Gardeners looking for a new kind of victory

Green Living

Patricia West-Barker | The New Mexican

5/20/2008 - 5/21/08

Victory gardens — fruit and vegetable patches planted in urban and suburban front and back yards, in vacant lots and public parks, in porch pots, even on rooftops — flourished during the first and second World Wars. These private gardens at one time produced almost half of all the produce consumed nationally and took the pressure off the public food supply (which was providing fruit and vegetables to soldiers in the field). The gardens empowered the gardeners, who felt they were making a contribution to the war effort while they helped feed family and friends.

With a few exceptions in Boston and Minneapolis, victory gardens faded away after 1946 — but the practice appears to be (ahem) cropping up again. The battle today's home gardeners are fighting, though, is more about high food prices at home, access to fresher, more nutritious food and the environmental consequences of transporting produce long distances than it is about supporting the government's war efforts.

"I hear people saying, 'Oh, I want to have a victory garden,' all the time," says Galisteo resident and award-winning cookbook author Deborah Madison, a longtime champion of farmers markets. "But we forget that most of us are one or two generations from people who knew how to garden. It wasn't so hard during World War I and World War II to have a victory garden because people knew how to garden, what to do. But most of us don't know too much about gardening."

Madison attributes the growing interest in gardening to "a combination of the environmental crisis and a feeling that you want something you can do to make a difference about food costs and long-distance shipping.

But, she says, even if hundreds of people want to start a garden in their yard or neighborhood, the difficulties of dealing with Northern New Mexico's soil, wind and weather can make it difficult to succeed. "Trying to turn clay into loam and actually grow something when it's May 15 and 45 degrees outside ... most people are going to get discouraged and quit — especially if they have no experience and no kind of gardener's gene in them."

Raised beds beautiful, functional, locally made

One way to improve the chances of a successful crop is to build raised beds, fill them with compost and decent soil, and cultivate your garden within their four walls. You can make raised beds with recycled bricks or stones (which tend to tumble over time). Or for under $40 per box, you could build 4 by 4- or 4 by 8-foot frames from untreated pine lumber, joining the ends with nails, screws or braces. The wood will give several years' service, but will rot eventually.

If you are as unfamiliar with power tools as you are with gardening, and want to make a long-term investment in raised garden beds that are as beautiful as they are functional, neighbors of Madison's in nearby Galisteo may have a solution for you.

Grow Y'own is a joint venture started by Antonio Chavez (Galisteo Woodworks) and Ken Kuhne (Biomes) about a month ago. Chavez and Kuhne are building raised boxes that work like mini-greenhouses. The renewable western red cedar frames come hooped with sunlight-resistant gray plastic electrical pipe. Two row covers are custom sewn to fit over the hoops — a UV-resistant, breathable N-Sulate cover for summer and a winter cover made from 6-mm greenhouse plastic.

Kuhne has been a builder for 36 years, but has recently been looking around for something else to do. "I don't need to build million-dollar houses anymore," he says. He'd rather be showing people how easy it can be to grow their own food — and maybe plant an extra row to help feed the hungry.

Three summers ago, Kuhne helped organize Galisteo's Homeless Harvest, which collected four truckloads of unwanted fruit in four weeks and donated it to Kitchen Angels. "It kills me to see food being wasted," Kuhne says.

The western red cedar he and Chavez chose for the boxes is more expensive than pine, he says, but it is nontoxic and rot resistant and should last as long as the gardener who uses it. The Oregon cedar is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, so it is a sustainably harvested renewable resource. It was important to him that the wood they used be sustainable, Kuhne says.

Because the partners are also concerned about the environmental impact of the production of their boxes, they have invested in two semi-truckloads of cedar, rather placing a number of small orders for shipments as interest in the boxes develops.

