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Question: My 3rd grade class is getting ready for a new vegetable garden that well plant in March, hopefully to harvest some things before we they get out in late May. Could you help us with tips for starting seeds in our classroom to have plants ready by the first of March?
Answer: The way youre going about this is terrific! The kids will get so much more out of the whole garden experience by seeing the whole process from seed to harvest, rather than simply setting out store-bought plants. A good, small system for growing seedlings under lights is as follows. (Adapt as needed) Place plant trays on 1/3-inch thick plywood, supported by sawhorses. Light fixtures (Inexpensive 48, or longer, hooded shop lights) should be hung with chains for ease of adjustments. Bulbs must be 2 3 inches from the tops of plants at all times. Raising the plant trays themselves is another method of adjustment if lights are immovable Also, rotate your trays because the light is strongest near the center of the table. Ordinary cool-white (40 watt) fluorescent bulbs do the job. (Special, higher-priced grow lights are designed for flowering houseplants). Use one pair of bulbs for every 1-foot width of growing area. Lights should be on for 16 hours a day if at all possible, unless you have a sunny south-facing window ledge that works. A timer ($15 or less) is helpful for keeping the lights on a schedule. Two shop lights hung side by side is a good setup when only a couple of trays set end to end under a 48 shop light will be grown (from 75 to 140 or so plants). Only high quality sterile soil-less potting media (Pro-mix, Baccto-lite, Fafard, Shultz etc.) should be used when germinating seeds. Almost any container or pot that holds a couple of inches of soil can be used for starting vegetables. Possibilities abound: milk cartons (cut quarts lengthwise, half gallons and gallons widthwise), dishpans, Styrofoam and paper cups, disposable pie pans, etc. Just be sure to poke a few drain holes in them before adding soil. Vegetable seeds vary in their need for soil warmth to germinate, but all germinate faster the warmer (not hot, though) the soil is. At home many folks set trays on the refrigerator for consistent warmth. At school, heating pads under flats can be used to keep soil warmth up during the night when things cool down. Soil temperature around 70 degrees will be good for a wide range of seed. The heating pads are the extra mile, but no sweat (no pun) if you dont have them. The seed will come up anyway. Water very carefully and gently, soaking from the bottom if possible, so as not to disturb seedlings. Keep soil moist never dry, and not soggy either. Plant seeds of collards, kale, cabbage, beets, mustard, Swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, Brussel sprouts, spinach, radishes, turnips, and lettuce (many varieties of all of these) at least three weeks to a month before setting out in late February/March. Sugar snap pea seeds can be planted directly in the garden in late February, and they are a hit with kids delicious eaten raw. Final tip: Plants will get leggy without intense light, and even in the best of lighting situations indoors, the likes of lettuce will stretch if grown completely under shop lights (2 - 3 inches from foliage!). Place young plants outside on calm days above 50 degrees, as they will harden off much better outside even if not in full sun all day. Actually, full sun may slightly burn plants not yet acclimated, so semi-shade is preferable to begin with.
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Organization News Organizational meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Please call 414-3953 for room and time. |
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Church Partners in Gardening
On January 30, 2002 I had an unexpected visitor at the church. Before he came there were several important but completely unrelated things going on in the life of our church and in my life. After he came, these unrelated things all came together in a unity like I never imagined. The three seeming disparate things were the homeless ministry at Highlands Church, not knowing what to do with two vacant lots that have been given to the church, and my own love for the farm, cattle, crops, tractors, the things that life in the city does not afford me. Every time I get a day off, I drive 75 miles to satisfy that affection.
But on January 30 when the church receptionist, called to say I had a visitor, I asked the usual questions. Who is it? I didnt recognize the name. Does he have an appointment? Probably a salesman, I thought. I was, after all, preparing a sermon that afternoon and looking for a couple hours of uninterrupted study time. The visitor was the Reverend Thomas Henderson of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. He presented his card. He is the Executive Director of the Appalachian Communities Transitioning to Sustainability (ACTS) and the Sustainable and Urban Agriculture Consultant to the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. His job includes helping to establish community gardens in urban areas and to helping churches connect somehow with these communities and these gardens. He told me about Paul Kennedy, the Director of the Birmingham office of the USDA that supports community gardens and about a pastor in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Vee Crockrom, who coordinates BUGS, the Birmingham Urban Garden Society. It was as though time stood still for me and deepened. I felt a tingle in my spine as I saw a unity of important things that had been so disparate. I told him about our community ministry with the homeless, carried him across town to show him a piece of property we might offer as a garden spot and explained to him how I often felt like a fish out of water away from agriculture.
It turns out that the USDA office and the Birmingham Urban Garden Society are located immediately behind our church across Richard Arrington Boulevard. And when the Paul Kennedy got word that I was interested in involving Highlands Church in Urban Gardening he sent an email that began, Hallelujah! I have been praying that a church would get involved on Southside Within a weeks time I met Paul Kennedy and Vee Crockrom, then told my congregation about it in a sermon on February 10. The response to that sermon was amazing. About 20 members and friends of the church told me after the services that they wanted to be a part of this vision of establishing community gardens in urban neighborhoods. Some wanted to dig in the dirt, some wanted to educate, most wanted to be a part of the community building effort. I told them that I expected that when those who have a love and desire for this kind of ministry get involved in community gardening, this is going to be one of those stories that we all look back on and say, Wow. Look how God was at work to bring this ministry and us together!
Paul Kennedy and Vee Crockrom came to Highlands on February 25 and met with fourteen adults and two children who attended an initial meeting to explore Highlands Churchs role in community gardening this year. Paul and Vee presented information on several existing community garden projects and areas where community gardens are needed. The group identified vacant lots in the Southside area that are suitable for gardening and convenient to us. Members of the group volunteered to seek permission to use these lots this year and to search for others. Vee offered to link us with neighborhood associations where the lots are located and invite the neighborhoods to partner with us in growing the community garden The mission of B. U. G. S.eradicating hunger and poverty while building community through the use of sustainable agriculture in community gardensresonates with our churchs mission to plant the love of God, grown together as disciples of Jesus Christ and to sow seeds of Gods love in our community and world.
Urban gardens that create green spaces amid a concrete and aspalt environment, that beautify the city and that combat hunger all at the same time accomplish what the Apostle Pauls envisioned when he said that the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, for the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:19, 21). Churches are natural partners in this redeeming work.
Many aspects of urban gardening have stirred the interest and instincts of Highlands members and friends: planning and organizing, relationship building, digging, planting, weeding, harvesting, canning, freezing or marketing fresh vegetables, (not to mention eating them). We can learn a lot in a garden. It is not coincidence that the first parable of Jesus recorded in the Gospels starts, Listen! A sower went out to sow (Mark 4:3). We have so much to learn about life and relationships and God, and a garden is a good, and quite biblical, place to start.
Hughey Reynolds
Senior Pastor
Highlands United Methodist Church
1045 South 20th Street
Birmingham, AL 35205
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