Getting a CSA box can be a delicious adventure, especially for those who like to experiment in the kitchen, or those looking to incorporate more vegetables in their diets. If you’re joining a CSA for the first time this year, know that it may take some adjustment to have such an abundance of fresh food in your kitchen. Below are some tips and resources to make the most of the season.

Farmer knows best

If you have questions about the types of vegetables in the CSA share, or the amount of vegetables you’ll be receiving each week, be sure to ask your farmer. No one know the vegetable varieties as well as he or she does. Your farmer will likely have ideas for both preparation and storage of the CSA vegetables. Many CSA farmers send members a weekly newsletter which includes this information as well.

Asking for help also applies when you’re unsure about how or when to pick up your CSA box. A simple question could prevent a lot of frustration or mistakes later on.

Set aside time

I recommend that members find a CSA with a pick-up time and location that is conveinent for them. This may seem trivial when signing up in April, but spending 45 extra minutes in traffic to cross town for your weekly box will quickly grow old. For the same reason, choose a pick-up site that has a conveinent pick-up time for you. If possible, you should try to pick up your share soon after it’s been delivered rather than letting it sit out for hours.

On the arrival of your weekly box, be sure to set aside time at home to process and properly store your new vegetables. Depending on your CSA, you may receive loose, bagged, or boxed veggies. Your vegetables might be processed and ready to store, or there might be a few steps to take before putting them in the refrigerator.

Taking care to use appropriate storage techniques (both short and long term) will lead to fewer wasted vegetables and allow you to gain the highest value from your CSA box. Many of the resources below provide storage recommendations. If you have additional questions, your farmer is your best resource.

Be prepared (for anything)

Cooking from a CSA box often requires you to plan meals in reverse. Rather than finding a recipe and buying specific ingredients at the store, you’ll be provided with raw ingredients that don’t come with an instruction manual.  It’s up to your imagination (Google search is also very helpful!) to determine what meals these vegetables will become.

For most farms, there will be a curve of produce available–this is part of eating seasonally. The progression from delicate spring vegetables (greens, onions, radishes) to the full spectrum of heavy weight produce (tomoates, squash, peppers, cucumbers, beans) is a natural cycle.

Rather than yearn for late summer vegetables in the cool days of spring, embrace the freshness of the greens in your CSA box. You’d never know it from walking the aisles of a typical grocery store, but certain crops taste best when grown at specific times of year. For instance, most Brassica crops (broccoli, cabbage, kale) taste best if they’ve matured in cool weather. Though it’s possible to grow these veggies throughout the summer, they can never compare in flavor to those grown in the spring and fall.

So embrace the seasonal flavors of your local growing region! You’ll likely never taste broccoli at the store that will compare to broccoli you receive in a CSA share. Celebrate the flavor and freshness of your CSA vegetables by taking the time to properly process and store them, and be sure to ask your farmer for advice along the way.

Additional Resources

The Crisper Whisperer: 10 Secrets to Making the Most of Your CSA Box: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/10-secrets-tips-for-making-the-most-of-your-csa.html

Great article. Be sure to check out the “Comments” section as well to read personal tips and experiences from CSA members.

How to Get the Most out of Your CSA: http://www.thekitchn.com/tips-for-getting-the-most-out-147351

Another good resource with additional tips found in the “Comments” section.

7 Ways to Add More Veggies to Meals You’re Already Cooking: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/05/7-ways-to-add-more-veggies-to-meals-youre-already-cooking.html

One of many online resources that explores creative ways to incorporate more vegetables into home made meals.

Harvesting and Storing Home Garden Vegetables: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG1424.html

An introduction to storage for specific vegetables. Be sure to ask your CSA farmer if you have questions!

Vegetable Directory from the University of Illinois Extension: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/directory.cfm

Each vegetable entry includes useful information on processing and storage.

This cover crop blend is still thriving from last fall. Now's the time to plant for summer.

Cover crops have a reputation in the Pacific Northwest as being great for fall planting (and they are!). They help keep soil and nutrients in place through winter rains, they provide habitat for beneficial pollinators and insects, and they provide organic matter for the soil when turned under in the spring. But you don’t need to wait until fall–any time of year is good for cover crops!

Summer cover crops provide many of the same benefits as fall and winter cover crops. In the summer, the canopy of a well established cover crop can keep the soil from drying out and crusting by forming a protective canopy. This canopy is also used as habitat for beneficial garden bugs like these. Some cover crops will add nitrogen to your soil, and others will produce large amounts of organic matter that will improve the tilth of your soil once they have broken down.

How do I plant a summer cover crop?

