So much of the urban farmer movement has to do with the reallocation of resources for more effective means.  Now before you get your panties in a bunch, no, there ain’t no communism lurking here.  What we’re talking about is efficiency so don’t you worry your little shriveled free market heart now.  There’s tons of resources going unused, and the brilliance is in the connecting of these resources to skilled laborers to take advantage of them, or consumers who want them.

And so I bring you: Ample Harvest.

Have an over-abundance of tomatoes from those energizer bunnies of the garden?  Just can’t come up with another squash dish.  Ample Harvest helps you find a food pantry near you to dump your excess produce.  Healthy whole foods for the hungry and no more rotting vegetables in your pantry.  Win-win.

For all thos people who keep citing the study that came out the UK claiming that organics are no healthier than conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, Tom Philpott over at Grist has a must read up on why when it comes to produce, it’s all about the soil.

Gerry over at Organic Authority takes a novel approach to tomato growing - by growing tomatoes in trash.  He swears by this strategy.  I have seen this phenomenon first hand - when I was in Boston visiting my friend James he showed me a tomato plant that started all on its own in his compost bin.  Now its taken over half his backyard.  The tomatoes definitely seem to love it.  And while both Gerry and James’ tomatoes are growing in compostable material - its not composted yet.  In the meantime there is all sorts of weird mold, bacteria and unidentifiable larvae growing in there.  So while it may be great food for the plants, the food from the plants is not something I would try.

The Prince of Wales is in, and of cousre the Obamas are in, so is it any surprise that the Governor from Maine is jumping on board?

Gov. John Baldacci today answered President Obama’s call to public service by helping a group of campers create an organic vegetable garden.  Food from the garden planted at Camp Tracy in Oakland will be donated to area residents, Baldacci’s office says.

So who’s next to jump on the band wagon?  Gov. Corzine definitely needs a makeover.  Gov. Sebelius would have made a great gardner if she wasn’t headed off to HHS.  who knows, maybe Gov Sanford is MIA in his own personal garden.

Turns out there are some new kids on the block, and I like their style.  Luke and Doug are The New Urban Sharecroppers.  Two midwesterner lads who have begun to take over neighbor’s yards to do some farming of their own. They are definitely not the first to come up with the idea of yard sharing for gardening, but they may be the new game in the district.

Luke, Doug, I feel your pain on the tomato front - I’ve been having the exact same problem with the yellowing of the leaves.  I thought it might be that I put them out too early also, but another one of my fellow community gardners suggested I may not have enough nitrogen in my soil.  The soil was way too heavy on the leaf mulch, so I mixed in 2 bags of composted manure and a small bag of dried blood. Yes, that’s right, dried blood, and it smells horrific, but has a heavy amount of nitrogen.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that that worked.

You’ll have to stop by the Bancroft Community Garden someime and say hi and talk plants.

Schematic with dates planted of my community garden plot so far.

Community Garden Plot as of 5.16.09

Samantha Bee interviews Jeff Stiers from the ACSH.  The look on his face in priceless when Samantha declares: “The Obamas should have just gone and planted abortion trees.”

Just a little bit worried.

Many gardeners are holding their noses and going closer to the source. “More and more people are keeping traditional farm animals in urban settings now,” said Leslie Finical Halleck, a horticulturist and garden blogger in Dallas who is also the general manager of an independent garden center. “I was talking to my friend Julie the other day and she said, ‘Do you want to take chicken poop home with you?’ And I said, ‘Of course I do!’ This is what we talk about now.”

Regardless about what this says about my life, Michael Tortorelli over at the NYT’s Starter Garden has a great (read: incredibly dorky) write up on what lengths some are willing to go to to get natural fertilizer. I wonder what my neighbors think of chickens.

Two were born, but she was told only one could live.  And the mother had to choose which would live and which would die….

Like Octo-Mom’s fertility doctor, I overly hedged my bets on my first round of seedlings, and double implanted some of my seeds, assuming that in most cases only one would sprout.  Turns out these tomato seeds are hardier than I expected, so in a few cases I had twins.

How does a mother choose?

Sadly, Michelle the Master Gardener came by this week and confirmed what I already feared - in order to ensure the survival of one plant the other must be cut loose, or else it would crowd the roots and both would perish.  Tormented, I weighed my options carefully.  Would it be cruel to pick the taller and stronger of the two because it was likely to produce more fruit?  What about the underdogs of this world?  Maybe Shorty is just a late bloomer.  But like Sophie, I had to make sure one of my progeny lived on.  And so I chose.

Post Op: Still-gasping-for-life body lies on the operating table

In the end, it was all about the tomatoes.  The more, the merrier. So I cut Shorty loose. What can I say?  Life is cruel. We’ll see if I made the right decision.

This a great idea that matches gardeners with gardening space. I don’t know how that would work work in my neighborhood where many people with backyards live in rowhouses withno access to the yard except walking through the house.

They’re all the rage.

Aren’t they just the cutest hing you’ve ever seen?

Clockwise from back left: not yet sprouted Basil seedling, bean contender seedling, beefsteak tomato seedling, Jiffy Peat top, Jiffy Peat bottom

Ok, maybe not baby kitty cute, but still pretty cool. I started my seedlings about 4 weeks ago, and have starting up a new set about every 7 days. I’ve been using Jiffy Peat for my seedlings. Jiffy Peats start off as dirt disks about the size of gold chocolate coins, but just add water, and Surprise! They puff up into 2-3 inch peat columns - the perfect incubators for little plant seedlings. It’s like Magic Mega Grow Animals for gardeners.

I got a little over excited, so I now have about 50 seedlings going, which have completely taken over my window sills. So, so easy.

1. Put the Jiffy Peat disks in a pan or shallow bowl. I used old clear plastic strawberry containers with no holes in the bottom.
2. Pour water over disks, allowing an extra half inch of water in the pan.
3. Wait for disks to grow. Takes a few minutes.
4. Insert one seed in eat Jiffy Peat. Read the directions on your seed packet to determine how deep the seeds should go. I use tweezers to plant the seeds.
5. Label your Peats! I use flags, but you can also create a little chart to track what’s what.

* No, I am not being paid by Jiffy Peats. I am just excited about being able to grow seddlings on the first try. Pretty cool.