This past Thursday and Friday, 33 individuals who attended the most recent Project Homeless Connect event attended a follow up party at either the Bayview Roots Garden or Growing Home Garden. Participants enjoyed lunch and garden skill shares. 
We've started offering a free yoga skill share at the garden every Wednesday at 2:30pm. We have a few mats at the garden that can be used or you are welcome to bring your own.
We just put up a sign to let people know which days during the holiday we will be closed. December 14th we will be closed, because we will be helping out at the Project Homeless Connect Event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. We'll be handing out fliers and talking to people about the garden parties we will be hosting on December 15th and 16th. 
A special thank you to everyone who has dropped off hoodie donations at the garden for our Hoodies for the Homeless drive. The hoodies will be given away at the Project Homeless Connect event. Our regular volunteers from the SF Friends School 3rd grade delivered 68 hoodies and an addition 43 have been donated by facebook friends and neighbors.
Today at the garden, we took advantage of the beautiful day and planted some more fence pockets. Because some of our larger succulents have been removed from the pockets (hopefully getting planted in other gardens) we got smaller succulents that are more difficult for those who pass by to remove. We collected some more large tin cans that we painted and will be drilling water holes in on Wednesday.
Check out the different types of pockets and succulents that we planted today.
We're experimenting with different sizes and materials to see what kind of pockets the plants like the best.
Can you find Carole, one of the peer mentors in this photo?
One of the favorite volunteer tasks of our gardeners is watering. So, we've converted our south lot into perennial flowers that don't mind lots and lots of watering.
Above, Gloria is showing me the kinds of cut foods that the worms enjoy.
Visitors and new volunteers are welcomed at the garden anytime we are open. Above, you'll see someone passing by and chatting with volunteers who explain what they're planting.
Today at the garden, we had the final harvest of our tomato plants. Some members of our garden community wished we could keep the plants in the ground until every single tomato turned red. However, today because of the spread of three common types of mold and fungi, we needed to pull all the remaining plants before the fungus was able to spread to other plants in the garden.
You'll notice from the photo on the left that many of our plants had several branches that had dry wilting leaves. A majority of the tomato plants looked very similar to the one in the photo.
In the photo to the left you can see white mold that had not only infected our tomato plants, but had also spread to the tomatillos.
So far, being part of the garden has been a great experience. Through participating in the weekly meetings and a work day once a week, I have learned a great deal of information about gardening and met some great people. Since I first joined the garden, we have done a lot of crop rotation, double digging beds after harvest and amending the soil for new plants to be cultivated. We amended the soil by mixing in different organic fertilizers such as goat manure, compost from the city, fava beans grown in our garden, and our very own compost made with worm castings. Our garden has many young plants but in the coming months I think we will have some really nice growth.
Most of the plants that you see at the garden now were started from seed by members of the garden in our very own greenhouses. For this season’s summer crop, we planted Tomatos, Tomatillos, Squash, Zuchini, Carrots, Lettuce and more. Recently we moved some strawberry plants from our south-garden to our north garden strawberry bed. Before transplanting them, we made holes in the bed and mixed them with compost. Hopefully in a few weeks we will have an even more lush, green strawberry bed. In the bed that those strawberrys previously, we will plant root vegetables like onions, garlic, radishes, and more.
The tomato plants in the garden didn’t seem like they were doing to well at first, but in the recent days it seems like they are getting used to the soil and growing. That is exciting! Of the very first squash that we planted, some are already making fruit! We also planted a bed of squash with each plant elevated in its very own mound. It looks like a mountainous squash forest. We put the squash in mounds in order to facilitate better drainage and give the plants’ roots enough area to spread out deeply and soak up as much water as possible. We have noticed that they also don’t seem to like too much water in their early stages. I think squash blossoms are very beautiful to look at.
