A Victory Garden for Today - Growing Edibles Under Lockdown

We' re all in this together: the global pandemic that is COVID19 has arrived. But there's something we can do to help ourselves, our families, and our neighbors:
Grow edibles- it's a perfect time to kick start your growing project, if you haven't already. Containers work great if you don't have space or access to a garden. And make sure you plant enough to share with those who can't have a garden, if possible. 

Young children naturally love digging and planting seeds

Healthy for Body and Mind
I'm starting my veggie garden with renewed enthusiasm not only as a bit of extra insurance in case our food supply chains are interrupted, but for my mental and emotional health as well. Kids will especially need activities to engage them during this time. Even very young ones can keep entertained by filling containers to start seeds, planting seedlings, and helping to harvest the bounty. Watering is another task very much prized by kids, in fact it's my grandson's favorite!

When my grandson was only two and a half years old, he was very good at shelling dried peas from the dried vines- and to my amazement he worked at this quietly for quite some time. I like to think I'm grooming him to be a good steward to the planet, and fostering his connection to the living world around him.

By gardening you can feel good about doing something positive for the planet- the more plants we cultivate the better, although there's a right and a wrong way. Organic, regenerative gardens without pesticides and herbicides benefit everyone (and every being). My garden has native plants as well as edibles. I'm aiming for a healthy ecosystem as much as possible, because this means I don't need to use harmful chemicals. To this end I include habitat for wildlife as a priority. Think tall hedges for nesting birds and flowering shrubs for pollinators. See my post "Creating a Health Garden Ecosystem".

Shelling peas at two and half years old

Resources for Getting Started
You Tube has lots of content about growing vegetable gardens, and for lots of short helpful videos check out Peaceful Valley's Grow Organic website. They're a great source for supplies for organic gardening (based in California).

On this blog, have a look at my Gardening Index and Recipe Index, also check out the links I've listed on the right sidebar. 

And if you have a particular question you need help with, let me know in the comments.

Let's get our hands in some soil and get back to our roots!
Here's hoping you are healthy and happy in these challenging times.

                                                                      Photo credits: Patricia Larenas, Urban Artichoke

Climate Appropriate Gardening and Design

Instead of "drought tolerant" I've adopted "climate appropriate" into my gardening vocabulary. Designing gardens that meet our needs in urban California involves a lot more than just saving on water use. When I'm designing a garden I always aim to create a visually richer, as well as more earth-friendly environment than what I started with. 

The word appropriate aligns especially well to our changing climate and growing conditions: this is the challenge we all face today and for the foreseeable future. And to me it implies that my climate appropriate approach to designing a garden, will adapt to meet the current needs. It's a good reminder to be flexible in my thinking, and to keep informed.

Replacing a lawn is an opportunity to add beauty and diversity

Among many inspirations, landscape architect Thomas Rainer stands out. He champions the cause for bringing more "wildness" into our urban spaces, urgently needed due to the rapid loss of wild spaces. See Rainer in this short video interview here (courtesy of the Pacific Horticulture Society).  

We have the perfect opportunity to add ecological value whenever we are replacing lawns or simply replacing and/or adding plants to our gardens. For example, plant flowering shrubs for your eyes and to feed pollinators- the gorgeous sage (salvia) below is 'Friendship Sage', also known by its original name 'Saliva Amistad'.

Sages (salvias) have lovely flowers in many colors

Hummingbirds love sages, as do bumblebees. This group of plants are generally happy with low to moderate water, even in warm climate zones such as our San Francisco Bay Area. 

In the photo below we designed a long berm with a mix of sages and other flowering plants to create a pollinator garden that would be pleasant to look at from the outdoor patio and from inside the house.  We included an herb garden for fragrance and its value in providing herbs for cooking year-round. 

This low-water garden replaced an unused pool

When replacing pools, lawns, or areas that were previously paved over, I love creating a space that enhances quality of life by being a place to relax and connect with nature. And it's a welcome bonus that adding more plants around homes results in not only beautiful, calming, environments but they mitigate the amount of heat produced by our over-paved urban spaces. Plants transpire water vapor into the local environment, especially trees. So not only do trees provide shade, they actively contribute to cooling. 

In California where the loss of trees due to drought and fires is staggering, we can do our part by planting trees with low and moderate water needs around our homes, as many as possible. 

A quiet seating area with flowering sages replaced bare soil

Below, wildflowers in a front yard meadow garden provide a spectacular seasonal display.