1) Prepare the ground:

As with fall sown cover crops, you’ll need to lightly prepare the ground for planting. Remove weeds from the area and lightly rake or till the spot you’ll be planting. You’ll have much higher germination rates and more vigorous plant growth if you sow the cover crop seeds into prepared soil rather than an area with compacted soil or overgrown with weeds.

If you don’t have much space in your garden, consider planting a low growing cover crop like clover in the pathways, or planting cover crop seeds in the bed underneath an established crop. As long as the vegetable crop is well established, the cover crop should not provide too much competition.

2) Inoculate:

Nitrogen nodules on the roots

If the seed is a legume (bean, pea, vetch, clover), it can add nitrogen to your soil. Legumes have a relationship with certain bacteria and fungi in the soil that aggregate in nodules of the roots of these plants. The bacteria “fix” nitrogen–meaning they process it into a form that is usable for plants.

To ensure that the correct nitrogen fixing species are in the soil, we recommend inoculating the seeds. Inoculant is simply a mixture of bacteria and fungi species that work with legumes. Be sure that you purchase an inoculant that is compatible with your seed! Though there is some overlap between species, there are different types of bacteria that work best with different plants. This information should be stated clearly on the inoculant packaging.

3) Plant!

Broadcasting cover crop seed evenly produces a carpet-like patch of plants

Each type of cover crop has different sowing rates (usually expressed in lbs/unit area), dependent on the vigor and size of the mature plants and the seeding method.  Before purchasing seed, measure the area of the patch you want to sow and use the recommended sowing rate to determine how much to you’ll need.

If you have a seeder (such as an Earthway seeder), you may want to plant your cover crop seed in lines. This will allow you to cultivate around the plants as they grow, ensuring a weed free cover. Broadcasting is another good method. Lightly shake the seeds evenly onto the prepared area, then till or rake them in. If the ground is dry, you’ll need to water the cover crop until it’s well established.

What cover crop species do well in the summer?

Below are just a few of the summer cover crops that do well here. Planting a mix of varieties (typical mixes include both grasses and legumes, both tall and sprawling) will provide some security, as some of the varieties will tend to do well, even if not all. If the mix includes varieties with both tall and sprawling growth habits, it will also ensure better ground coverage.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat flowers are known to attract beneficial wasps to the garden

Buckwheat is a quick growing cover crop that you can plant now. The Oregon State University Extension touts buckwheat as a great cover crop for home gardeners. The plants will mature in only 5 weeks, making it a great crop to fill spring beds before planting heat loving crops such as squashes, corn, and peppers in early summer.

Buckwheat grows fastest in warm weather, and can do well in dry conditions. This makes it a good crop to sow between plantings in mid-summer as well. Try growing some buckwheat after you’ve harvested early spring greens. A month later, you can hoe the buckwheat into the soil, wait a few weeks, and sow vegetables for the fall.

Red Clover

Red clover in bloom--beautiful!

Clover is a legume, so it can add nitrogen to your garden soil. Be sure to inoculate it first if clover hasn’t been grown in the area previously. Red clover is a biennial, which means it will mature and flower in its second year.

This is a great cover crop if you have extra space in your garden that you don’t plan on using this year. Sow the clover heavily and allow it establish a dense cover. It will bloom next spring, attracting pollinators with its bright flowers. At this point, it will be easiest to kill the clover by cutting back and hoeing into the soil. Be forewarned that trying to knock back established red clover before they’ve bloomed can be difficult!

Fava Beans

Fava bean cover crop

Fava beans grow best in cool weather, so early spring or fall is the best time to plant. They’re a good choice for nitrogren fixation (just be sure to inoculate them before planting). If you let them grow to maturity, they’ll even produce a crop of beans for your kitchen!

Note: some fava bean varieties are primarily for animal forage and cover cropping and don’t taste quite as good as their tasty relatives. If you plan on eating them, be sure to do some research or check with the seed provider first.

Sudangrass

Sudangrass cover crop

Sudangrass needs warm weather to establish a good stand, but once it does, its vigorous growth quickly shades out and smothers weeds. These plants can grow 6-8 feet tall! Both the roots and shoots of sudangrass are a great source of organic matter for your garden soil, improving the soil tilth as it breaks down. Because this grass will produce so much vegetation if left to grow to full size, you’ll need to give it quite a bit of time to break down before planting your next crop into the area it was grown. Alternatively, you can remove the tops of the grass and compost them in a separate location.

It’s planted! What next?

1) You want to plant a vegetable crop where the cover crop has grown

If you intend to plant in the area occupied by the cover crop, plan to turn it into the soil 3-4 weeks before planting your crop.

The cover crop on the right has been turned under to begin breaking down

During this time, soil organisms will begin breaking down the debris. Softer leaved plants (buckwheat, clover) will break down more quickly than this, while grasses and tangled vines may take the full 4 weeks.

