Make Your Very Own Pesticides!

You read that right! Next time you're fighting off insect damage on your veggies and thinking of taking the easy way out by using conventional pesticides, CONSIDER THIS!

http://www.herbcompanion.com/gardening/defend-your-garden-with-herbs.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_content=6.5.12+HBC+eNews&utm_campaign=2012+ENEWS&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

Remember! Whenever you try a new spray, be sure to test it on a small area and wait a day or two before you spray the entire plant.

End of the Term

Unfortunately spring term has gone by so quickly and our Organic Gardening class is coming to an end. But the great thing about this class is that the knowledge we learned about producing our own food is most likely to stick with forever! Those who will not be here in the summer wont be able to watch their plants grow and produce, but the plants will be cared for and eaten by other students who are here in the summer. Here is some final photos to look at how our garden crops are doing! We added a bunch of leaves to our walkways in order to suppress weeds as much as possible.

Brian's Plot is starting to take shape! As you can see, on the bottom right of this photo Carrots are sprouting and it only took one sow! Pepper plants are still growing and will take about 55 days to mature! Under the netting in the upper right corner cucumbers are growing!

After some bad luck with sowing these seeds directly in, organic cucumber starts were placed. A overhead trellis structure will be going in after these start growing!

Hannah's Plot is also filling out nicely! As you can see her lettuce is growing nicely and her Mint is thriving!

Her tomatoes are already starting to bloom with her basil growing in between!

Joe's Plot is also doing great! Some spinach is already to be harvested. His parsley is also maturing fast right next to his sunflowers.

Cheryl's plot is looking great! All her medicinal herbs around the border of her plot are thriving. The strawberries in the tower are loving their home and a sunflower carefully placed in the middle of the tower will add a nice touch.

A word about Medicinal Herbs!

By Cheryl Bryson:

Can you name this herb plant?

MEDICINAL PLANTS:

IMPORTANT!  Many herbs have “cautions” when taking as medicine. Always contact your Naturopathic Physician or Herbalist.

Borage –  Infusion taken for early stages of lung disorders or feverish colds.  Pulp juice good for depression, grief or anxiety. Stimulates adrenal glands the “fight or flight” hormone. Great herb for STRESS

Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) – Native Americans treated snakebite, fevers and old stubborn wounds.  Generally used in tinctures or powders for kidney infections, mucus and colds. Antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties. Has been used in Aids therapy.

Sage – Memory enhancing herb. Helps in restoring failing memory in the elderly.  Makes a good gargle or mouth wash. Useful for menopausal problems. Fresh leaves make a bitter digestive stimulat. In China the root is taken for “moving blood” for stagnation for menstrual pain and heart conditions.

Thyme – An antiseptic expectorant, serial parts ideal for deep-seated chest infections.  Warming for stomach chills and diarrhea. 

Yarrow – Flowers are rich in chemicals that are converted by steam into anti-allergenic compounds used for various allergic mucus problems, including Hay Fever. Leaves encourage clotting of blood.  Root tonics stimulate circulation and can be used for high blood pressure.

Marigolds – Petals can be applied externally for skin problems and inflammation. As an essential oil it is an effective anti fungal.

Chamomile -  Infusion teas can help irritable bowel syndrome, poor appetite and indigestion. Often used when a patient has insomnia, anxiety or stress.  Ointments are used to treat insect bites, wounds, itching eczema. Dissolve 5-10 drops of tincture in warm water and use for conjunctivitis or strained eyes.

Fennel – An infused tea is useful for digestion problems.  Used in Chinese Medicine for abdominal pain, colic and stomach chills. Prescribed for urinary problems, such as kidney stones.

Strawberries – Appetite stimulate.  Liver tonic, especially good during convalescence after hepatitis. Crushed berries can be used as a poultice for sunburn and skin inflammations. Tonic “steep berries in wine to make a traditional remedy for “reviving the spirits and making the heart merrie.”

Lavender – Can be taken for nervous exhaustion, tension headaches.  Good for asthmatic and bronchitic spasms. 

Mint – As an infusion for nausea, travel sickness, indigestion and migraines. Compress to cool inflamed joints or rheumatism. 

Basil – Rub fresh leaves on insect bites to reduce itching. Combine the juice with equal parts of honey for coughs. 

GOING TO MARKET!