I'm also a big fan of growing seasonal edibles at home, and when we save water by replacing lawns or pools with a low water garden, we can feel good about using some water on our special heirloom vegetables. Growing our own food not only connects us to the seasons but can also remind us of our heritage and culture. Heirloom vegetable seeds are readily available from many sources. It's meaningful and satisfying to learn their stories and enjoy them with our families and friends by growing them.

Many fruit trees are perfect for low to moderate water gardens: avocado, plum, pluot, apple, persimmon, pomegranate and pineapple guava. Check my gardening index for more on edible landscaping.

'Four Corners Gold' bean in my front yard last summer

For more information and resources about climate appropriate landscaping go here.

Photo credit: Patricia Larenas

Rejuvenation Through Saving Seeds

"Institutions do not save seeds- humans with hearts do."

- Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan, 2013 Annual Conference and Campout, Seed Savers Exchange

This post was updated on July 22, 2017

This year I attended the 37th Annual EcoFarm Conference held at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California, as a gift to myself at the start of the new year. I greatly looked forward to spending quality time with organic growers and advocates. I always learn something, connect with interesting people, and return rejuvenated and inspired with a renewed commitment to my work with edibles and seed saving. The theme of this years' conference was 'Cultivating Diversity', as in people, as well as seeds. It's a theme close to my heart, as an immigrant and a seed steward.

So I got to thinking about seeds and my ancestral origins. And as I day-dreamed about the coming spring planting season, strong emotions were stirring within. I'm passionate about seeds- they truly stir up my emotional side. It's taken me a while to understand why and to be able to begin to express it words. Seeds, especially for edibles, have been saved by humans for many thousands of years. First Nation Peoples consider them as "living, breathing, ancestors" in a literal, not figurative sense. And in fact, viable seeds ARE alive, and they are handed down through families and communities to this day, although alarmingly, much less so. These are true heirloom varieties that are a crucial means by which we carry on our culture, whether it's rooted in Native American traditions or in a family group of immigrants, perhaps generations ago.

In my family, favas are a must-have spring food that I grow annually

We all have family food stories with origins in those who came before us, if we dig deep enough. For immigrants like me, those connections to my cultural foods are strong. I arrived in the USA with my parents and brother from Chile many years ago as an infant, but I grew up around an extended family and community of Chileans. It was years into adulthood before I realized that many of our favorite Chilean dishes originated with Native Peoples in the region, especially the Mapuche ("people of the earth"). In fact many of our words in Chilean Spanish have their roots in Mapuche language (Mapudungun).

Beans and fresh corn with basil is a typical Chilean food combination

So it's not surprising that my garden reflects my cultural roots, a mix of what the European conquistadors brought with them and Native foods: different types of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), fava beans, salad greens, artichokes, squashes, and various perennial herbs are my staples, including two shrubs of Lemon Verbena for herbal tea (Aloysia triphylla), native to Chile and Argentina. 

Squash is another family favorite 

I recently received a precious gift of seeds from Chile: winter squash, beans, a sweet pimento pepper and a spicy pepper, plus corn seeds with which to make a favorite national dish, pastel de choclo (derived from the Mapuche word for corn). Through my research I discovered that some of the old seed varieties are stewarded by dedicated guadadores de semillas or seed savers, same as in the USA, but not accessible to me, (as far as I know). 

My harvest of beautiful runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus)

I have been conducting seed trials of heirloom seeds as a volunteer for Seed Savers Exchange for several years, and this work as been very satisfying. At the 2017 EcoFarm conference I was fortunate to meet Rowen White , a Mohawk Seed Keeper and seed advocate. I participated in her 'Seed Seva' online mentoring course that weaves Native Peoples' traditional seed practices into gardening and farming training. She's a very knowledgeable and precious mentor.

My current focus is cultivating seeds of my Chilean and Native origin crops in a responsible manner, and putting my effort into growing, eating, and respectfully maintaining these- it's a way to connect with my own ancestors. It is both tragic and traumatic that many tribes have lost the seeds specific to their People as an outcome of colonization- seeds that were essential to the continuation of their cultures. A good place to start is Native Seeds/Search in Arizona, specializing in seeds for crops suited to arid areas, as well as Indigenous in origin (quite relevant to our dry and warming climate in California).

My passion for saving seeds has been rejuvenated by these living seeds and honoring my ancestors from the southern continent.
                                        

Photos: Patricia Larenas, Urban Artichoke