Produce Denver

Winter growing

adyrsten — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:51:07 +0000

Here are a couple of less expensive ways to grow some plants during these cold months.

1) This is in my
backyard. It is a simple cedar frame with a piece of double pane glass. You can see the gallon water jug in the middle. On cold nights, I fill this with hot water and it keeps the whole frame above freezing until the sun comes out again in the morning. There are some carrots, arugula, spinach, lettuce and beets growing in there right now.

2) This is made of bales of straw with double pane glass laid across them. There are two rows. Only one is planted right now. I am directly planting seeds in the other structure in the middle of February. The plants in this structure are holding up to the cold a lot better than the ones in the cedar box. I am worried that this method is going to attract mice, but so far, there have been no signs of them living in there. I have the same plants in here as there are in the cedar frame. There are carrots, beets, arugula, spinach and lettuce.

3) The mini plastic tunnel is made of thin walled conduit bent into semi circles. I pushed the ends of the conduit into the ground about 6 inches. Then cut and laid clear plastic across these conduit ribs. The plastic is from Home Depot and is not anything special. The ribs are spaced 3-4 feet apart. The plastic is held down by bags of sand at each rib with dirt shoveled on the plastic in between the ribs. The ends are weighed down with buckets 3/4 full of water with cinder blocks on top of them. This has held up to all of the snow we have seen this winter. It has also held up in winds up to 40 mph.

I planted all of the same plants in here and only the carrots have survived. There is a LOT of temperature fluctuation in this tunnel every day. I have put a very small compost pile at the end of the tunnel to keep it above freezing, but I don’t know how to cool it off without opening it up every day. So far, the compost pile has kept the tunnel above freezing at night. Before I had put the compost pile in there the average daily temperature swing was at least 80 degrees during the day and down to about 28 degrees at night. I will be direct planting seeds in this tunnel in the middle of February.

If you have any questions or ideas for us to try out, post a comment or email us from our “contact” page. Good luck with your winter growing ideas!

-Andy

Small Hoophouse after Snow

Nick — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:54:00 +0000

The sun finally came out this afternoon. Swept off the small hoop and havested chard and collard greens. The hoops are constructed with 1/2 inch Electrical conduit (EMT) and covered with Agribon 30.
The greens were not wilted when I harvested. I mulched the whole bed with 6 inches of dried leaves.
We’ll see how long it will last. Stay tuned……

A morning poem

adyrsten — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 05:24:13 +0000

With these dark mornings, I have been having a difficult time motivating myself to put my feet on the cold floor in the mornings. Now, I just stumbled across this poem that I wrote last year in early November.

A few swift pecks

followed by quick attacks of a beak

and she quickly plucks

a warm fleshy body from its tree home.

This is perhaps the strongest tie

my heart has held with the insect world

because this is how I have felt

on so many mornings.

-Andy

Winter experiments

adyrsten — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:31:05 +0000

I am very excited to be doing these tests! Now that I have some time, I am going to be building the three most common season extenders that I know of.

1) Plastic covered low hoop

2) Wood framed cold frame

3) Bales of hay with glass set on top

In each of these I am going to plant carrots, spinach, lettuce, beets (for the leaves only), and arugula. I am also testing which varieties of these plants do the best in the cold. I will add pictures once it is all in place!

-Andy

New Produce Denver Website Coming Soon

sdmapes — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 23:04:38 +0000

Welcome to the new Produce Denver website! We’re still under construction here–just like your yard could be with our help! If you’d like to reach us and talk about the landscaping or gardening projects you’re considering, you can reach us at andy.dyrsten@producedenver.com or nicholas.gruber@producedenver.com.

Organic Methods of Spraying Fruit Trees and Perennial Plants

sdmapes — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 12:27:43 +0000

This month Produce Denver went around to our clients and sprayed Horticultural oils on fruit trees and perennial plants. We use Neem oil with a emulsifier such as Doctor Bronners soap and a product called Bonide All Seasons. This works to control the dormant eggs of aphids,spider mites,rust mites, and scale insects. Aphids winter as eggs on Herbaceous perennial plants that die down over Winter. Make sure to spray kale and chard that will come back in the Spring. Cabbage aphids Winter on existing plants such as kale. You should also remove old debris and trim old asparagus plants.