The garden is a great place and I encourage others to stop by on any of our workdays and especially our Monday meeting. I encourage others to come to the garden to enjoy this great weather in the city as summer approaches and learn about different gardening skills and beneficial methods of organic gardening. Gardening is a great skill to know and you can set up a garden just about anywhere with good sunlight. Gardening can be as easy as making a fence pocket out of a burlap sack and chicken wire, filling it with soil and hanging it on a railing, fence or gate. Just add seeds and water and sooner than you think you can be eating your own lettuce or making tea from you own medicinal herbs. By coming to GHCG you can learn a lot about gardening and if you want to, bring home what you learned.
The garden is also great because it gives you the opportunity to get outside, get your hands dirty and also meet some great people. At our Monday garden meetings (1pm), we have been very fortunate to enjoy soup while we have weekly discussions about different aspects about the garden such as: crop rotation, irrigation, harvesting, art and our next plans of action for working in the garden. It’s a great time to check-in, start off the week and all join to take care of something very valuable to us all: the garden.
A lot is happening in the garden. To be in compliance with the new city code, we will continue to adorn the cyclone fencing with art in the form of succulents and herbs busting out of various pockets and cans. Vertical gardening is very exciting, and in many places (such as Cuba), it is a good solution to the lack of space. At Growing Homes we have lots of herbs and succulents growing on the fence, and I'm excited to experiment with annuals that have shallow roots as well, such as lettuce and strawberries. In the picture above, there are different herbs growing out of tin cans.
Here is one of the many succulent pockets. Succulents are a good plant to grow on the fence because they do not require much water or nutrient dense soil.
Most of our beds at the garden are planted out! Exciting! Now we get to watch them grow and transform and send them nurturing energy as our fall harvest approaches. Above is the evolved bed of lettuce and brussel sprouts. We just received our first harvest of lettuce a few weeks ago. It is tender, delicious, and multi-shaped and colored. The brussel sprouts are struggling as we've been trying to save them from a very aggressive bunch of aphids.
Here is a bed of tomatoes, peppers, and basil. It is our "warm weather" bed, and as such the modified gallon water jugs are serving as a mini greenhouse. We'll see if they assist the health of the plants.
In this bed there are actually three. When we double dug the bed we decided to break it up into three parts in order to facilitate harvesting. In the back bed there is mustard greens, the middle bed houses poc choi, and the front bed is a home to baby tomatillos. I think the tomatillos will do well in the garden because they are a wilder cousin to tomatoes, requiring less sun and warmth and able to handle more wind.
I believe the secret to a healthy garden is doing the lengthy work of starting seeds in a greenhouse and transplanting them to the beds when they are strong seedlings. However, some plants are appropriate for direct seeding in the Bay Area. This bed is a home to spinach, lettuce, carrots, sweet peas and perennial flowers. The flowers and spinach were transplanting, but all the other annuals were direct seeded and are doing well. Sweet peas are super easy to grow in lots of different climates. When in doubt, plant sweet peas!
This is my new favorite bed! On Friday we transplanted over 20 squash plants into this bed. Now it is the "squash village." I'm looking forward watching the summer squash, zucchini, butternut squash, delicatta, and pumpkins grow long into the fall. We had a lot of fun digging out this bed and mounding up all the earth. There were four of us tending to this bed and we went from pulling out the old plants to having the babies transplanted in a little under three hours. It was fast and fun!
I am fondly referring to this bed as the "hodge podge" bed. It is a mixture of various annuals and perennials and I can't even begin to name all the plants because there are too many. Initially we just wanted the perennial flowers and squash, tomatillos, and tomatoes to grow. However, there must have been a lot of seed in the soil because volunteer mustard greens, potato vines, raspberry vines, and chard have popped up in the past few weeks.
Our donated tomato starts that we received last month from Sunnyside Nursery in Richmond are finally sprouting green leaves and recovering. If the sun comes out, we will have delicious tomatoes ripening in a few months.
It is early summer and many of the green things are flowering or fruiting. The garden has exploded in various colors and shapes. Here is the first baby pear on the pear tree.
Here is soapwort, which is a flowering shrub. Soon we should see some pretty violet flowers appear. Behind the shrub is foxglove, a towering perennial. The flowers look like fairy hats.