We have been going to the local Saturday market in Corvallis to sell produce for the past three weekends. This past weekend we sold Organic Fennel, Organic Chard, Organic Kale, Various Organic Lettuces, and Organic Radish's that we harvested the night before. The laborious process that a farmer must follow in order to sell their crops is shown to our class through various days that we sign up for Saturday market shifts. It goes something like this!

• Arrive at the farm around 4pm Friday.
• Harvest all produce into transport tubs.
• Transport tubs of produce to a wash station.
• All dirt, bugs, and molting leaves are picked off and washed with COLD water and placed into a clean transport holding tub. It's VERY important how you place the produce into the buckets so that they are not bruised or compromised in any way. Especially with lettuce.
• Once produce is all clean, it is taken into a cold chamber where it is left overnight until the morning.

•  Arrive Saturday at 7am at the farm to load up all the supplies we need for farmers market.
• Canopy, Tables, Signs, Cashbox, Baskets for display, Water for plants, Vegetable and Plant starts, Produce for sale. 

• All the veggie starts are given a thorough watering before we leave.
• Arrive at Saturday market and set up booth and vegetables in a presentable manor for customers.
• Scout out all the other organic produce prices at the market and price the same as them, we don't want to compete too much! 
• SELL SELL SELL!
• Farmers market starts at 9am and goes till 1pm.

We sold aver $500 of produce and vegetable starts this weekend!
Since the university barely funds our Organic Gardening class, we are self funded apart from OSU. All the money made at the farmers market goes directly towards seeds and input material for our class gardens! Its all about the students!

Our organic produce table was sold out by the end of the day!!

Radish's, Fennel, Chard, Kale, Lettuce! All Organic!

Our pricing board!

Organic Tomato starts, Sweet Basil, and Strawberry starts!

Organic Gardening Class Sign

Organic Tomato and Strawberry start sales specialists!

Let us help you select the best tomato for your garden! Determinant vs Indeterminate! Saucing vs Slicing!

Part of the Organic Gardening class at OSU! Thanks to the community for supporting us!

WOO for sunny weather!

Weather is finally on our side! Perfect planting weather! Take a look below!

It's great to see that our Garden of Eatin is up and running with plants in the ground!
Warm weather finally came out so we took a risk in planting those frost susceptible veggies!
Check out some pictures from our garden!

Brian's Plot. 4 different kinds of organic peppers planted. Joelens Red Italian Peppers, Flamingo Peppers, Carmen Peppers, and Stocky Red Peppers.

PEPPERS! What conditions they require to be planted in and what is necessary for producing tasty peppers.  Click Here  
As you can see, I spaced my peppers a little close together. This allows some of the leaves from the neighboring plants to shade the bearing fruit!
Above you can see on the bottom right hand corner I am starting cucumbers by seed! hopefully I will be able to germinate some!

Organic Sweet Italian Red peppers!

Some of the carrots that I planted last week are starting to sprout!

Hannah's Plot.  You can see her Organic lettuce starts and organic mint plants on the ends!

Hannah's Organic Orange Mint

Joe's Bean sprouts are in the soil and starting to climb!

French Marigolds and Alyssum in the back ground.

Its important to keep in mind that flowers have a place in the garden too. Especially important in organic gardens because flowers attract beneficial insects that will eat other insects which are on a mission to eat your crops.  Marigolds and Alyssum are excellent examples of flowers that can attract hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps. Also the marigold flowers attract butterflies and hoverflies, and the roots produce a secretion that kills root-eating nematodes in the soil. The flower petals are edible. 

Cheryl's Plot! LOOK AT THAT STRAWBERRY TOWER!

Cheryl's plot is surrounded by medicinal herbs and flowers.

 A little look at our student tunnels which veggies are thriving!

Lettuce!

MORE LETTUCE!

Tomatoes are coming along!

Mr. Bee! It's good to see that some pollinators are out and about and visiting our garden!

Rain Rain Go Away

Lots of rain this week in Corvallis! We had a small window to get some plants into the ground but the weather here is still far to cold for most veggies. They will have to stay in the greenhouse till the sun starts to come out!
Here's some updated pictures for you to see!

Before and After!


Before!




AFTER! Our student plot is on the move!! You can see above that everyone really hustled to turn soil before the wet weather reached. Our plot is on the top left with the white flags.




Here is Brian's turned section of out 40'x10' plot. The right corner row will have 4 bush cucumber plants, the 4 rows on the top will be all peppers, and the row on the left was just sowed with carrots!




The Strawberry Tower in the making! You can see some organic oregano in the corner of the plot! Medicinal and Conventional Organic Herbs will be covering the rest of the garden space in Charyl's plot.




