Winter arrived in Philadelphia this past week. For a couple of days, the temperature didn’t get out of the 20s. The low dipped into the teens on two nights. The bout of winter ended with half an inch of snow capped by freezing rain.
The shelter housing my overwinter garden, a thin row cover stretched over wire hoops, sagged under the weight of the frozen precipitation but held up without trouble.
The spinach underneath came through it all looking as healthy as ever.
Posted in My Gardens, Winter Gardening
The board of directors of the Philadelphia Land Bank Board, an entity charged with helping the city redevelop blighted properties, has released a draft of its latest Strategic Plan. The board will hold a public hearing on the plan on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Planning Commission Hearing Room on the 18th floor at 1515 Arch Street.
More than 2,000 properties have been moved into the inventory of the Land Bank since it was established in 2013. Last summer, the Land Bank for the first time began buying tax delinquent properties at tax foreclosure sales, and expects to add 350 more such properties to its inventory through the end of the current fiscal year. That’s lots of land. Urban ag should get some of it. The agency’s mission is to ensure “that acquisition and disposition actions support the need for affordable, workforce and market-rate rental and homeownership opportunities in Philadelphia as well as expand green space as side yards or community gardens and support commercial and economic development.”
Posted in Land Use, Philadelphia Land Bank, Vacant Lots
Bring it on, winter! Nothing’s going to stop me from growing spinach from now right through spring. As of Dec. 2, I’ve got a small patch of spinach, some lettuce, radishes and a few kale plants that have gotten a good start this fall under a light row cover pulled over hoops. I’ll harvest the lettuce soon and see if I can keep the rest going right through the winter. I’ll put polyurethane over the row cover if there’s a deep freeze or substantial snow in the forecast. But the flimsy row cover alone is all the protection my garden needs for now.
Posted in My Gardens
I found a couple of cherry plum tomatoes in my garden, hiding among the dead foliage. Homegrown tomatoes fresh off the vine in December! What a treat. Also among the dead foliage: several handfuls of never ending sour Mexican gherkins.
The Italian flatleaf parsley I started from seed way back in May is still thin but still verdant and giving up enough sprigs for small batches of chimichuri. The patch of spinach, lettuce and kale I am growing under a cover contributed a garnish of sprigs for the tableau of my backyard harvest on Dec. 2.
Posted in Crops, My Gardens
Community gardens can get steeply discounted–and in some cases entirely free–water from the city under a rate determination announced by the Water Rate Board on Dec. 2. The discount is based on the idea that community gardens absorb rainfall, reducing stormwater runoff, a costly problem faced by the city. Here’s the rate board’s announcement: Water Rate Board Releases Rate Determination on Stormwater Fee Discount
Posted in Community Gardens, Municipal Services