garden.org) maintains a list of gardens by ZIP code.
• Prepare to spend money. Some community garden plots are free, but most charge from $10 to $50 a summer to help offset costs.
• Don't overdo it. An 8-foot-by-2-foot plot should be large enough for a solo novice gardener; a 10-foot-by-15-foot plot, for a family.
• Take the basics. Some gardens have sheds and encourage members to share tools, but don't depend solely on others' equipment.
• Think water. Some gardens offer a hose or faucet, but others rely on gardeners to supply their own, either by carting it to the site or by installing a rain barrel.
• Expect company. Community gardens are designed to nurture interaction. Be prepared to be sociable and to participate in the gardens' activities, such as harvest festivals, farm markets and cooking demonstrations.
• Plan to work. A community garden plot should be fun, but it does require labor. Plan to stop by your plot two or three times a week, if only to weed and water. Many gardens have requirements about keeping the plots properly maintained.
• Plan to donate. Virtually all gardens encourage that a percentage of produce be given to pantries and charities; some require as much.
• Keep it simple. If you're new to gardening, start with plants that are likely to succeed: tomatoes, peppers, beets, radishes, cucumbers or potatoes.

Also be careful about plants such as gourds, zucchinis and pumpkins, which require a lot of water and room.

The most important recommendation, Dawson said: "Grow what you like to eat."

jweiker@dispatch.com

Grow your own
The Columbus area is home to 150 to 200 community gardens, with more opening every year.
To find a community garden near you, visit the Web site of the American Community Gardening Association, http://www.communitygarden.org/.

Berries!

Strawberries, brambles are best fruits to grow in backyards
Sunday, April 5, 2009 3:48 AM
By JANE C. MARTIN

Plant strawberries in the spring for best results. Of all the fruit crops grown in backyard gardens, strawberries and brambles are considered the easiest to grow.

They require less space than other fruiting crops and produce fruit sooner. Both crops grow best in full sun and in loose, fertile soil that contains abundant organic matter. The soil should also be well-drained and slightly acidic, having a pH of 5.8 to 6.5.

Both crops have specific cultural requirements that take time and effort. Yet, over the long term, the reward of a good harvest makes it all worth it. Both also have some pest issues, but selecting disease-resistant varieties helps avoid some of these.

Strawberries are available as bare-root plants, and installing them in spring is best. June-bearing strawberries are spaced 12 to 24 inches apart, with rows 36 to 40 inches apart. Because drainage must be excellent for strawberries, they can be planted in raised beds or on ridges.

Avoid planting strawberries where potatoes, tomatoes or sod recently grew because insect and disease problems might arise. Mulch the plants with 3 to 4 inches of straw to conserve moisture.
Remove flowers for the first six weeks after planting, and remove all runners the first season.
This allows the plants to establish well and set flower buds for a good crop in the second year, with harvest from late May into early July.

One plant yields about a quart of berries during the first fruiting season. During the second and third seasons, berry production continues but drops off. Plans should be made to replant, overlapping the last bearing season with a new planting (in which flowers and runners are removed) for continuous production.

Some of the other cultural requirements for strawberries include weed control, irrigation, renovation (after each harvest) and winter protection.

Many varieties of berries are available, and it's important to find those that meet the gardener's needs for use (fresh or frozen), yield and disease resistance.

Brambles (raspberries and blackberries) are also suitable for home plantings. June is the month for harvesting red and black raspberries, followed by purple and yellow raspberries in July. July is the peak month for blackberries; fall-bearing red raspberries produce from mid-August up to frost.

These crops also begin producing fruit during the second season. They require more space than strawberries but are perennials that continue for many years as long as they're properly pruned and managed.

Many varieties of brambles can be considered. Among the black raspberries, Bristol, Jewel and Black Hawk are considered to be vigorous and productive.

Cultivated brambles should be in full sun and at least 300 feet from wild brambles to avoid insect and diseases that often plague wild berry thickets. Planting in the spring is preferred over fall. Avoid planting where potatoes, tomatoes or eggplants recently grew.

