_ This growing season Welby Gardens is once again donating vegetable seedlings to Grow Local Colorado. These plants will be used in a few Denver parks, the Governor’s Mansion and Community Ministry’s food pantry garden.   These gardens will require over 5,000 seedlings.  Thanks to Welby Gardens’ donation of seedlings, GLC’s gardens will look better earlier and produce fresh vegetables sooner.

Welby Gardens is well known by Colorado gardeners.  This family owned business has been around for over 40 years.  In 1944 Alex and Esther Gerace bought land north of Denver and began farming with a horse and plow.  They started out growing vegetables.  In 1948 they built their first greenhouse for vegetable starts.  The family business now has 20 acres of greenhouses and grows over 2,500 varieties of plants.  Over 50 million plants are grown at the Welby Gardens greenhouses each year. 

In 1976 Welby Gardens developed the Hardy Boy logo.  It is now the most recognized seedling brand in the western region.  Welby Gardens works with universities and other industry leaders to produce and test the newest and latest plants.  Each year they test over 2,000 new varieties in their trial gardens.  Their efforts ensure that Coloradoans are able to grow colorful and bountiful gardens.

 Welby Gardens has been providing plants to Coloradoans for four generations.  Because of their generous contribution of vegetable seedlings to Grow Local Colorado, Denver’s most needy will be provided fresh produce this coming growing season.  Many thanks to the Gerace Family!  They truly epitomize GLC’s mission of growing local food, local community and local economy.

If you would like to purchase Hardy Boy Plants, please visit Welby Garden Centers at 7390 Clayton St., Country Fair Garden Center at 2190 S. Colorado Blvd, Country Fair on 17201 W. 64th Avenue, Arvada, or at www.hardyboyplant.com.  

 

__
As you leaf through your seed catalogs and visualize your garden for this upcoming season, consider the financial return that seed order will bring.  This piece by Celeste illustrates the significant return her garden provided.


The Spring/Summer of 2008 was the last year that Denver Botanic Gardens Community Gardens was located at the corner of York and 11th Ave.  Those plots had been upgraded by organic compost, manure, and gardeners over many years.  My 10x15 foot plot was one that was new to me that year (each year '06, '07, and '08, they moved me to a different plot).  A friend the year before had asked me if I thought that the $50 I spent on plants at the DBG plant sale had paid off.  I also had read the monetary value of growing on relatively small areas of land.  It seemed to be an exaggeration.  So I decided that 2008 was the year I'd keep track--more or less--and let my friend, and anyone else, know.
 
So I think I spent about $65 on seeds and seedlings that year.  I began my planting with peas and lettuces and radishes in Mid-March, followed in a few weeks with two kinds of kale, beets, & carrots.  By Mother's Day weekend, I had put in the rest of my crops: 4 kinds of heirloom tomatoes; 2 or 3 kinds of winter squash/pumpkins; green beans, eggplant, basil (2 kinds) and maybe some other herbs.  The beans took over as the peas were finished; the kale likewise stepped in as the lettuces bolted.

Since my plot was along the fence line on 11th Ave., there often were passers-by with whom I'd get into conversation...and offer some of the bounty.  On my way back to my Capitol Hill apartment, I'd pass through Cheesman Park. When the tomatoes were bearing wildly at their peak, I'd offer fresh tomatoes to some of the homeless men in the park, which they thought a grand treat.

I kept an approximate record of my harvest's value.  Like "3 bunches of kale" or 25# of mixed produce, eggplant, tomatoes, squash. Then I priced out my produce by comparing prices at farmers' markets or Wild Oats/Whole Foods.  A rather loose calculation revealed the value of my harvest was $1,173.  I canned maybe 20+pints of tomatoes; froze lots and lots of kale; had more than enough squash to keep me through the winter, and of course lots of produce all spring and summer long.  I had to smile to tell Constance that I thought the $65 was a good investment...  She was duly impressed.  And all from a 10x15' garden plot!

    It is that time of year when we start to think about putting our gardens to rest. This is both a sad and gratifying time for me. It is difficult to think about not being able to step outside to grab a tomato or pluck some herbs, but at the same time, we should be satisfied thinking about the provisions we have gleaned from the earth this year. And hopefully, you have taken some time to set aside some of those provisions for use over the winter. This is a time to celebrate what we are able to gain from working the land and what that has meant for feeding our local community. Because of dedicated GLC volunteers contributing more than 800 hours, over 2,000 pounds of produce went to food banks just in the last week. That is an incredible amount of nutritious, locally grown food that is going to feed our community!
    I stopped by all but one of the gardens this week to see what they looked like at the end of the season. Below you will find a little bit of information and pictures on each.

