Growing Gardens Instructional Guide

Melissa Schilling Art Projects, Haitian Culture/Language, Urban Agriculture

Project HOPE Art
Growing Gardens Instructional Guide

Why does Project HOPE Art promote gardening as an art form?
Because art should permeate everything we do to make the world a better, more creative and inspiring place to live.
Art + Science go hand in hand. We need both to live. One feeds our mind and soul. The other nourishes our bodies.

KEY GARDENING INFORMATION

What does Organic Farming mean?
Growing fruits and vegetables without artificial chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. A practice of avoiding chemicals all together in order to be gentle and natural with the earth.

Why should I Repurpose and Recycle items?
To reduce waste and stop contributing to the ugly practice of discarding items carelessly when there is plenty of life left in them. The earth doesn’t need more trash floating in the ocean, in rivers, on the streets and in cities and towns all over. Find beauty in the old and see new ways to re-use your garbage.

Soil
Soil is the essence of gardening. And you must take care of your dirt the same way you tend your fruits and vegetables. Soil health translates to fruit and vegetable health. You want your soil to both drain and retain moisture. You want your soil to receive healthful components found in compost, which means encouraging worms and other helpful creatures. And adding grit or fine gravel to your soil on occasion is the key to finding balance in the composition of your soil.

If your soil is very acidic, add lime. Some vegetables like acidic soil (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans and onions).
If your soil is very alkaline, add leafmold, peatmoss and compost. (The Brassica Family: Mustards and Greens like alkaline soil).

What is Compost?
It is the practice of adding in rotting vegetable and fruit matter back into the soil to amend soil texture, re-introduce nutrients and vitamins and help soil drainage. Using wood for your compost storage bin is the most helpful material because it allows your compost to stay warm (which helps it break down) and allows it to breathe and air out.
You can compost:
-all garden waste
-shredded or chopped woody material
-tea, coffee, egg shells
-newspaper, wood ash, torn cardboard, animal/human hair and straw
-avoid weeds and cooked food

Put all your compost into your bin. Stir it once a week. When your compost has broken down from heat, moisture and time. It should begin to be sweet smelling. That is when it is time to spread it out into your garden.

Vermicomposting: You can add red earth worms into your compost to help it along with the breaking down process. Worms eat your scraps and leave behind their own waste. Worm poop is also vital to soil health.

CROPS

Moringa Trees- The Moringa tree is native to northern India, but today it is common throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Moringa trees grow easily from seeds or cuttings. They grow quickly even in poor soil and bloom 8 months after planting.

Onions – One of the most useful vegetables to have in your garden.
They prefer open, sunny spots and can be planted almost any time of year, as long as your treat their soil with compost.
They can be grown from seed or small bulbs called sets. They generally take 18-42 weeks to be harvested. Allow the leaves to fall back and flop over, then gently loosen your onion from the soil. Let them ripen in the sun on the ground for a few days.

Cabbages – A fantastic choice for pikliez, salad slaws and accompaniment for braised meats. They prefer open sites protected from wind. They do not like fresh compost, so choose a spot that was enriched with compost one or two growing seasons previous. They generally take 20-40 weeks to be harvested. Cabbages can be troublesome to grow, but if you cut them from the stem carefully you may get a second round of cabbage. Be gentle with them. Store them for weeks in cool, airy places.

Bush Beans – The most versatile bean for cooking, they include kidney, lima and snap. They love sunny, open spots and do particularly well in containers. They generally take 7-14 weeks for harvesting. To sow: make a trench about 1 ½ inches deep, 6 inches wide and as long as you have space (2 feet to 6 feet long)and plant two rows of seeds in your trench. Weed carefully. Keep watch for mice, snails and slugs. They will steal or eat your seeds and young shoots. Once mature your beans are safe. Pick your beans often, the more you pick, the more will grow. Old beans will become tough, so eat them young. You can always return old beans to the ground to grow new beans.

Bush Beans – Also known as Runner Beans, these types of beans are very easy to grow. And adore warm places. They love a sunny, open spot that has not been recently enriched with compost. They grow well in containers. No matter where you choose to grow them, make sure you have a firm stake in the ground to train your beans upwards towards the sun. They will be ready to harvest in 14-26 weeks. Pick the beans often and eat them same day or next day. This may mean you have to share your bounty with friends and family.

Lettuces – The widest range of textures, colors, flavors and appearance. Lettuces will tolerate shade but prefer open, breezy sun spots. Moisture-retentive soils are best. You can grow them almost any time of year. They will be ready to harvest in 6-15 weeks. The same plants will go on growing new heads, providing you with an economy of space.

Beets – A joy to have in the garden with it’s splashy colors. Very easy to grow, Beets love equally large containers and rich, light soils with lots of sun. Start with many seeds in the ground and thin them out as necessary to give ample space to spread out and grow. In general, you can expect to harvest in 8 weeks. Simply pull them from the ground. Younger, smaller beets are juicier and more flavorful.

Tomatoes – Prepare to be amazed with the incredible flavor of a homegrown tomato. They need sunshine and ample space to stretch out. You will undoubtedly need to provide stakes or a support system to hold the arms of the tomato plant aloft and keep tomoatoes from unnecessarily rotting on the ground. Establish a watering routine to avoid the fruit from splitting or bursting. They generally take 8 weeks to be ready for harvest.