Happy Gardening!

Denver Urban Farmers Collaborative

sdmapes — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:24:16 +0000

Spring is around the corner, and Produce Denver is in high gear! I like many other people are starting to get the gardening itch. While it is not good to uncover the perennial garden, I have been doing a couple of Spring cleanup duties. First, Produce Denver is changing our website to update information. We’re working on a project called the Urban Farmers Collaborative.

The Denver Urban Farmers Collaborative (UFC) envisions the establishment and success of urban farming micro-enterprises, utilizing vacant land within the city and county of Denver to produce food. The UFC is a partnership of organizations committed to urban agricultural production as a method of ensuring that city residents have access to fresh organic food. The UFC provides employment for farmers and a site for teaching individuals, particularly young people, about farming and living sustainably. The Urban Farmers Collaborative engages with community members and organizations in converting unused land to farms because we recognize that local assets (people, land, knowledge, and community) are the primary building blocks of sustainable community development.

Through urban agriculture, the Urban Farmers Collaborative:

Stimulates the local economy by creating jobs to produce and distribute food locally
Increases access to healthy, affordable food in urban communities
Engages communities in living and eating more sustainably
Supports healthier individuals and communities
Reconnects urban dwellers with the land, facilitating a firmer understanding of the natural world and food production
Decreases the ecological footprint of our current food system

Partners

Granata Farms, a small for-profit venture farming in backyards and vacant lots, is advancing a model of urban agriculture that demonstrates the viability of small organic urban farming operations in an urban setting, connecting eaters directly to the people who grow their food through a community supported agriculture (CSA) program.

GreenLeaf (GreenLeafDenver.blogspot.com), a Denver-based non-profit creating social change through urban agriculture. GreenLeaf is engaging urban youth in transforming vacant city land into farms, paying them a fair wage to grow vegetables for their communities and engaging youth in building just food systems in Denver.

Produce Denver (www.producedenver.com), a socially conscious for-profit landscaping company whose goal is to achieve economic sustainability farming front yards and creating edible landscaping, while producing food for the Denver community.

Denver Urban Gardens (www.dug.org), supports residents to “grow community – one urban garden at a time”. As a non-profit organization, DUG offers neighborhoods essential resources for community gardens and on-going technical expertise: securing sustainable land for gardens; designing and building gardens; supporting garden organization, leadership, outreach and maintenance; and utilizing gardens as extraordinary places for learning and healthy living. DUG’s network includes over 90 community gardens and land partnerships across diverse neighborhoods in metro Denver. Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) is a non-farmer partner of the UFC that is a part of our collaborative in order to provide technical assistance to the UFC partners and educational resources to the surrounding communities.

The Denver Housing Authority is a quasi-municipal corporation that provides affordable housing to more than 25,700 very low, low, and middle income individuals. DHA’s mission is to serve the residents of Denver by developing, owning, and operating safe, decent and affordable housing in a manner that promotes thriving communities.

DHA’s investment in the Urban Farmers Collaborative (UFC) is part of a larger community revitalization project in the heart of Denver’s historic Curtis Park neighborhood. DHA has dedicated one city block (2.4 acres) to create a pilot demonstration “Sustainability Park” that will feature programs, technology and design elements that advance DHA’s vision for healthy communities and sustainable development. Plans include a security fence with “green screen” garden walls, recycled rubbers sidewalks, and high-efficiency LED street lights. A kiosk for Denver’s award-winning bike share program ensures accessibility to this one-of-a-kind project. The UFC will use 21,000 square feet to introduce organic farming techniques, distribute fresh local produce, educate residents on urban farming practices and create green jobs for neighborhood youth and residents. Our belief is that the UFC project will become a national model for addressing food access and food justice issues.

For more information, visit www.denverhousing.org.

The Sustainability Park is located downtown Denver and will be a functioning urban farm! The infrastructure for the farm is underway and should be functional in the Spring. Produce Denver is focusing its efforts on the site as a edible nursery.

This year is going to be exciting! Our garden maintenance program, where we grow food for families and restaurants, is starting very soon. This week we are amending the beds and aerating the soil.We are very excited to include a new customer, Queen Anne’s B&B. We are going to productively landscape the grounds with edible which will supply their kitchen.

Keep checking our post for more information!