The Ohio State University Extension has produced the Midwest Home Fruit Production Guide (Bulletin No. 940), a 148-page guide to backyard fruit-growing that includes cultural and pest-management practices for the small fruits, grapes, less-common fruits (such as papaw and quince), currants and tree-fruit crops. This bulletin is available at ohioline.osu.edu/b940/index.html.

Jane C. Martin is a horticulturist. Gardeners may find answers to their questions at plantfacts.osu. edu/faq.

The Columbus Dispatch: Growing Interest

From May to October, Tim McDermott can feast on an all-he-can-eat buffet of vegetables grown in his garden.

The Grandview Heights gardener even froze 70 pounds of produce from last season's harvest, including more than 50 varieties of vegetables.

While McDermott's harvest was plentiful, his costs were low: $60 on seeds, soil and fertilizer and $70 to rent a community plot in Grandview's Wallace Gardens.

"It's amazingly cheaper than buying food at the store," said McDermott, 41, a veterinarian. "A packet of lettuce seeds will cost you $2 and grow all the lettuce you need for five years, honestly."

During this gardening season -- and recession -- that's what vegetable growers might be hoping to hear.

A National Gardening Association survey shows 43 million American households plan to grow fruits or vegetables this year -- up 19 percent from 2008. More than half the respondents named grocery bills as a motivation.

"Everyone wants to start (growing vegetables); you cannot believe the number of folks," said Bill Dawson, coordinator of the Growing to Green community-gardening program at the Franklin Park Conservatory.

"It's more than a trend; it's almost getting back to the victory gardens" of World War II.
To yield such a large crop, McDermott starts growing plants under lights in his basement and cultivates "aggressively" in his 30-by-40-foot plot.

But with a space even half that size, gardeners such as Greg Hostetler, 33, have cut their spending on food.

For about $30 in seeds, Hostetler grows about a dozen vegetables using a 16-by-18-foot garden in the University District.

"I've always loved to garden," he said of his reason to start a backyard plot last year, "but it was money. I saved at least $15 a week on grocery bills during the main season."

Before new gardeners start dreaming of savings, though, experts advise that they first focus on
the realities of their soil.

"Typically, our soil is very heavy clay -- and not many things grow well in heavy clay soil," said Gary Gao, horticulture educator at the Ohio State University Extension of Delaware County.

To improve soil structure, gardeners can purchase new topsoil or amend the existing dirt with compost, adding fertilizers as needed to replace missing elements.

"That goes a long way toward food production and making sure the plants have the nutrients they need," said Trisha Dehnbostel, programming manager for Local Matters, a nonprofit group that advocates access to fresh food in central Ohio.

Compost can be purchased -- or, for more cost savings, made out of kitchen scraps such as eggshells and leftover fruits and vegetables.

From there, gardeners should think about which vegetables to grow -- not only the ones they like to eat, but the ones they can maintain through possible problems with growth, diseases or pests.

Even after a decade of gardening, McDermott still won't attempt to grow certain vegetables -- describing corn as "rotten" and carrots as "a misery."

But that still leaves him with salads of just about everything else.
asaunders@dispatch.com

Dollars from dirt: Economy spurs home garden boom

In the green: Gardening industry sees boom as families grow own veggies to save on groceries

Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer
Sunday March 15, 2009, 9:28 pm EDT

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- With the recession in full swing, many Americans are returning to their roots -- literally -- cultivating vegetables in their backyards to squeeze every penny out of their food budget.

AP - Adriana Martinez works in her backyard garden in Long Beach, Calif. on Wednesday, March 11, 2009. With ...

Industry surveys show double-digit growth in the number of home gardeners this year and mail-order companies report such a tremendous demand that some have run out of seeds for basic vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and peppers.

