Archive for June, 2010

This growing season I decided to break out of my containers and tiny planting bed in the driveway and extend my roots to my neighborhood community garden.

I’m trying out a new concept here – the “weekly roundup.”  Each Friday, I’ll feature interesting news stories from around the country (and sometimes the world) that focus on urban gardening.  For the first edition, we go to Kansas City, Austin, Denver, the UK, and Washington DC. KC Council votes 10-3 to allow city gardeners to sell produce Raising Chickens, Uniting Austin Urban gardens germinate seeds of better health in Denver Why Vertical Gardens are the Height of Fashion Marines vs. Capitol Hill Gardeners Enjoy!

I recieved this email from Food Democracy Now, and thought it was worth sharing.  I’ve contacted my Congresswoman’s office (Eleanor Holmes Norton) to express my support for this.  After seeing The Future of Food, I’m very concerned about how genetically modified crops are being spread – mostly for the livelihood of farmers (who the large companies aggressively sue for planting “patented seed”).  Consider contacting your Congressperson as well. Once again, the organic industry is under assault. As we alerted you earlier this year, Monsanto is eager to resume the marketing and sale of their Roundup Ready™ alfalfa. Fortunately, the possibility that Monsanto’s Roundup Ready™ alfalfa may be deregulated by the USDA has caught the attention of two leading members of Congress: Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Peter DeFazio. We are joining with our partners at Center for Food Safety in encouraging members of Congress who support regulation of GMO alfalfa

Welcome back, Prince of Petworth readers. Given the recent surge of interest in urban gardening (where to, how to, when to, etc.) the great Dan Silverman afforded me the opportunity to be a guest contributor to his blog. This is week 6 of 8 scheduled guest posts. So you’ve made your way here. First and foremost, this is a blog about all things urban as they relate to gardening and food systems. From time to time, I’ll discuss things such as farmland preservation, but for the most part, it’s all about the city. I focus on a few main areas: Do It Yourself (as a young apartment dweller, I had to learn quickly how to grow things with limited space and budget); Policy and Planning (this is where my urban planning degree – and google skills – come in handy!); and feature articles, where I explore everything from guerrilla gardening,

Introduce aphid-eating insects into the garden as a natural predator

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit the opening day of the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace. I was quite impressed – not only did I get delicious strawberries (they made their way into strawberry-basil cocktails, strawberry-balsamic jam, and strawberry ice cream), but I had the opportunity to catch performances from local children, talk to Mayor Fenty and other political candidates, and I even ran into a friend. I know some residents were looking for more produce and more variety, but I really enjoyed the “community” aspect of the community marketplace – I’m sure more vendors will follow as it becomes the hangout on Saturday mornings! Enjoy the video – hopefully it captures some of the fun I experienced.

Earlier, I posted about the Baltimore CIty Hall Garden.  I really believe this is a model that can be employed in more places – if not to feel large groups of people, then to educate city dwellers about where food comes from.  I certainly learned a thing or two about how broccoli and cauliflower grow! Big heads of broccoli. There are even more pics to come.