June Events

Garden Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1-4pm

Weekly Skill Shares:
Monday 12-1: Nutrition/Cooking Skill Share
Monday 2-2:30: Garden Skill Share
Friday 2-3: Health Skill Share

Special June Events:
Sunday June 6, 1-4: Planting Day - New produce and medicinal planting day
Saturday June 26, 11-1: Seeds of Hope Garden Party (lunch provided)

For the most up to date events check out our calendar.

Today at the garden

Christopher helped to thin the plants today. Thinning helps crowded plants to have more room for their roots to grow strong and helps plants to grow larger. This can be a hard task for gardeners with a soft spot and who don't want to feel like they are killing any plants. Remembering that without thinning none of the plants will be able to become healthy is one way to over come this fear. Sometimes it also helps if you can eat the plants that you are thinning.

When I took the photo above, Joseph (pictured on the left) told me it was a photo of him working in the garden: "working on enjoying my coffee." One of the most underated garden tasks that we hope to encourage is taking the time to relax and enjoying the garden. In addition to growing food that can be consumed, we want our garden to feel like a backyard for San Franciscans who don't have a backyard of their own to enjoy. In addition to having the garden open for individuals, we also hope that groups and members of the community will utilize the space for meetings and other activities so there are as many opportunities for people to enjoy the garden as possible.

One of the most labor intensive tasks of the day, was clearing asphalt to create a new section for planting in the garden.

Garden Skill Share - Fava Lesson

Today at our garden skill share Renata taught us about fava beans. With edible leaves and the ability to produce large beans, fava are a great addition to any produce garden. We,ve been using the leaves of the fava for salads that we share for the last couple of work days. (At our Monday meeting, 15 people enjoyed fresh salad from the garden and soup from the Zen Center.)

The fava plant also provides great nutrients for the soil, by putting nitrogen in the soil. The nitrogen is contained in the white spots on the roots of the fava (as shown below are).

May 21, 2010 Garden Work Day

Today at the garden, we thinned the fava beans. We saved the leaves before putting plants in the compost.

The leaves of the fava taste delicious right out of the garden, or in a salad.

Today, members of the garden team enjoyed fresh salad from the food they harvested. Our delicious salad included fava leaves, edible flowers from a cauliflower plant, some radishes and dressing made from fruit from one of the citrus trees.