If you need to plant directly into an area that is growing a cover crop, remove the vegetation from above the soil and compost separately from the bed. This compost should be added back to the soil later, as the plants have removed many nutrients and minerals from the soil–these are the building blocks of their leaves and stems.  If you remove cover crop in this way without giving back, you are actually depleting your soil.

2) You have extra room in your garden to let the cover crop to continue growing

Great! Mature cover crops will produce flowers which attract pollinators to your garden. Having a consistent population of pollinators throughout the year can lead to larger yields for plants that need pollination to set fruit (ie squashes, tomatoes, peppers, etc).

If you do let the cover crop go to flower, be sure to keep a close eye on its development so you can cut it down before it sets seed. Many cover crops are good at self-seeding and can become “weeds” if you don’t want them there next year.

Still have extra room in your garden after you’ve cut down or turned under a flowering cover crop? Try sowing a fall cover crop into the debris. Garden soil that receives a double cover crop treatment such as this, will be a prime spot for growing vegetables once the debris has broken down the next spring.

Go get that seed!

You can pick up seed locally at Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply, the Urban Farm Store, and Concentrates NW. Online, we recommend the selection from Fedco Seeds, Osborne Seed, Territorial Seed, and Peaceful Valley.

Cover crop and overwintered bok choy in flower at Sherrett St. Garden

The Growers Alliance garden on SE Sherrett Street grew a great cover crop this winter. In September of last year, I sowed a mixture of crimson clover, hairy vetch, and rye in the pathways of the garden. I used a metal rake to loosen the top few inches soil, then broadcasted the mixture of seeds and raked them in.  A bit of sprinkler irrigation was necessary to get the seeds established before the rains naturally began later in the fall. By winter they had grown into a solid cover over the soil. Aided by a few days of sun and warmth at the beginning of April, the plants took off and had grown into the lush cover pictured here.

Bok Choy in flower at Sherrett St. Garden (April 2012)

Planting a cover crop on your garden in the fall is a great way to protect rain-drenched soils from compaction and nutrient leaching over the winter. This particular cover crop mix included crimson clover, a legume crop which fixes nitrogen into a form that’s available to be taken up by other plants. When the soil has dried out enough in the spring, I’ll mow and plow under this cover crop, give it 2-3 weeks to break down in the soil, then plant my early season crops.

Also growing up among the cover crop are overwintered bok choy, broccoli, kale, and arugula. These hardy Brassicas survived the winter and acted as a “cover crop” in their own way. The flowers they had begun to produce in April were an early season source of nectar for pollinators in the area. And the bees aren’t the only ones enjoying these overwintered vegetables…

Overwintered Arugula (April 2012)

The flowering shoots put out by the kale are tender and sweet–more delicious than the kale leaves themselves! And the arugula flowers make a delicious, pungent (and beautiful!) addition to salads.

Fall isn’t the only time of year to sow cover crops. Cover crops offer numerous benefits for your garden when planted in spring and summer as well. I’ll be posting some spring recommendations next week, but to get you started, check out the publications listed below. These guides provide a good foundation on cover crop benefits, management, and the characteristics of various cover crop species.

Additional Resources

Cover Crops for Home Gardens, R.L. Rackham and R. McNeilan, Oregon State University Extension: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/17462/fs304-e.pdf

This short publication includes a good chart of different cover crops, their performance in the PNW, and sowing rates which are useful for home gardeners (ie amount of seeds to sow per 100 square feet of garden).

Managing Cover Crops Profitably, Third Edition, Andy Clark, ed., Sustainabile Agriculture Network: http://www.sare.org/publications/covercrops/covercrops.pdf

Comprehensive cover crop resource geared at market growers, but provides a wealth of information useful for home gardeners as well. Includes charts which summarize which cover crops are best suited for different regions of the country and what benefits each provides.

Using Cover Crops in Oregon, Robert Sattrel, ed., Oregon State University Extension: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/24506/EMNO8704.pdf?sequence=1

Great resource on cover cropping for our region. Includes background information on the benefits and challenges of using cover crops, as well as profiles for specific cover crops that grow well here.

Refugee and Immigrant Growers

Pabi and Jamuna in 2010

All of the refugee and immigrant growers we served in 2011 will be returning for the 2012 season. Our Alliance includes 4 families from Nepal and Bhutan, 2 from Somalia, 2 from Burma, 1 from Moldova, and 1 from Russia! All of these growers are receiving access to land and supplies from Mercy Corps Northwest’s Agriculture Project. In addition to growing food for their own families, the Growers Alliance provides them with an outlet to sell directly to Portland consumers. For pictures of all our Mercy Corps NW growers, see our grower album on Flickr.