Organic Oregano and a Climbing Nasturtium beside it.




Climbing Nasturtium. Organic! I guess you can eat the leaves and flowers!




Organic Veggie and flower starts that are finished growing in the greenhouse and ready for soil. Unfortunately cold weather is on the way so lettuce, peas and some herbs are the only things that could go in the ground thus far.




Our digital scale for weighing out Organic OMRI approved fertilizer. Our class is required to follow a formula to calculate the necessary fertilizer application specific to each vegetable.




Some carrots that Brian planted. Hopefully we will get some purple carrots!




Just an update on some of the student group organic tunnels. You can see the fennel is loving the growing conditions! Last weekend our class went out to the Local Corvallis Farmers Market and sold organic strawberry and veggie starts and made near $700 in ONE day. I think more and more people are starting to grow their own food!



OUR GARDEN IS UNDERWAY!

Here is our tentative layout. Each member is given a portion of our 40x10ft plot in which you can see our whole student garden layout. We are on the southern most side of the student garden. (in the photo, the TOP LEFT) Most other groups have elected to have 20x20ft plots. We decided on the 40x10ft plot because we didn't want to waste room for HUGE paths to get to the center of our garden when we could be planting vegetables there!


Student Organic Gardening Plot


Each student in our group will be specializing in growing a few vegetables and herbs. This includes learning about the specific needs of each plant including: The soil conditions, NPK requirements, Sun/shade preferences, Watering Schedule, Drainage requirements,  Harvest periods, Spacing, ect. Along side the vegetables, you can see our efforts to incorporate diversity into our plot by planting flowers and herbs that attract beneficial insects to help with pests! Its all about organic and not about synthetics!



Our Tentative Plan!



This Link will provide you with a more extensive plan for our garden. We used the Garden Planner located on Mother Earth News. This site is excellent and highly recommended. It includes everything about your region where you are planting. It automatically spaces plants and calculates growing/harvesting periods. Check out our prospective plants!http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=274690

Here is a link to the garden planner so you can start your garden layout!
http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews.com/

ADDITIONALLY!
Here is some updated photos from our class's efforts! We are growing in three protected tunnels! These vegetables will be taken and sold at the Local Corvallis Farmers Market!


Tunnel #1 running east to west (Student plot on the Left!)




Tunnel #2



Tunnel #3. ALL TOMATOES BABY!

  Shaping our plot and beds this weekend! Such nice planting weather right now! Go plant some seeds somewhere!

Here you can see 3 recently planted beds under the Oak Creek covered beds. Once the plastic covers were placed over the plots, the soil had to dry out a little before it could be worked. It's been a very wet season here in Oregon!

Organic Farming at its finest!

The basis of Organic Farming is not to use any synthetic inputs for the soil. Instead, putting organic material back into to soil through natural methods is a great alternative. Organic material -aka- "fallen leaves" are placed over the soil (with Precipitated Calcium Carbonate to raise the pH) which are broken down naturally by microorganisms.  The soil is turned and formed into a "raised bed" which allows for superior drainage. Take note that when the soil is turned, the soil isn't broken up and pulverized into a fine granular substance (like a rototiller would do). This allows for the preservation of naturally occurring bacteria ecosystems! In one pinch of soil, there are ONE BILLION organisms! All of which have a specific role in the food chain and soil-nutrient health!

Once the soil is turned, shaped, and spread, Organically certified OMRI approved fertilizer is spread out. Compost (used for potting soil) is then lightly spread out so that our vegetable seedlings can be planted.

You can see above a variation of lettuces, spinach, fennel, and radishes just starting to flourish. The tent to the left will have tomatoes! To the far right is where our garden of eatin will begin. More picture to come!!

The class is responsible for these beds which the produce will be sold at the Corvallis Farmers Market!





The Garden of Eatin

We are a group of Oregon State University students pursuing to create a sustainable garden using organic practices. Our focus is to preserve diversity within the garden by using techniques taught to us in our Horticulture 260 class by James Cassidy himself! Our garden plot is a 10x40 piece of land located at the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture which happens to be a very fertile Silt Loam. Oak Creek produces and sells organic produce at the Corvallis Farmers Market in an effort to support its students. Our garden is just beginning but follow us and we will update you with pictures and the progress that our garden makes!
Our group members include all students from Oregon State University:

• Cheryl Bryson   (Group Leader)
• Joseph Davanzo
• Hannah Dreher
• Brian Haggblom