Posts Tagged: gardening
Eat your vegetables
Californians can take advantage of our abundant sunshine and temperate climate in order to grow fruit and vegetables they can truly call their own. Gardening has some very obvious rewards, giving gardeners the freshest fruits, vegetables and herbs possible. If you are a cook, adding a garden to your backyard will pay dividends all year long.
In order to get the greatest benefit of this fantastic produce, make sure you tailor your garden to your own needs. No reason to raise a beautiful crop of broccoli or swiss chard if your family won't eat it! Tomatillos may be seen as specialty crop for some, but an important part of the garden for others. Plant what you will eat, so you will eat what you plant.
As well as growing crops you will eat, think of the potential for storage for your produce. Handled correctly, both onions and garlic are receptive to long term storage. Tomatoes can be canned, herbs can be dried. Other crops like cantaloupe, honeydew, zucchini and corn are best eaten fresh. Plan your garden accordingly.
Getting your hands dirty in the garden is great- but at the end of the day, you need to eat. Cooking a fantastic dish starts with great ingredients. When those ingredients come from your own garden, things just seem to taste a bit better.
Roasted Chicken and Onions (A good way to use a lot of onions!)
6-8 chicken thighs. Bone-in, skin removed.
4 large onions yellow or red - sliced 1/4-1/2" wide
3 garlic cloves - minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
The following herbs to taste - recommend approximately 1/3 cup of combined chopped herbs, pick what is fresh and available in your garden.
Rosemary
Oregano
Parsley
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Dust chicken with paprika
- In a roasting pan, casserole dish or dutch oven toss all ingredients in order to coat chicken and onions with oil and herbs
- Bake dish uncovered for 25 minutes, toss all ingredients again, and bake until done- approximately 25 minutes more. Ensure juices run clear when chicken is pierced with knife or fork.
New gardeners cultivated throughout Los Angeles County
Gardening has become very popular lately, particularly in growing fruits and vegetables, and largely due to the need to lower grocery bills and eat healthy during this recession. But for beginners, gardening can sometimes seem intimidating and bewildering due to the multitude of variables involved, such as soil fertility, pest management, seasonal plants, composting, to name a few. Well, UC Cooperative Extension’s “Grow LA Victory Garden Initiative” in Los Angeles helped demystify gardening for many residents, using UC research-based information.
Master Gardener volunteers organized and led low-cost gardening courses to teach the basics of gardening to 297 students. Thirteen classes were held in March, April and May at 10 different sites throughout the county, from Tarzana to Echo Park. Each site accommodated about 30 participants who wanted to turn their new interest in gardening into successful, productive gardens in their backyards, community gardens and patios. Overall, participants walked away very pleased with the classes, and many felt that their gardening knowledge improved significantly.
“My husband and I just want to say thank you for a really wonderful four-session course. It was the perfect amount of information for beginner gardeners like us,” said a participant at the Milagro-Allegro Community Garden site in Highland Park, California.
So, what’s next? Cooperative Extension hopes to host another round of classes in Fall 2010. The hands-on experience was very successful, leaving many to inquire about future classes. For information, please contact Yvonne Savio, Common Ground program manager, at (323) 260-3407, ydsavio@ucdavis.edu.
New gardeners learn the basics.
LA Times blogger to be a UC Master Gardener
Freelance journalist and Los Angeles Times blogger Jeff Spurrier is in Los Angeles County's Master Gardener class of 2010. In a post he wrote on Tuesday, centered on a new initiative sponsored by the Master Gardener program, Spurrier promised to share what he learns as he goes through the training himself.
Spurrier wrote about LA County's “Grow LA Victory Garden Initiative," slated for March and April 2010. A UCCE news release said the initiative will help people start their own gardens quickly and easily in a container, in the backyard or at a community garden, bringing together local families and neighborhoods to share their experiences, skills and produce. Master Gardener volunteers will organize and lead Victory Garden Circles, and teach the basics of gardening.
A leader of one garden circle, Master Gardener Justin McInteer, was featured and pictured in the LA Times blog. McInteer will be running his class in a small Sunset Boulevard backyard.“This is a drastically scaled down but still functional version of what you learn in the master gardening class," McInteer was quoted. "It’s information for the individual growing his own garden, taking advantage of the space they already have.”
LA County residents can find a class location and more details on the Grow LA Victory Garden Initiative Web site.
Vintage World War I Victory Garden poster.
A salute to Master Gardener service in Santa Clara
Santa Clara County's Master Gardener Program has channeled UC's research-based gardening information to county residents for 25 years, according to an article marking the milestone that was published in the San Jose Mercury-News last Friday.
Last year, the program's 50 volunteers answered nearly 3,000 questions from home gardeners who called, e-mailed or visited.
The article - written by Master Gardeners Rebecca Jepsen, Lee Ann Ray and Deyana Len - delineated some of the online resources offered by the UC Master Gardener program.
New pages on the Santa Clara Master Gardeners' Web site highlighting water-wise plants - Names and photos of a variety of native and non-native ornamental plants that will thrive in the region's dry climate and clay soil with little to no water once established.
UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program - Extensive information on virtually all aspects of pest management for the home gardener. The site is chock-full of high-quality photos that allow you to identify all the good and bad bugs, pests, diseases, weeds and a whole lot more.
The article closed with recently and frequently asked questions, information on becoming a Master Gardener, and contact information for the Santa Clara program. Click here for the Santa Clara County Master Gardener Program Web site.
A sampling of the water-wise plants for Santa Clara County.
Master Gardeners help school kids grow veggies
An inner-city Los Angeles school has a small vegetable garden that is overseen by a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener, according to a story published yesterday in the Daily Breeze.
"This may be the only place they can have access to nature," the story quoted Master Gardener Kris Lauritson. "It's an outdoor classroom."
The school serves primarily Latino students; about 80 percent qualify for free and reduced lunches.
The program teaches students about healthy diets and gives them a chance to taste fresh foods they may not normally have at home. Students eat what they grow - turnips and broccoli, lettuce and spinach, soybeans, potatoes and cabbage.
Alice Acevedo, a school office worker observing the students as they worked in the garden, told reporter Douglas Morino the kids won't touch fresh fruits and vegetables put out in the cafeteria at lunch.
"But once they grow it themselves, they can't get enough. They're taking pride in what they're doing," Acevedo was quoted.
Los Angeles County's 181 Master Gardeners volunteered 9,272 hours in 2008, serving 87,376 low-income gardeners at 28 community gardens, 46 school gardens, 15 shelter gardens, 5 senior gardens and 13 fairs and farmers markets. For more information on the program and its services, see the LA Common Ground Web site.
It's worth clicking through to the Daily Breeze to see the photographs that accompany the school garden story. The off-axis, vivid and creative images are uncommon in photojournalism. I asked ANR Communications Services media services manager Mike Poe about the trendy garden art.
He said a lot of hip, cool, current video is shot that way.
"The photos are emulating that style to appeal to a young audience or indicate the subject is young," Poe said. "It's a technique I'd use very judiciously."
The school garden story and photos also appeared in the Pasadena Star-News.
LA's 2008 Master Gardener graduates.