“Getting themselves back to the garden - Newsday” plus 4 more |
- Getting themselves back to the garden - Newsday
- Vermont Residents Protest Community Garden - WLBZ 2
- Nicholls hosting home and garden seminar - Houma Courier
- Some Vt. residents protest community garden - Rutland Herald
- Care for plants during drought - Carroll County Times
| Getting themselves back to the garden - Newsday Posted: 24 Jul 2009 04:53 PM PDT Photo credit: Newsday Photo / Audrey C. Tiernan | N.R. Malhotra harvests a turnip from his plot in a cooperative garden. He said he turned to gardening mainly for exercise. Newsday Photo / Audrey C. Tiernan Diane Woodhouse's parents had a vegetable garden when she was growing up in Oakdale. Her sister has one in New Mexico. "I always wanted to grow vegetables, but I didn't have time while I worked full-time," said Woodhouse, of Greenlawn. This summer, Woodhouse, 63, a hairdresser who retired last year, will harvest her first crop including tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers and herbs. Like Woodhouse, more and more Long Islanders over age 50 are grabbing shovels, watering cans and seeds to plant vegetable gardens. This year the gardening help line at Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Nassau County fielded double the usual number of calls from first-timers, most of them over age 40, according to Ralph Tuthill, the extension's senior educator in environmental horticulture. Its Suffolk counterpart had to add a fifth vegetable-growing class this season because enrollment in its spring courses has blossomed in the past three years. When Farmingdale State College held its annual plant sale in early May and its horticulture festival at the end of that month, "we were mobbed," said Michael Veracka, an assistant professor of ornamental horticulture. Many who attended were in their 50s and older and sought advice on vegetable seedlings and gardening, he said. Boomer time in the garden Of those would-be gardeners, nearly one-third were at least 55 years old. Their reasons range from flavor to fitness to fun. "Some of them are hearkening back to the '70s back-to-the-land movement," when they belonged to organic food co-ops or lived in communes, Veracka surmised. "Over the years, they got busy raising a family, a two-income lifestyle - they got away from all that." As well, the desire to grow one's own fits in with a broader cultural trend toward healthier, pesticide-free food. "You eat them pretty much when you pick them, which is really nice," said Barbara Endres, 75, also of Greenlawn, a retired clerical worker. (She particularly loves to snack on her homegrown sugar snap peas, which she used to buy from farmers' markets.) Tough economic times have provided one more impetus. In the Harris survey, "to save money on food bills" was the second-most-cited reason for growing fruits and vegetables ("better tasting food" topped the list) and the gardening association estimates the average home garden will yield $530 worth of essentially free produce after expenses. Paul Merkelson, 61, a construction project manager in Port Washington, figures he shelled out $50 on his 13-by-14-foot vegetable garden this spring -- his first garden in 10 years. But he expects that investment to shave a couple of hundred dollars off his grocery bill. There's another reason for the new interest: first lady Michelle Obama's White House garden. "We got a lot of calls the day after the news story about that," Tuthill, of Cornell's Nassau branch, said.
Gardening is hard work Merkelson spent several hours over two days tearing out and transplanting existing plants, turning over the soil, and mixing in compost to prepare his vegetable beds, and hours more, on his hands and knees, planting. Now he tries to devote a daily half-hour to maintenance, but "that's a problem" because of his job and weekend trips, he explained. Experts say that preparation and planting typically take a couple of days. After that, home gardeners might need 20 minutes to an hour every day or two for watering, weeding, pruning, mulching, spraying and general maintenance -- depending on the size of the plot, the type of plants (organic plants require more weeding because chemical pesticides aren't used), and the gardener's own enthusiasm. For N.R. Malhotra of Huntington, all that work is exactly the point. The 76-year-old retired engineer started his vegetable garden two years ago mainly for the exercise. He spends an average of three hours every day or two, working on his squash, chile peppers, eggplants and other crops. Those who don't have space at home are planting roots elsewhere. EECO Farm in East Hampton, a nonprofit that rents 120 small plots to amateur organic gardeners, most of them over age 40, has its first-ever waiting list. At the Robert M. Kubecka Memorial Organic Garden in Huntington, where Woodhouse, Endres and Malhotra tend their plantings, town officials say that only 30 to 40 of the 400 plots become available each year. Town residents pay $25 a year per plot or $15 for anyone over 62. Tuthill suggests new gardeners start with lettuce, carrots and radishes, which are relatively easy to cultivate. Then again, for many new gardeners, the thrill might fade before harvest time. Tuthill observed, "In July, when it's 95 degrees, it's not so easy to get out there."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||||||
| Vermont Residents Protest Community Garden - WLBZ 2 Posted: 03 Aug 2009 12:17 PM PDT BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- Some residents of a Vermont neighborhood are protesting a community garden. The Bennington garden has almost doubled in size since 2008. Ogranizer Lorraine Niles is tending at least four plots and is spearheading a program to distribute produce. Vermont Public Radio reports the growth has been a problem for Jacqueline Boucher, who lives across the street. She says no one there was notified about the garden, it's not visually appealing, and it's crowded. She's worried about her home value. The garden occupies a narrow strip bordering the tennis courts near the town recreation complex. Bennington Selectboard chairwoman Lodie Colvin says the street is chaotic because it's a detour for trucks during construction of the Bennington Bypass. But she says the board thinks the garden is a great use for the property.
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| Nicholls hosting home and garden seminar - Houma Courier Posted: 02 Aug 2009 04:57 PM PDT THIBODAUX A seminar on a variety of home and garden topics will be held at Nicholls State University this month. The event entitled Louisiana The Great Outdoors: Great Ideas for Living and Entertaining in the South will be held Aug. 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Family and Consumer Sciences Building and Gouaux Hall Auditorium. The deadline to pay the $7 registration fee is Aug. 7. Among the topics that will be discussed are patio essentials, container gardening for the fall, cooking outdoors and window toppers. Alice Fakier, the runner-up of the first season of HGTVs Design Star competition, is scheduled to appear. People interested in attending the seminar can mail checks made payable to TVFC to Celeste Lirette, P.O. Box 627, Houma. You can also call 873-6495 or 446-1316. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
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| Some Vt. residents protest community garden - Rutland Herald Posted: 03 Aug 2009 07:23 AM PDT Some Vt. residents protest community garden10:19 a.m.
The Associated Press - Published: August 3, 2009 BENNINGTON Some residents of a Vermont neighborhood are protesting a community garden. The Bennington garden has almost doubled in size since 2008. Ogranizer Lorraine Niles is tending at least four plots and is spearheading a program to distribute produce. Vermont Public Radio reports the growth has been a problem for Jacqueline Boucher, who lives across the street. She says no one there was notified about the garden, its not visually appealing, and its crowded. Shes worried about her home value. The garden occupies a narrow strip bordering the tennis courts near the town recreation complex. Bennington Select Board chairwoman Lodie Colvin says the street is chaotic because its a detour for trucks during construction of the Bennington Bypass. But she says the board thinks the garden is a great use for the property.
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