Home Grown New Mexico

Learn About Squash and Giant Pumpkins- on Saturday!

homegrownnewmexico — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:10:31 +0000

Saturday, May 25
10am – 12pm

Earth Care Community Garden
Country Club and Jaguar (Next to Southside Library)

Jannine Cabossel, a Master Gardener and ‘The Tomato Lady’ at the Santa Fe Farmers Market will teach a class on how to grow a giant pumpkin. She has extensive experience in growing vegetables on her 2000 square foot garden using all organic methods. In 2011, she had a 448lb pumpkin named Mad Max that won the largest pumpkin in the state. She will discuss squash bugs, row cover and maintenance for large squash plants. Follow her blog at giantveggiegardener.com. Master Gardeners will receive 1 CE credit.

At noon, the garden is hosting their potluck and beginning work day for those that are interested in joining the garden for $25 per year.

Contact homegrownnewmexico@gmail.com or 473-1403

Bee and Garden Classes

homegrownnewmexico — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:17:37 +0000

The pollination process is necessary for most of our important food crops. Home Grown New Mexico is giving three classes in June to help people understand how to garden to attract these pollinators.

We will also host two homes with bees in the Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour in Santa Fe on July 28th and in Corrales on August 11th. Keep looking for fundraising ticket sales on this website.

Look at the COMMUNITY CALENDAR for more details on other gardening, beekeeping, cooking classes and other community homesteading classes.

Saturday, June 1st from 9am-11am
Pollinator Garden Planning
(Please RVSP for Class)
Earth Care Community Garden
(Jaguar and Country Club, by Southside Library in Santa Fe, NM)
Home Grown New Mexico and Earth Care
• Loretta McGrath will discuss which plants pollinators love
•Cost $10 suggested donation
For more information: 505-473-1403/homegrownnewmexico@gmail.com

Saturday, June 15th from 10am-12pm
Bees & Pollination Class
Home Grown New Mexico (Please RSVP for Class">RSVP for Class)
Santa Fe Skies- Indoor Class
14 Browncastle Ranch (end of Cerrillos at Hwy 14 &599) in Santa Fe, NM
• With Ken Bower
• Learn about fruit trees and honeybees
• Enjoy Breakfast from Crumpackers!
•Cost $10 suggested donation
Contact homegrownnewmexico@gmail.com or 473-1403

Saturday, June 29 from 10am-12pm
Pollinator Garden Planning
Skarsgard Farms Urban Agriculture Education Center
3435 Stanford Drive NE in Albuquerque, NM
Home Grown New Mexico and Skarsgard Farms
• Loretta McGrath will discuss which plants pollinators love
•Cost $10 suggested donation
For more information: 505-473-1403/homegrownnewmexico@gmail.com

Crop Mob This Weekend

homegrownnewmexico — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:40:42 +0000

Crop Mob at Community Farm
1829 San Ysidro Crossing, Santa Fe, NM 87507
Sunday, May 19th
1pm – 4pm

Please RSVP for Event

What is a crop mob? It began in 2008 in North Carolina to grow sweet potatoes (which is great that we are starting at the community farm that had sweet potatoes last year). A few times per year they come to help farms with planting. We would like to have 20+ people volunteer at the community farm to help plant the items in the greenhouse. We will go to other farms and large gardens to help this season. Look at the COMMUNITY CALENDAR for updates.

Here is a great quote from the main website: “We work together in the spirit of mutual aid and any crop mobber can call a crop mob to do the kind of work it takes a community to do. We work together, share a meal, play, talk, and make music. No money is exchanged. This is the stuff that communities are made of.”

Come join us this weekend to help. Volunteering on this day will show you the farm and introduce you to Lois Harvie, Volunteer Coordinator and Linda Marple, Executive Director.

Contact 473-1403 or homegrownnewmexico@gmail.com with questions.

Container Garden Tips from Bob Ross

homegrownnewmexico — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:05:32 +0000

From Bob Ross in a flat container garden

Bob Ross gave a great class at our April potluck and we wanted to share it online. He has a weekly radio show on KSFR called Gardens, Food, and Santa Fe at 10am on Saturdays and opened a new container garden store in the Farmers Market building called Gardens. Customers can learn to create their own with his classes or have one designed one for them. While the primary focus is decorative he will help create food gardens. His inspiration came from gardeners around the country, including Flora Grubb from her location in San Francisco.

Beautiful, Bountiful & Easy

By Bob Ross at rwrlink@gmail.com or 501-2740

A container garden is a space with beautiful plants that drains well, has great plant selections and is in a lovely container for your space. It can be indoors or outdoors.

Seven Tips for Successful Container Gardens
1. Select the best containers for you
2. Create good drainage
3. Use the best planting mix without fertilizer (MetroMix 702 with Green Moss)
4. Be thoughtful with the plant selection and experiment
5. Manage your container placement
6. Feed your container gardens (MaxSea seeweed)
7. Maintain your creation

Thrill, Fill & Spill

Typically, but not always, container garden plant arrangements are planned around three design concepts: thrill, fill and spill. The thrill provides height, fill are middle height plants, usually full and often billowy and the spill specimens spread out and trail over the side of the container.

A few of the 2013 Container Plant Favorites

Bouvardia ternifolia
Japonica Striped Maize (plant 6″ apart for full color)
‘Blonde Ambition’ Blue Grama Grass
Allium fistulosum ‘Nabechan’
Goodwin Creek Lavender
Nasturtium
Gaura ‘Pink Cloud’
Calamagrostis actuflora ‘Karl Forerster’ Grass
Melianthus major ‘Purple Haze’

Dependable Co-Stars

Artemesia ‘Brocade’
Dichrondra ‘Emerald Falls’
Wire Vine
Purple, White & Pink Trailing Petunia
Gaillardia ‘Arizona Apricot’
Heuchera
Coleus
Agastache

How to Grow the Best Tomato- Class on Saturday!

homegrownnewmexico — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:10:08 +0000

Jannine Cabossel gave a wonderful speech at the Spring Garden Fair last weekend on growing vegetables. Here is a picture of her tomatoes! She is ‘The Tomato Lady’ at the Farmers Market and has a large artisan garden.