The bed in the south garden in the far corner is a home to a beautiful thriving rosebush. It is in the back of the bed, while in the rest there are many different baby vegetables that a crowd of kids planted. They were planted kid style, i.e. haphazardly, but in true kid style they are doing well because plant energy and kid energy is very synchronous.
Here is one of the medicinal herb beds in her full summer glory. The creepy crawly plant is yerba buena, which belongs to the mint family and is a San Francisco native. This city has a rich interwoven relationship with this medicinal, and many native peoples regard it as sacred.
Above is the second medicinal bed. In the foreground is St. John's Wort and in the background is seeding oregano and a strong perennial flower that won't stop flowering.
Here are two very useful flowering herbs: calendula and red clover. Calendula is used for skin care and red clover is used internally and as a ground cover and nitrogen fixer.
Last but not least is our wonderful clary sage! It flowers at six to eight feet tall, and is amazingly aromatic. It is used for cut flowers (which last along time and are really unique and beautiful) and skin care. Come by the garden and take a whiff of this incredible perennial herb in her full flowering glory, which elicits different reactions in everyone.
Gardening is creating life from a seed or seedling planted into the earth. It allows you to detach from the hustle and bustle of your busy life and to reconnect to your roots (no pun intended). Gardening allows you to slow down and smell the roses (again with the puns!). It's an act of faith, patience, and nurturing. The act of nurturing is a healing process.That is why I believe gardening is a great hobby for people that suffer from mental illness. Coming to the Growing Home Community Garden (GHCG) is a great way to improve your mood.
Here are some ways coming to the garden can improve your mood:
Gardening is good exercise and exercise improves your mood.
When you are gardening you are in the sun creating vitamin for your body and vitamin D is also great for your mood, studies have shown that individuals with depression often are vitamin deficient.
Volunteering at the garden on a regular basis gives you something to do and to look forward, which adds structure to your life.
You can take some flowers, herbs, and vegetables home from the garden (yummy).
You can sit and enjoy the garden through your senses it smells and looks great by the herbs and flower beds.
Working with others on a team can be fun and rewarding.
You can socialize in the garden.
You can sit and relax in the garden.
You can do art in the garden.
You can learn new things in the garden.
There is something enjoyable about digging in the dirt. Do you remember making mud pies or building sand castles as a kid?
So, come join us at the garden!
Seedlings have finally arrived and there are tomatoes!
Every Friday Finn has lead an herbal medicine skill share. In the past weeks I have learned so much about the benefits of certain herbs, ways to extract there medicinal properties and the small details about handling herbs to turn them in to medicine. To me, herbal medicine is a great supplement to modern western medicine, and brings relief in a less intense, more natural way. While we have learned how to make salves and tinctures, HERBAL TEA has been the most helpful and useful method of making medicine from plants that I have used so far. I have used tea to relax, reduce stress and anxiety, calm the nerves, and help generally feel good and be happy.
HOW TO MAKE HERBAL TEA:
1. HARVEST HERBS. Never cut more than 1/3 of the plant because any more than that can harm/shock the plant (it’s a living being you know). Leaves and flowers contain most of the medicinal properties of the plants but you can also use the stems and roots. Harvest close to the ends of bottoms of the stems to encourage growth.
2. DRY HERBS. By drying the plant, all of the water evaporates and the plants' medicinal properties become more useful and potent. Fresh herbs can be used but you would want to use much more (about 2 times as much) than dried herbs. To dry herbs, tie their ends with a string and hang them in a dark place with plenty of air flow. Another method is to make a drying rack with a material like bug screen stretched on a wood frame. Once the herbs are crispy you know they are dry and ready to use.
3. PREPARE THE HERBS. Crush and crumble the herbs into a container with a sealable top. We have been using glass jars but just about any container will work. By breaking the plant into small pieces, you are making sure more surface area is exposed for the medicinal properties to be extracted.
4. BOIL WATER AND POUR. Pour boiling water onto the herbs and cover the top. By keeping the top covered, the steam stays inside the container which helps better extract the medicinal properties. If using glass, be sure to pour slowly because if you pour too fast the glass may expand too rapidly and break (this already happened to me…very sad.)
