Category Archives: Greenhouse

How Not to Grow Microgreens

Posted on March 2, 2020 | Leave a comment

I’m learning a lot in my first winter growing in the municipal greenhouse in Fairmount Park, as other more experienced growers start to trickle in and get underway, admire my plants and offer suggestions. From one of my greenhouse neighbors this weekend, I learned how not to grow microgreens.

Don’t bury the seeds, as I did in my first plantings (see sprouting daikon radishes, above), not even under a skim of growing medium. Instead spread the seeds on top and cover the tray or pot with something that blocks out the light for a few days until they sprout. When the seeds are buried, the roots latch onto clumps of growing medium that are a pain to clean. I’ll do it the right way with my next batch.

It’ll be great to have as many as I can eat for the next three months. I served my first harvest with roasted beets, gorgonzola cheese and walnuts.

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Posted in Greenhouse, My Gardens

My 2020 Garden’s Indoor Jump Start

Posted on February 23, 2020 | 3 comments

 

After a couple of years on a waiting list, this winter I got into one of Philadelphia’s hidden gems: the greenhouse in the Horticultural Center in West Fairmount Park,  run by the city’s department of parks and recreation. Part of the building is open to the general public. Another part of the facility is a working, commercial-grade greenhouse, half of which is used by parks & rec employees to grow seedlings for gardens in public parks and community recreation centers all over town. The other half of the greenhouse is occupied by a community propagation program. Community gardens, nonprofits, for-profit growers, and individual Philadelphians like me can rent an 8’x3′ table for $50 for the propagation season, which runs from the February through May. So, as I said, after waiting for a couple of years, I’m in, and have wasted no time getting my crops going.

It’s the third week of February, and I’m largely alone so far. Do my greenhouse neighbors know something that I don’t about the folly of getting such an early start? We’ll see.

By the third week of February, few of the other growers in the propagation program have gotten started, but I have eight or 10 different crops underway already including rutabaga, rapini,  kale, chard, cilantro, arugula, sprouting daikon radish, three or four varieties of lettuce and lots of spinach.

I’m planning to put the spinach out in my garden, under a floating row cover, in early March, followed by the lettuce a week or two later. We’ll see how that goes.

One of the propagation program tables near mine

Another table near mine with a myriad of herbs

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Posted in Greenhouse, Municipal Services, My Gardens

Space for Rent in Parks Department Greenhouse

Posted on January 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

I’m a big fan of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation compost, available free of charge to Philadelphia residents, at the city recycling center on Ford Road in Fairmount Park. When it’s open from spring through fall, I drop by once a month or so and shovel many pounds of the stuff into heavy-duty trash bags in the trunk of my car.

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Department greenhouse

The Parks Department, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, is now offering another service to Philly urban farmers: space in a greenhouse in Fairmount Park where you can start your own seedlings. A 3-foot by 8-foot table in the greenhouse costs $50 per season, spring or fall—water and potting mix included. You’ll need to sign up for an orientation session, and kick in five hours of volunteer work to help maintain the greenhouse. For serious gardeners, that seems like a good deal, and fun, to boot. Here’ s a Philadelphia Parks & Recreation memo with the details.

UPDATE: Read about my adventures in the greenhouse here and here.

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Posted in Greenhouse, Municipal Services, Uncategorized