The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener

S2 E25 Buliding your soil, cold frames, Amy from Hunger task force TWVG radio show

Posted on August 23, 2018

Topics: Joey and Holly talk about building your soil. Building and growing in cold frames also Amy from Milwaukee’s Hunger task force. https://www.hungertaskforce.org/
Building your soil:
– Current issues?
– Test your soil
– Adding organic material
– Raised beds could be an option
– Straw bale garden?
– Build soil in container
– Layer – don’t disturb soil – no till
– Mulch
– Rotate crops
– Cover crops
Cold frames:
– What is a cold frame?
– When to plant?
– What to plant?
– How many layers?
– Low tunnel
– Where to put it?
–
Hunger Task Force is Milwaukee’s Free & Local food bank and Wisconsin’s leading anti-hunger organization. They were founded in 1974 by a group of parent advocates who were fighting for a school breakfast program in Milwaukee Public Schools. Today, Hunger Task Force provides a safety net of emergency food to a network of local food pantries and meal programs. We are the only food bank in Milwaukee that does not charge for food, delivery or network membership.Amy Wallner started as Farm Volunteer Coordinator at The Farm in March 2014. Since February of the following year, Amy has had a lead role in designing and implementing the Hunger Task Force Farm annual crop plan, striving to provide a consistent harvest of 20+ fruit and vegetable varieties throughout the growing season. She is also responsible for continuous farm operation improvements, including visioning for the farm’s multi-year sustainability plan and equipment upgrades.
1. Who is eligible to receive the food from the hunger task force?
2. In addition to the facility where people can drop off food, you have a farm in Franklin. Tell us more about the farm, what is grown there, and where does that food go?
3. Aside from providing food, what other resources do you have available?
4. How many pounds of food is give away each year?
5. Is all food locally sourced donated? Or is food brought in from other regions?
6. If people don’t want to donate, can they volunteer their time?
7. Can people donate money instead of food?
8. Is Milwaukee unique that we have a hunger task force or is there other similar organizations in other large cities like this?
9. How do people find more info?
When is garlic cured?
When to harvest watermelon?

S2E22 Who influenced you to garden? The mittleider garden method, Guest Jan Bujan.

Posted on August 2, 2018

Topics: Joey and Holly talk about who influenced you to garden, the mittleider garden method, and Guest Jan Bujan of https://www.inthegardenwithgrandma.com/
Joey and Holly tells Who influenced them to get into garden?
Mittleider came up with this method in the mid-70’s
Mittleider grow box. The box is basically a raised contained bed with the bottom in contact with regular soil. The substrate used to fill the box is soilless, roughly one-third sand and two-thirds sawdust. The highlights of Dr. Mittleider’s system begin with the idea that crops can be grown in any soil with the proper nutrients introduced and in a closely planted small space. He believed that even a 4-foot Mittleider grow box was sufficient to fulfill much of an individual’s produce needs.

Jan is the blogger on In the Garden with Grandma which is a website devoted to gardening with children and helping to Grow the Gardeners of Tomorrow. It’s a place where families are encouraged to unplug their devices, and together, plug into Mother Nature instead!
1.How did you get into gardening – as we talked about earlier in the show – who influenced you?
2. Why do you feel its so important to have children work in the garden?
3.What ages of children are best for starting to learn to garden?
4.Everyone, especially children, are distracted and love their electronic devices. How do you keep them engaged in gardening?
5.What are some items you reuse for the garden that make gardening easier for kids?
6.How do people find out more about you and your website?