Edible Plants Bibliography

All of these books have contributed to the lectures in this class.

Designing and Maintaining your Edible Landscape Naturally, Kourick, Robert © 1986, Metamorphic Press, Santa Rosa, CA Probably the bible for this kind of garden. I own a first printing and a quick check shows that Amazon has it new for $33.46 (Permanent Publications; March 30, 2005), so it’s still a winner, after all these years.

Designing the New Kitchen Garden, Bartley, Jennifer © 2006, Timber Press, Portland, OR Lots of wonderful ideas and source material for a good many daydreams. And the source of some important lessons in creating a garden that can sustain more than just your spirit. By the way, you’ll know you’re a real gardener when you begin to receive the Timber Press catalog – they have a comprehensive list of gardening books that will help you get into the details of any aspect of gardening that you can imagine!

Edible Flowers, From Garden to Palate, Barash, Cathy Wilkinson, © 1995 Fulcrum Publishing, This is the only really comprehensive book on growing edible flowers – it’s a fascinating cuisine we have largely lost through neglect. Have an adventure and a nasturtium for dinner!

Heirloom Vegetables, Stickland, Sue, © 1998 Fireside Books, A wonderful introduction to heirloom vegetables and how and why to grow them! A fabulous read for all prospective vegetable gardeners. And now that the Weaver book is no longer easily available, this is the runner up.

Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master's Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History,Weaver, William Woys © 2003, BookSales Inc, Originally published in 1997, it is now out of print and getting a copy can be hellish. The book sells for almost $300 used on Amazon! It is a wonderful book that needs to be put back in print because the research he put into the book allows this to be one of the most informative books on heirloom vegetables that has ever been published. Good luck in finding it, I'm sorry to say.

Sunset Western Garden Guide 8th Edition, Brenzel, Kathleen Norris, Editor, ©2007, Sunset Publishing All of the recent editions have their merit, but each successive edition has more plants and updates the scientific undergirding of gardening, so I encourage you to invest in the most recent edition you can afford (used copies are usually easy to find, either locally or at Amazon.com, I have a few for sale!). This is the number one go-to book for horticulture in Southern California; no other book is as authoritative as this one for our area. We cannot take advice from most gardening books and apply it to what we do in Los Angeles because our climate and soils are nothing like the rest of the world – especially those on the east coast and England where most books about gardening originate.

The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping: Home Landscaping with Food-Bearing Plants and Resource-Saving Techniques, Creasy, Rosalind, © 1982, Sierra Club Books – This is where edible landscaping began! Still a good book!

The Grape Grower, Rombough, Lon © 2002, Chelea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT. Of several books on the subject of growing grapes, this is the most thorough, the best written and covers the most material. And they all cost about the same money. You’ll come to think of it as your very favorite, if you get into growing grapes for table or for wine. Chelsea Green is another publishing house you’ll want to investigate – especially if you get into sustainable living. Truly a pioneer publishing house with many wonderful titles to entice you into curl up with a good book.

The Home Orchard, Growing Your Own Deciduous Fruit and Nut Trees, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, © 2007, Another great book from UC’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources – search out their website and you’ll find a wealth of free information there as well as publications like this one to purchase. This book is about the most thorough book on home orchards you will ever find - it is no only comprehensive, but comprehensible and easy to follow. There is no aspect of home orchards that is not covered in this volume.

The Kitchen Garden, Thompson, Sylvia © 1995, Bantam Books, Sylvia is from our area (she has written for the LA Times) so she knows a bit of gardening here. This is a great book that I refer to frequently.

Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden, Reich, Lee © 2004, Timber Press, Portland, OR If you are not familiar with Timber Press, check out their website, they are one of the best publishing houses in the field of horticulture today and their catalog will make your eyes twirl. We can’t grow all of these fruits, but this book is an eye opener for what can be grown vs. what IS grown. Each plant’s fruit is described with directions for cultivation and a list of desirable cultivars. This is the ‘expanded sequel’ to the book that drove me nuts trying to find a way to grow currants in Los Angeles (an as yet unfulfilled dream).

There will be more books to follow.  
david
 

A Short List of Seed Houses

This is a freshly revamped seed list in an effort to avoid seed companies that carry Seminis (Monsanto) products. To my knowledge, none of the following companies carry GMO seeds.

BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEEDS; 2278 Baker Creek Road Mansfield, MO 65704; 417.924.8917 What a catalog! Beautiful pictures of the produce – vegetable porn for sure. I have never ordered from them, but I have heard good things about them.