This Saturday, you can come and have a two-hour intensive on the best way to plant the tomato seedlings at a community garden. Jannine Cabossel and Duskin Jasper are both Master Gardeners and have their ways of starting the tomato plants from seed, things to plant with the seedling and how to care for your plant. Very interesting to see different techniques and ideas for a vegetable. Come help us plant!

How to Grow the Best Tomato
$5 donation for non-Milagro Gardeners
Saturday, May 4
10am-12pm
Milagro Community Garden in Santa Fe
Rodeo Road and Legacy

Please RSVP for this class

Presented with Milagro Community Garden at milagrogarden@yahoo.com

Jannine Cabossel, a Master Gardener and ‘The Tomato Lady’ at the Santa Fe Farmers Market will teach a class with Master Gardener Duskin Jasper on how to grow the best tomatoes. They have tips on what to put in the ground when planting, how to protect them, disease control, how to care for the plant and harvesting. Planting tomato seedlings and a two-hour intensive on tomato tips in the class.

Jannine has extensive experience in growing vegetables on her 4000 square foot garden using all organic methods. Follow her blog at giantveggiegardener.com.

Seeds Starting Recap

homegrownnewmexico — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:21:45 +0000

Reblogged from Seeds & Stones:

Last Saturday I gave a public class on Seed Starting at Earth Care community garden. It went well and was well attended but made me realize a few things.....One was that a little re-cap may be useful, as people tend to have the same questions and quandaries about starting seeds indoors.

Seed Selection- Save your own, Trade, Share, Swap...If you are to buy seed go for heirlooms, locally appropriate and organic.

Spring Freeze Warning

homegrownnewmexico — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:38:41 +0000

The snow is starting to fall for our freeze tonight and tomorrow night in Santa Fe. It is forecast to be 25 degrees tonight so cover your vegetable plants tonight. The cool season crops can take a freeze so spinach, kale, swiss chard and cabbage can live if they are covered with row cover. If you are brave and have warm season plants outside, they need to be covered with row cover and some plastic to keep it warm overnight. Take off the plastic in the morning when the sun comes back so your plants do not get too hot.

What is Row Cover?
Row Cover is a material that allows UV rays from the sun and air through to continue to grow the plants while they are covered for wind or cold weather. It can also stay on the plants while you water so leave it on until June. You can buy at local nurseries such as Payne’s. This was discussed in the season extension class last weekend and it can be ordered in larger amounts online.

Let us know your tips for the spring freeze.

We are in the News!

homegrownnewmexico — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:07:41 +0000

Home Grown New Mexico was published in two local magazines this month.

Great-grandma Sarah, father John Hetager and Amy Hetager at age three

Green Fire Times published an article about how Home Grown New Mexico started two years ago. Amy Hetager and Duskin Jasper were founding board members with the idea to teach people to save money at home. Gardening is the largest way that people are saving money. Check out the article for a list of our classes in April and May. We are opening a chapter in Albuquerque this year for a Corrales Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour on August 11th. Look for potlucks and classes there in 2013.

Local Flavor asked us for a recipe to spread on freshly baked bread. We loved the pesto that we made in Local Organic Meals on a Budget updated with arugula and pecans. Arugula is coming up with the early greens. One of my community gardens at Milagro has it in the hoop house from winter.

Thank you for supporting us!

Planting Peas

homegrownnewmexico — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:11:17 +0000

Reblogged from Community Gardens:

Peas should be planted on St. Patrick's Day or in the following weeks. Holidays are my dates for planting and March 17 has enough sun and warmth to grow peas in Santa Fe. The pea plants will stop growing in hot weather. Plant them early to have a harvest before the hot weather arrives in June.

Here are some photos from Milagro Community Garden where we planted them the last week in March.

To Till or Not to Till in Spring Gardens?

homegrownnewmexico — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 02:32:06 +0000

Spring has started and many are preparing their community, home and school gardens. Building soil is important in New Mexico. Jermaine Theragood provided a class today on how to add aged horse manure, soil amendments and compost to create soil. He discussed how to top dress the soil around plants and use a broadfork to add holes in the soil without tilling a garden. He does not use a rototiller to start new gardens. Jermaine builds the soil sustainability without the use of fossil fuels with his broadfork.

What is a broadfork? It is a large garden fork that is two feet wide. Work on a large garden by using your body weight to insert and move the tool instead of your back and arms. This does not break up the soil, but allows additional space. Eliot Coleman writes about gardening year round and uses this concept for deep aeration of soil while preserving the structure and minimizing weed seed surfacing. This broadfork is one of the handiest tools for turning a garden bed.

Steve Dulfer from Dulfermetal makes broadfork in Santa Fe so we do not have to pay for shipping. It makes preparing your soil easy.

Description from website: All steel construction with hardened tines make it lightweight and durable. Cushioned rubber grips on 48″ handles make it comfortable and easy to use. The 15″ width is just right for a planting row. Simply step on the crossbar to drive the tines into the soil and pull the handles back toward you to break up and aerate lumpy soil ten inches deep. Makes preparing new beds or turning in compost and other amendments a snap.

This is a great tool to add to your garden collection. It is less expensive than borrowing a tiller and maintains the soil in large pieces to keep the soil structure.