Moringa Seedlings

Melissa Schilling Art Projects, Urban Agriculture

Here at PHA we have a smaller internal team dedicated to germinating Moringa Seeds. It’s proving to be a tough endeavor coaxing life into these dry, scaly seeds in the cool Northern California climate.
Our last seed germination project, a Pwa Workshop was so simple and straightforward. You can grow a 3 inch bean seedling in under a week with almost zero effort. Not so with these Moringas.

Lead Artist Jenni Ward incubated these two seeds on a fish tank light. Then I carelessly left them on a windowsill in my Oakland, CA apartment over the weekend and came home this morning to discover green life.

Music to my eyes.

Following are planting instructions for Oleifera Seeds from Moringa Matters.
There are many ways to plant Moringa seeds. Some Moringa growers soak the seeds for a few days, some plant them in pots, somesow them directly into the ground. Our best results have come from starting them in small pots, in loose, organic potting soil that has some coconut coir mixed in with it.

Plant them about 3/4 to 1 inch deep, and tamp the soil down on top of them loosely. They do not like compacted soil. Then, water them thoroughly, put them in a warm place with as much light as possible, and wait. You can give thema little water every day, until they sprout – then, every other day, water until the soil on top is moist. Too much water – they will drown!

Once they are about 8 inches tall, we plant them right into the ground or transfer them into larger pots. You can start them in Jiffy Peat Pellets, but peat does not provide enough nourishment for them to thrive. If you use the Peat Pellets, transplant them into larger pots filled with potting soil, when they are about 3 inches tall – Jiffy Peat Pellet, and all!

Above, we mentioned soaking the seeds. If you do, be prepared – they develop a strong, unusual smell. We usually plant ours right into the potting mix or into the ground, but soaked seeds are fine – just remember to use the water they soaked in, when you are planting them. They do not care for clay, heavily compacted soil, vermiculite, or peat pots. The Jiffy Peat Pellets are fine for sprouting them, but peat pots dry out too fast for Moringa seedlings. If that is all you have to use, you will have to keep a close watch on them, so they do not dry out.

If you intend to start them right in the ground, please remember that Moringas are considered to be a tropical tree, and they require sunlight, warmth, and some water to grow properly. Once they are firmly established, with “woody” trunks, Moringas can withstanddrought-like conditions – but, they need the 3 items underlined above, to get off to a good start. Moringa seeds prefer to sprout in temperatures that are between 70° and 90°F. Allow for good drainage, however you plant them, as their roots will rot in soggy soil.

Within 2 weeks of planting your Moringa seeds, you should have seedlings up, sporting healthy, green leaves. Once they put out some distinct branches, water them only once or twice a week. They do not like their roots to be standing in wet soil, so be sure they have good drainage. When they are about 8 to 10 inches tall, we start to harvest a few leaves from each seedling, by cutting the branches in half, which encourages them to “bush” out.

Not too much water, lots of warmth, occasional organic fertilization, some water, and your Moringa seeds will sprout, and grow into lovely, valuable Moringa trees!

Why Choose Art?

hyperenthusiasm short story series 1 Comment

One of the most powerful stories of inspiration for this mission came from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, who was amongst the first British soldiers to liberate the concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

“It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for those internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post-mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.”

As we search for a way to keep them fed, we can give these kids a reason to laugh like children, to play like children, and to dance.

Rather than lipstick, help us source paints, journals, copper wire, pencils, scissors, feathers, glitter and charcoal. Support us in our current Indieagogo Campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/rainbowstohaiti

Why Bring Rainbows to Haiti?

sparklelizz short story series 2 Comments

Following my first year of law school, I spent the summer of 2003 in Mississippi, investigating cases for a death penalty defense office.  It was a fascinating and horrifying summer, where the silver lining we sought was a life in prison, rather than death.  Since then, I’ve worked on a variety of important human rights causes.  I’ve worked side by side with many dedicated, passionate, hard workers who are committed to making the world a better place by alleviating suffering and helping people survive.

What’s been missing in these endeavors, however, is an element of *joy*.   What draws me to Project HOPE Art’s work with orphans in Haiti is precisely that joy.  It is the sparkle, the whimsy, the art, the laughter, and the delight.

Because playing, dancing, and creating are essential to leading a life worth living.  And these things should not be a luxury for those who can afford it.

Because laughter is a human necessity.  And joy is a human right.

 

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To help us bring joy  and sparkle to Haiti this July, please consider donating to Rainbows to Haiti

Project Hope Art gears up for The Bounce Festival!

hyperenthusiasm Art Projects, Fundraiser

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Birds! Flowers! Art! This year The Bounce Festival is pairing up with Project HOPE Art, a group of artists who provide art healing workshops for kids in Haiti. You have a chance to make a difference, support the Intentional Whimsy movement and take your very own piece of The Bounce home! This year’s stage design will have cut outs of animals and flowers designed by the children in Haiti that Project HOPE Art has been working with for the last several years. The cut outs will be available for sale to raise money for PHA’s art+science programming in Haiti which brings creativity, joy, and hope to these children’s lives.  

To learn more about and to donate to PHA, look for the Project HOPE Art booth during The Bounce Festival.