BOTANICAL INTERESTS; 660 Compton Street, Broomfield, CO 80020; 720.880.7293. I 'have been dealing with these folks for only a couple of years - I have seen their seeds on seed racks here and there, but I really got to know them for the quantity of seeds they donate to Venice High School and other educational programs. If you order using one of the links on this blog, you benefit the garden because a portion of your purchase goes into The Learning Garden's seed fund.  Good seed.  Clean.  Good variety and a good price.

BOUNTIFUL GARDENS; 18001 Shafer Ranch Road; Willits, CA 95490; 707.459.6410 Organic seed; open-pollinated. A part of the work done by John Jeavons, a proud and active member of the population of organic and open-pollinated gardeners. If you see him, he owes me a laser pointer.

FEDCO; PO Box 520, Waterville, ME 04903 207.873.7333 They are rabidly anti-GMO, though they do carry hybrids in addition to open-pollinated seeds. A wonderful and extensive selection. Someone who writes this beautiful deserves to get some of our money!  And they signed the Safe Seed Pledge - in fact, if was from them, I received my education on the Safe Seed Pledge. 

PEACEFUL VALLEY FARM SUPPLY; PO Box 2209; Grass Valley, CA 95945; 916.272.4769 I have purchased many seeds (and other things!) from Peaceful Valley – I love their catalog. They have an excellent selection of cover crop seeds as well as a lot of organic gardening supplies and tools. Although they have not signed the Safe Seed Pledge, by being 100% organic and open pollinated, they do not support anything close to GMO's and Monsanto.

NATIVE SEED/SEARCH; 526 N. 4th Ave. Tucson, AZ 85705; 520.622.5561 (Fax 520.622.5591) Specializing in the seeds of seeds of south western United States, concentrating on the ancient seeds of the First Nations People from amaranth to watermelon. A worthy cause. Non-hybrid.  Non-Monsanto.

PINETREE GARDEN SEEDS; PO Box 300, Rt. 100; New Gloucester, ME 04260; 207.926.3400 Probably the best for a home gardener – small packets of very current seed, a very good value. The smaller packets mean a smaller price so a person can order a lot more varieties and experiment. I have been a customer for many years, but I buy less now than I used to because they have not signed the Safe Seed Pledge.

SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE; Rt. 3 Box 239; Decorah, Iowa 52101; 563.382.5990 Membership fees $35. Free brochure. Some organic, but ALL open-pollinated. There are two ways to save seeds: one is to collect them all and keep them in a huge building that protects them from everything up to (and including) nuclear holocaust. The other way is to grow 'em. You can find the chance to grow them here - all seeds are heirloom and are 100% non-GMO and non-hybrid. 

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SEED EXCHANGE; P.O. Box 460, Mineral, VA 23117, 540.894.9480 (Fax: 540.894.9481) A commercial venture that is somewhat similar to Seed Savers Exchange, but really isn't an exchange and is much pricier. They do carry seed saving supplies - nice to have if you are going to save seed.

If you want to know who to more or less avoid, surf on over to the Seminis web site for a list of seed suppliers to home gardeners that are dealers for Seminis.  Mind you, not all those listed are selling GMO seeds.  This list will have seed suppliers that sell hybrids owned by Seminis (they have bought the majority of big seed suppliers operating in the United States, why the government hasn't looked at this as establishing a monopoly lies in the number of Monsanto employees that have held office, appointed and elected, in our government), and when Seminis bought those other seed companies, they acquired the patents held on hybrids.  Thus, while Big Boy Tomato was not created by Seminis, or Monsanto, and is not a GMO product, Seminis now owns the patent and purchases of Big Boy Tomato seed 'feeds the beast.'  

To be truly independent from this kind of chicanery, one must purchase open-pollinated seed that can be saved and will grow out 'true.'  These are concepts we will discuss in next week's class.

david

As Promised: Vegetables Grouped by Season

Suggestions for Cool Seasons:

Artichokes (a perennial)

Beets

Burpee’s Golden, Chiogga

Broccoli

Premium Crop, Shogun

Brussel Sprouts

Cabbage (including Oriental cabbage-like greens)

Carrots

Mokum, Parris Market

Cauliflower – there are purple ones too!

Celery/Celeriac

Chard

Argentata, Five Color Silverbeet,

Cresses

Fava Beans

Windsor; Aprovecho (sometimes appended with “Select”)

Florence Fennel (bulbing)

Romy, Zefa Fino.