They tried a bungee cord around the bottom of the covers to hold them to the boxes, Chavez, a fifth generation Galistean says, but were afraid it would catch and tear the cloth. To solve the problem, he drew on his cabinetry skills, rounding and sanding the corners on the boxes and adding a lip to the upper edge. The lip and the rounded corners add to the fine, finished look of the boxes and allow the covers to be pulled tight to keep out critters that might want to nibble on your greens. When not needed, Chavez says, the covers can be rolled up and clipped to the hoops.

Metal lathe on the bottom of the boxes keeps out the gophers.

Grow Y'own mini-greenhouses are an investment — they range in price from $215 to $450 — but they are made to last with top-quality materials that can withstand the Northern New Mexico climate. Kuhne estimates that he and his wife spend about $275 a year on salad greens alone, which means they could pay off the price of a box in one season.

Madison, an experienced gardener, says she looks forward to having covers on her raised beds. "You don't know what the night temperatures will be," she says. "The wind really takes a toll on little plants; cats love your freshly dug beds and think they are giant cat boxes — so having a cover like that would be great. And when you get your plants started, if the sun's too bright, it gives them shade ... There's really a place for protective gardening here in New Mexico," she says.

The summer cover keeps in moisture while it keeps out wind, rain, hail and extremely hot sun. The winter cover should allow backyard gardeners to grow greens at least 10 months out of the year.

Galisteo resident Muriel Fariello, Grow Y'own's first customer, says that so far her box and cover are doing their job.

She bought the box, she said, because she has a "black thumb," and thought it might help. She planted lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers and beans in the box, watered and covered it over. "We have a lot of wind out here in Galisteo and the top on the box really isn't affected by the wind," she says.

The plants inside the Grow Y'own box sprouted in five days, Fariello says, while others she planted in a different, uncovered box, right next to it, have yet to germinate.

For information about Grow Y'own raised bed garden boxes and covers, call 466-0393 or 466-3601. The 4-foot by 4-foot model with summer cover is $250; the 4-foot by 8-foot model with summer cover is $415. (Winter covers will be available in the fall.)



Love to garden but don't know what to do with all that extra produce? The Food Depot, Northern New Mexico's food bank, is asking backyard gardeners to plant an extra row this year — and donate the excess produce to help feed people in need.

"While we can pick up produce from grocery stores, the farmers market and local farmers, we simply cannot obtain enough produce to meet the growing need," Sherry Hooper, executive director of The Food Depot, said in a recent news release. "Plant a Row for the Hungry offers a simple way for our community's gardeners to get involved in the battle against hunger."

The Food Depot distributes food to 100 not-for-profit agencies in seven counties, providing more than 320,000 meals each month to people in need — primarily children, seniors, the sick and working families who cannot make ends meet.

Produce harvested from home gardens in Santa Fe County can be dropped off at The Food Depot headquarters, 1222 Siler Road in Santa Fe. If you live outside Santa Fe County, call the Food Depot at 471-1633 for the name of an emergency food-distribution center or soup kitchen in your community.


Community gardens are a good resource for those who have no ground of their own to dig, want company while they work, could use the advice of more experienced gardeners, or can't afford to build or buy their own raised beds at this time.

Milagro Community Garden

In existence since 1998, this half-acre garden on Legacy Court has space for 36 plots; so far, about 18 plots have been filled. There is no fee for joining the Milagro Community Garden and volunteers are willing to offer assistance to new members. For more information, call Lauren Longworth at 438-2815 or send an e-mail to
milagro_garden@att.net.

Tessa's Community Garden

When triathlete and passionate gardener Tessa Horan was killed by a shark in Tonga, her Santa Fe friends started a foundation in her honor. The community garden they envisioned this winter is now flourishing at 1205 Don Gaspar St. in downtown Santa Fe. The garden features raised beds, drip irrigation, 12 fruit trees, a compost area and lots of activities for kids. Single mothers and young families are particularly encouraged to participate. Sharing the bounty means working in the garden for a few hours three times week. For more information, send an e-mail to Lehigh
Sheppard@ yahoo.com