Harvard Gulch Park Garden
    This garden is one of the larger GLC gardens and is still producing a decent amount of fruits and vegetables. The back of the garden is full of tomato plants that are working on ripening while the middle of the bed has squash, chard, and pepper plants. The pepper plants are not putting out a lot of fruit anymore and most of the beets at the front of the garden have been harvested.

Observatory Park Garden
    This bed has a small amount of produce left and will be taken out on October 14th. The process should take about 25 minutes if 5 volunteers get involved, so email Barbara with your available times on that date if you are looking to devote some time to GLC. The garden is mostly putting out tomatoes at this point, but it is still producing some squash, chard, and a few ears of corn.

Huston Lake Park Garden
    This was my first visit to this garden and I was quite impressed at the size and heartiness of the beds (not to mention the great view)! There are a lot of peppers and some corn that are ready to be harvested. The tomato and eggplant are still maturing, but there is a good amount of both left on the plants.

Barnum Park Garden
    It always excites me to check out what is going on at this garden. It puts out a lot of produce for the space, with a nice variety. The squash, jalapenos, and chard are still prominent throughout the garden. The tomatoes are slowing down a little, but there is still some ripening on the vine.

Civic Center Park Garden
    My favorite thing about this garden is the smell of basil as you get close. The garden is about finished, but there is still a little bit of chard, onion, and pepper left. The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers will be taking this garden out on October 5th, around 6:30 p.m, if you are interested in helping. There is still time for you to get involved with Grow Local Colorado!

Thanks to our incredible volunteers, we exceeded our goal of 1,500 pounds of produce harvested from our gardens.  As of September, 16th, our volunteers harvested and donated more than 2,000 pounds of organic, locally grown vegetables to over eight communities in need.  More than 800 volunteer hours have been logged so far this season.  We could not have done this without the dedicated group of  giving people who support Grow Local Colorado.   We are deeply grateful to each and every one of you for your efforts.

It was overcast with temps in the 70's today as I headed out to take a peek at the GLC gardens. My first stop was at Barnum Park and I was immediately excited when I saw the tomato plants bearing a good amount of fruit and some of the squash ready for harvesting.

I was transported back to my childhood and our family garden, which gave us plenty of produce for canning and stews, keeping us stocked through the winter. Fall is a time when our harvests are plentiful, the smells in the air take us to our favorite food memories, and we contemplate how we will transition our meal preparation for the cooler weather. Our Colorado community is fortunate that there are individuals setting aside time so that others can have access to quality produce, ensuring that they too will partake in some of autumn's sensory experiences.

As I mentioned earlier, the garden at Barnum Park has tomatoes on the rise. There is still rainbow swiss chard, onion, squash, and hot peppers for harvesting. The basil has fully flowered and there are a few eggplants that are yielding fruit. A group of GLC volunteers devoted five hours and harvested forty-one pounds of produce from this garden in the past week.

My next stop was the garden at Huston Lake Park. This is such a lovely, plentiful garden with some wonderful looking produce! It is full of tomatoes and beets that line the perimeter, while varieties of greens, squash and peppers fill the center of the garden. Over the past week, volunteers contributed a total of 24 hours of work and harvested over 136 pounds of produce from the Huston Lake Park garden. As you can see, this garden puts forth a great amount of produce and will continue to need some helping hands!

The garden at Observatory Park is showing its colors with dahlias framing the edges and corn shooting up out of the center. It is not a large garden, but there are plenty of plants packed into the space. In addition to the corn, the garden boasts hearty tomato plants, squash, a couple of pepper plants, and some swiss chard. Volunteers harvested fifty pounds of produce from the garden this past week.

The final stop on my garden tour was the Civic Center Park garden in downtown Denver. This little garden is becoming sparse, but continues to yield a good variety of produce. The squash is beginning to fade, however, there is new swiss chard popping up, the onion is going strong, and there is still a good amount of green basil.

As we move into the fall season, our latest news will keep you posted on the progress of the gardens and the great work being done by GLC volunteers.  If you are looking to volunteer some time to GLC, there will be a crop mob working at the garden at Governor's Mansion, where volunteers harvested ten pounds of produce this past week, from 6-8 pm on Wednesday, September 22nd.