Garlic (this is a long season crop, plant in Fall harvest next Summer)

Kale

Dinosaur or Black Kale

Kohlrabi

Leeks

Carina, King Richard

Lettuce

more varieties than you can shake a stick at – or grow a mix!

Onions (also a long season growing; find “short-day” varieties)

Other leafy salad things

Parsley

Peas

Potatoes

All-Blue, Caribe, Yukon Gold

Radishes

French Breakfast, Fluo, Easter Egg, Purple Plum

Shallots

Spinach

Turnips

DeMilan

Wheat

Include all perennial herbs and perennial flowers. In addition, try some fun annuals like calendulas, larkspur, poppies (bread, California or Iceland types), sweet peas, and venidium. Make room for cilantro! Lots of cilantro!!

Suggestions for Warm Seasons:

Basil

Lettuce Leaf, Genova Profumatissima,

Beans - drying

Black Turtle

Beans - lima

Beans- snap

Roc d’Or, Romano, Royal Burgundy

Sweet Corn

Early Sunglow, Golden Bantam, Peaches and Cream, Country Gentleman

Popcorn

Strawberry

Cucumbers

Lemon, Mideast Prolific

Eggplant

Asian Bride., Rosa Bianca

Melons

Okra

Peppers (Sweet)

Banana,

Peppers (Hot)

Ancho

Pumpkins

Lumina,

Squash (Summer)

Zahra, Lebanese White

Squash (Winter)

Acorn, Spaghetti, ornamental gourds

Tomatoes

Brandywine, Golden Jubilee, Italian Gold, Orange Sungold, San Remo, Stupice, Sweet 100’s, Yellow Pear and about a thousand others!

Tomatillo

Plant from seed or buy transplants at a nursery of fun warm-season annual flowers like marigolds, cleome (watch the stickers!), cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias. These warm season flowers make cheerful bouquets. You can also grow everlasting flowers like statice and gomphrena. The widest selection of flowers and vegetables is available to those who start their own from seed and order by mail from the catalogs above and many, many others. 

david

Spicy Tomato Jam

Spicy Tomato Jam ( Approx. 1 1/2 cups)

Remember this is a condiment so have some fun with your favorite foods. This is a FRESH perishable product. Enjoy!

Cut in small pieces, 6 to 8 medium size Tomatoes.
Sprinkle equal parts of Salt and Sugar on the tomatoes.
( I invite you to play with other sweeteners besides processed white sugar. I used Coconut Sugar)
Let sit for a few hours, so they can let down their juices.
(Sometimes I do overnight, covered sitting on the counter)
Strain the sugar/salt water into a pan or pot, bring to a simmer, and reduce down until it has thickened to jam consistency. Stir once in awhile.
Add back in to pan the fresh tomatoes, fresh grated Ginger, and a couple of finely chopped Chile Peppers (or cayenne pepper), for heat.
Let simmer until “jam” has reduced to desired consistency.
Taste for salty, sweet & heat. Finish with a fresh grating of ginger root.

Shopping list: Fresh tomatoes, Salt, Sugar, Ginger root, Chile peppers or cayenne pepper, Lemon (always keep one on hand just in case it's hot, squeeze a little juice in to help balance the intensity)

Pam

Assignment for Week 1

In one succinct paragraph, tell me the one most important thing you learned about soil in Sunday's lecture and email it to me before Friday.

Thank you, 

david

Modern Backyard Food Production: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Save

Course Number: Biology X 489.6  

Instructor: David King

310.redacted

greenteach(at)gmail(dot)com

There are no prerequisites for this course, although some experience with gardening will prove useful.

All classes meet at The Learning Garden on the Venice High School campus where it can be hot and cold by turns – but reliably MUCH COOLER than other parts of Los Angeles. For your own comfort, please bring a sweater or coat to every class meeting. We will have access to a classroom for really rainy days; class will meet regardless of the weather. Expect to get wet or cold as we will be outside whenever possible.

The production, packaging, and transportation of food are large contributors to our global carbon emissions. Throughout the Los Angeles Basin, food gardens have sprung up to produce local healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables while contributing energy and financial savings in difficult economic times. Using the history of growing food in the city in times of need as a template, this course explores how homegrown food can reduce your food budget and address environmental concerns. Participants each have a small plot for growing food where they can experiment with new ideas and enjoy their harvest. Topics include fruit trees, vegetables, and berries that do well in our climate as well as often overlooked food-producing perennials and how to grow food in modern city lots where the "back forty" describes square feet and not acres.