5. LET STEEP. Let the mixture steep for at least 20 minutes or up to many hours. The longer you wait the more potent it gets. It all depends on your time schedule and how quick you want to use the medicine.
6. ENJOY YOUR MEDICINE!!! Strain out the plant matter with a tea strainer or something that can separate the liquid from the plants. You can drink the tea now or save it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
Some great herbs that I have been using straight from our garden’s medicinal bed are Lavender, Mint, Yarrow, Yerba Buena, Stinging Nettles, and Lemon Balm. All of them are very relaxing and each have their own specific medicinal properties. Check back for my next blog post about specific herbs’ medicinal properties and great combinations for teas. STOP BY THE GARDEN ON FRIDAYS AT 2PM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HERBAL MEDICINE.
TREMENDOUS THANKS TO FINN FOR PASSING ON THIS LIFE CHANGING WISDOM!!!
Tyler Campbell
ghcgmentor2@gmail.com
Born and Raised in San Francisco, I take pride in my roots and supporting the diverse community of my city. In my role as peer mentor, I welcome new participants to the garden, support the current volunteers and staff, conduct outreach, and help maintain the garden.
I recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz where I better realized my interest in nature, organic food, urban agriculture, and sustainability practices. It’s great to reap the healthy benefits of edible and medicinal plants like rosemary, lavender, mint, kale, peas, chamomile, onions, thyme and more—all grown in any place with sun, even in the city.
I see the garden as a place to be in touch with my connection to nature as a living being, even in the midst of the busy, fast paced ways of the city and modern technology. The garden is a place to take the time to relax, learn and share knowledge, and also create new, positive connections to fellow members of the greater San Francisco community. Through its meditative and therapeutic nature, as well as the bounty it produces, growing vegetables and herbs helps maintain a positive and healthy existence.
This past week in the garden we have continued to amend the soil, turn the beds, and plant new crops. The garden benefited from the artistic efforts during SF Refresh. The picture above is of a trellis we decorated with statements of affirmations and forgiveness written on paper and tied up with yarn.
This aloe was planted in the medicinal bed. It is doing well and has started flowering in a bright orange fashion. Aloe is a medicinal plant used for skin. Growing around the aloe we can see the yerba buena, which is a native to the Bay Area, and used to grow all over San Francisco. It is a mildly sedating herb that is part of the mint family and can be used as a tea (often times with chamomile) to calm and bring on sleep.
At the Growing Home Community Garden (Octavia/Lily)
At the Hayes Valley Farm (Fell/Laguna)
*Additional Cooking Skill Shares at the Hayes Valley Farm throughout the day with Ty Curley.
Bed prep is hard work! This is what we are learning this week. The good news is that many hands make light work, so bed prep is a great opportunity for everyone in the garden to participate. The jobs are many and diverse, so all folks can lend a hand. The picture above is of a bed housing last season's plants that we will soon harvest. There are peas on the fence and fava beans in the front. When we prep this bed we will 'dig' in the favas, because they are part of the pea family and fix the nitrogen in the soil.
This is a bed that is freshly double dug. Double digging is a method of bed prep that's good to use when you want to yield the maximum amount of food from a small space. It is great for urban gardens because you can amend the bed as you dig and do not need to take out all the soil to turn the bed. We amended this bed with a mixture of straw and goat manure, worm castings, and vegetable matter. The soil really changed its constitution: when we began digging it was dry and compacted, and after digging and amending it became rich, dark, and loamy.
This is another bed after we prepped it. The prep took us 3 hours! It looks different from the second picture because we broke up all the clumps and smoothed it out with a rake, and then shaped it into mounds. Bed prep is laborious, but very much worth it. After the community effort, we all felt very satisfied. This bed is now a home to baby squash and flowers. The flowers are at the perimeter of the bed and the squash live at the top of the mounds. We will soon plant tomatoes along the fence so they can vine up it, and also along the perimeter so they can hang off the side of the box. It it fun to grow the same plants in different ways to see how they thrive. I enjoy gardening because while there are many skills to learn, much can be said about imagination and experimentation. I try to always keep an open mind and listen to what the plants are telling me!