"People's home grocery budget got absolutely shredded and now we've seen just this dramatic increase in the demand for our vegetable seeds. We're selling out," said George Ball, CEO of Burpee Seeds, the largest mail-order seed company in the U.S. "I've never seen anything like it."
Gardening advocates, who have long struggled to get America grubby, have dubbed the newly planted tracts "recession gardens" and hope to shape the interest into a movement similar to the victory gardens of World War II.

Those gardens, modeled after a White House patch planted by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943, were intended to inspire self-sufficiency, and at their peak supplied 40 percent of the nation's fresh produce, said Roger Doiron, founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International.
Doiron and several colleagues are petitioning President Obama to plant a similar garden at the

White House as part of his call for a responsible, eco-friendly economic turnaround. Proponents have collected 75,000 signatures on an online petition.

"It's really part of our history and it's part of the White House's history," Doiron said. "When I found out why it had been done over the course of history and I looked at where we are now, it makes sense again."

But for many Americans, the appeal of backyard gardening isn't in its history -- it's in the savings.

The National Gardening Association estimates that a well-maintained vegetable garden yields a $500 average return per year. A study by Burpee Seeds claims that $50 spent on gardening supplies can multiply into $1,250 worth of produce annually.

Doiron spent nine months weighing and recording each vegetable he pulled from his 1,600-square-foot garden outside Portland, Maine. After counting the final winter leaves of Belgian endive, he found he had saved about $2,150 by growing produce for his family of five instead of buying it.

Adriana Martinez, an accountant who reduced her grocery bill to $40 a week by gardening, said there's peace of mind in knowing where her food comes from. And she said the effort has fostered a sense of community through a neighborhood veggie co-op.

"We're helping to feed each other and what better time than now?" Martinez said.
A new report by the National Gardening Association predicts a 19 percent increase in home gardening in 2009, based on spring seed sales data and a telephone survey. One-fifth of respondents said they planned to start a food garden this year and more than half said they already were gardening to save on groceries.

Community gardens nationwide are also seeing a surge of interest. The waiting list at the 312-plot Long Beach Community Garden has nearly quadrupled -- and no one is leaving, said Lonnie Brundage, who runs the garden's membership list.

"They're growing for themselves, but you figure if they can use our community garden year-round they can save $2,000 or $3,000 or $4,000 a year," she said. "It doesn't take a lot for it to add up."

Seed companies say this renaissance has rescued their vegetable business after years of drooping sales. Orders for vegetable seeds have skyrocketed, while orders for ornamental flowers are flat or down, said Richard Chamberlin, president of Harris Seeds in Rochester, N.Y.

Business there has increased 40 percent in the last year, with the most growth among vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and kitchen herbs that can thrive in small urban plots or patio containers, he said. Harris Seeds recently had to reorder pepper and tomato seeds.

"I think if things were fine, you wouldn't see people doing this. They're just too busy," Chamberlin said. "Gardening for most Americans was a dirty word because it meant work and nobody wanted more work -- but that's changed."

Harris Seed's Web site now gets 40,000 hits a day.
Among larger companies, Burpee saw a 20 percent spike in sales in the last year and started marketing a kit for first-time gardeners called "The Money Garden." It has sold 15,000 in about two months, said Ball.

A Web-based retailer called MasterGardening.com is selling similar packages, and Park Seed of Greenwood, S.C., is marketing a "Garden for Victory Seed Collection." Slogan: "Win the war in your own backyard against high supermarket prices and nonlocal produce!"

Cultivators with years of experience worry that home gardeners lured by promises of big savings will burn out when they see the amount of labor required to get dollars from their dirt. The average gardener spends nearly five hours a week grubbing in the dirt and often contends with failure early on, said Bruce Butterfield, a spokesman for The National Gardening Association.

"The one thing you don't factor into it is the cost of your time and your labor," he said.
"But even if it's just a couple of tomato plants in a pot, that's worth the price of admission."

Kitchen Gardeners: http://www.kitchengardeners.org/
National Gardening Assn: http://www.garden.org/home
Burpee Seeds: http://www.burpee.com/
MasterGardening: http://mastergardening.com/
Harris Seeds: http://www.harrisseeds.com/