Textbooks Required:

Title: Sunset Western Garden Book

Author Brenzel, Kathleen Norris (Editor)

Edition Feb. 2007

Publisher Sunset Books

ISBN 978-0376039170

Title: Growing Food In Southern California

Author King, David

Edition October 2010

Publisher Wobbly Press

ISBN

Textbooks, Recommended:

Title: The Kitchen Garden

Author Thompson, Sylvia

Edition First

Publisher Bantam Books

ISBN 0-553-08138-1

*(She has a companion cookbook that is worth investigation too!)

Title: Heirloom Vegetable Gardening

Author Weaver, William Woys

Edition First

Publisher Henry Holt

ISBN 0-8050-4025-0

Hard to find – out of print

Title: Pests of the Garden and Small Farm: A Grower's Guide to Using Less Pesticide

Author Flint, Mary Louise

Edition 2nd

Publisher Univ of California Agriculture & Natural Resources

ISBN 978-0520218109

There will be no assigned reading from these books, however, as references, they will prove invaluable to any serious student in this field. There will be bibliographies describing other books as the quarter progresses, I am a ferocious reader and not at all shy about suggesting books I like.

Course Schedule:

DATE

TOPIC

03 October

Introduction/History of Food Gardening/Introduction to Soils

10 October*

10/10/10 Potluck/Tools/Garden Tour/ Plot Assignment

17 October

Timing and Design

24 October

Soil Preparation/Composting

31 October

Sustainability and Food Issues in Modern America

07 November

Supplies/Sources/Annuals

14 November

Planting/Companions/Crop Rotation in a Small Garden

21 November

Perennials/Bulbs as a part of your food supply

28 November

NO CLASS – Happy Thanksgiving!

05 December

Home orchard/Vines

12 December

Planning for Continuous Harvests

(Syllabus may be changed as needed to reflect reality.)

* October 10th The learning Garden will be hosting a 100 Mile Meal Potluck – while you will not required to participate, you are encouraged to. It should be a lot of fun and the potluck will have several speakers talking about sustainable opportunities in our locale.

Point Assignment Structure

Class participation    20

Garden Journal        30

1 page write-up*     10

Planting Project       40

TOTAL                   100

* A sample one-page write up is the final page of this syllabus.

Office hours are by appointment only – please call or email me. I am willing to meet with you; I want you to learn and not struggle. Please do not hesitate to call me, rather than try to talk to me in class when I can't really give you undivided attention. Extra points are available if you need to earn more credit.

Every week, Pamela Nears and or myself will prepare some seasonal food to eat. There are no places to buy food while in class and we are here for four hours. Students are encouraged to bring in food to share with the class at all meetings. The last meeting we will have a potluck where we will all share food cooked – local and fresh! (That's the point, right?)

The Learning Garden is open daily, 10 to 5:00 PM, every day but Monday. You are welcome to come here and work on your plot or just come and hang out. It's always best to call ahead to make sure I'm here as sometimes I have errands or chances off campus to earn money.

Criteria for your garden plot grade:

1. You should experiment and try something you have never done – explore!
2. Your plot and adjacent pathways should be cleared of weeds.
3. Your plot and adjacent pathways should be well mulched.
4. Your plot should be attractive and be growing some food.

The person who starts from seed vs. bringing in already growing plants, will have plants not nearly as far along as the others – but still stands to make a better grade if they have experimented with growing from seed – I am more interested that you LEARN in this class – just doing what you already have done doesn't teach you anything. We are all gardeners here, if we don't have patience yet, we soon will. Cultivate patience with your plants while in The Learning Garden. At the very least indulge me while I am assigning you grades.

All handouts (including this syllabus) will be available on a blog site:

http://lagardennotes.blogspot.com/

In fact, it will have your assignment for next week. Please do this before you come to class.

BEETS Beta vulgaris

Botanical Information:

Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot family

4 to 8” tall

Biennial

Growing Season:

Spring, Fall and Winter

Seed to Harvest:

8 weeks or more

Spacing: 3” on a side

Seeds store: ~4

Choice Varieties: Chioggia, Burpee's Golden,

Cotyledons: 

Description:

The sweet roots of beets are often over- looked because of their 'earthy' taste. The problem with most beets on dinner tables these days is that they've been out of the ground for a very long time – the earthiness overtakes the sweetness. These two beets, the Italian Chioggia and the Golden Beet from W. Atlee Burpee Co. breeding program in the late 1800's, are among the sweetest vegetables in any garden!

Starting the seeds: Direct sow in the garden, a short row every week or so all through the cool season

Growing: Keep the moisture as even as possible. Mulch the beets as soon as possible – don't cover their leaves, but bring the compost as close to the plants as you can without covering the leaves. Cut off the leaves of any that are too close together – throw the baby leaves in salads. Do try to give them enough space to make an edible root, an inch or so for those who want baby beets, two or more for larger roots.

Harvesting: Pull roots as you need them. Beets do not have to be pulled all at once and will hold in the garden for a few weeks – longer if it's cool out.

Preparation and Using: Beet greens can be used just the same as chard – they are, in fact, the same species, one bred for a root and the other for its leaves. They taste pretty much the same and can be cooked the same or used raw in salads.

Today, most folks don't realize that American sugar was beet sugar until the mid 1900's when we switched to 'pure cane sugar.' The roots, though, should be just par-boiled enough to get the skins to slip off. Slice them into convenient slices and sauté in orange juice until slightly al denté. This is a wonderfully sweet side dish. Cut red beets into heart shapes before sautéing and serve on Valentine's Day or another significant holiday for your love.

Problems: Not much in our climate, although snails will eat the baby leaves as they emerge.

Felco Pruner Dealership!

It has been a while since the last post and for that I apologize. My left wrist, which had been healing nicely, got whacked around in late June/early July and ever since has felt as bad as when I first injured it in May! I have been trying to keep it under wraps since then and trying very hard to not do anything, even typing, that might stress the injury further.

But, I've just been approved as a Felco distributor and I had to share the news! I have sold a lot of Felcos in my time, however, I just wasn't making any commission on the sale, so this is not that big of a change. It should be a win/win situation - students in my classes can get these valuable tools without having to pay high prices and add shipping on top of that. There are inexpensive Felcos that are rarely seen for sale in Los Angeles such as the 160L and 160S (pictured), which have composite handles and the same famous Felco blades. With a retail price of $25 there is no reason any student, or gardener, should suffer with anything less than a Felco.

I do intend to stock some of my favorites as well - oftentimes in Los Angeles you cannot purchase anything other than the Felco 8, which is the standard ergonomic right hand pruner. I have come to prefer the Felco 6 for my day in and day out pruner - it is smaller and so gets into tight corners with more ease and fits my hand nicely. You can purchase these online for as little as $51 plus tax and shipping; and, while I've not worked out the final price, it will probably be a lot closer to $45 without shipping. I hope to have a few left-handed models and a representative selection of the other popular models.

In line with this, I'll be able to offer grafting knives from Tina and Swiss Army - both brands I use and respect as being good knives with good value, as well as Silky saws, which are the top of the line for pruning saws. I know I'll stock several of the Swiss Army knives most days and for my propagation class (held in the propagation season) I'll add a few Tina knives - including a few left handed models.

I don't have any stock yet and it will be a few weeks before I begin to have an inventory - I expect to carry a larger inventory when I am actively teaching the UCLA Backyard Food Production class and especially for the Propagation class where these are required tools.

If you have Felcos that need repair, cleaning/sharpening/broken parts replaced, give me a call or stop by The Learning Garden. I will give you a fair price and very good service. 

Starting from the left: Felco 2 - a good quality, somewhat ergonomic pruner, the Felco 6 the state-of-the-art ergonomic pruner for smaller hands, the Felco 7 with it's rotating handle (and probably overkill for most gardeners not pruning several hundred roses at a time), the Felco 8, like the 6, the standard state-of-the-art right handed pruner for larger hands,which has been my standard pruner for most of the last 25 years, the Felco 9 for southpaws and the Felco 13 for two-handed pruning - if you do a lot of pruning, think hard about adding a Felco 13 for those days of heavy work - an 8 on one's belt on the right side and the 13 on the left will do almost anything you could ask for without countless trips up and down the ladder! The final Felco on the right is an anvil pruner. I will not sell, nor recommend any anvil pruner. I am sure the Felco anvil pruner is well-made, but research shows the anvil style of pruners are much more likely to crush a plant stem while cutting it and they are difficult to make good cuts with because the 'anvil' is much bulkier than the hook of the bypass pruner.

And I can go on... I am very pleased to be able to offer these tools to the West Los Angeles gardening public. Stay tuned for more 'cutting edge' news...

david