Lead Growers

Lauren and Ben at farmers market in 2011

Lead Growers manage the marketing for the Alliance. In addition to growing veggies themselves, Lead Growers are responsible for doing outreach to new consumers, making produce deliveries, selling at the farmers market, and staying on top of the administrative tasks such as grower receipts and payments. Our two Lead Growers from 2011, Lauren and Ben, will be returning for 2012. This year we’re welcoming an additional Lead Grower, Seth, to help manage our farm-hub in Damascus. Seth comes to the Alliance with 3 years of manager experience at Persephone Farm in Lebanon, Oregon. We’re excited to welcome Seth to our team!

Additional farmers to sell veggies to our Growers Alliance CSA

Grower Matthew surveys his new plot of land

This year we’ve accepted four beginning farm businesses to sell a diverse range of vegetables through our our Community Supported Agriculture program. These growers will be providing our CSA with a few of the crops our refugee and immigrant growers are not producing, such as fennel, early tomatoes, late root crops such as rutabagas and celeriac, artichokes, and Brussel sprouts.

Learn more about our growers

Bal and Mani sorting peppers in SE Portland

Want to learn more about the individual farms in the Alliance, or find the farm that each of our vegetable varieties come from? This summer, we’ll be updating our Growers Alliance webpage to include grower profiles and pictures. Check back for the inspiring stories that are behind every carrot, cabbage, and bunch of beets we sell.

Our late October CSA garden on SE Sherrett St.

Our Fall CSA finished up on December 2nd, and what a year it has been! This year ten families grew vegetables for our CSA. I say family rather than individuals, as the familial unit is more appropriate when describing how our growers work together in the garden with spouses, children, cousins, brothers, and sisters.

Bal and Mani sorting their freshly picked bell peppers

I grew vegetables in SE Portland with three of these families, recent refugees who came to Portland from Bhutan via Nepal. I thought that I might just meet a few men and women, but I soon met their siblings who came to help harvest. I met their children who ran free through the garden and insisted on helping me water kale seedlings. As word spread about the garden, I even met extended relatives and friends who came to our garden to walk around and admire the space.

Two of the women who came most regularly told me that the garden was like a piece of home to them. Living in a foreign place where the language and culture are still a bit alien, the garden provided a space to be outside, grow food for their families, and laugh with friends.

In addition to bringing their own families to the garden, the generous, caring nature of these women drew neighbors to the site as well. One day, a stranger stopped by the garden when I was the only grower there. She had brought a birthday present, a stuffed animal, for Pabi’s youngest daughter.  The woman told me that she often walked by our garden and would pass Pabi and Jamuna working with their children.

Pabi and Jamuna at Sherrett St. garden in 2010

Pabi and Jamuna had generously shared their vegetables with this woman and she, having heard about the approaching birthday, had wanted to give something back.

The caring nature of these women was evidenced each time we met. Every afternoon of working at the garden they would pull bags and tupperwares from their backpacks and invite me to eat lunch under the walnut trees. “Lo, [their shortened version of my name] come, eat!” They would say while bringing their fingers to their mouths to mime their intention. They shared their food with me every lunch: spicy peppers and pickled radish; aloo (potatoes), saag (greens), and chana (chick peas); and mountains of freshly cooked rice. One week, several families traveled to a farm to purchase a whole goat together. We ate meat from that goat all summer long.

Getting to know these families has been a rewarding experience, and connecting them with our CSA members this summer has been rewarding in another way. This has been the most successful year of selling vegetables that our growers have had thus far. To put this in perspective, many of our growers have a difficult time finding other employment in Portland. A struggling economy, paired with their broken English, makes finding a permanent position a difficult prospect. Two weeks ago, when Mani was asked if he currently had a job, he replied, “Garden is job.” For gardening to be a viable economic prospect is an exciting opportunity that these growers have not known before this year.

Bipana and Lauren at the garden in early Spring garden

All of our CSA members have helped to make this success possible. We’ve been lucky to supply your vegetables this past spring, summer, and fall, and I hope you’ll join us again next year. If you have any questions or comments about next year’s membership, I’m happy to answer them! Email them to Lauren at lmorse@growportland.org.

It’s officially summer here in the Pacific Northwest, though we’re not yet tripping over summer veggies such as zucchini, beans, and tomatoes. It’s been a difficult spring for farmers across the country–floods and unseasonably cool weather in the Pacific Northwest and droughts and heatwaves in the southern half of the country. Good news is, the July sun has gotten some of our summer crops out of the ground and into our CSA boxes (including the first of the zucchini!), even if a bit later than expected.

Great! How can I get some veggies?

Signing-up for the Fall Season is a great opportunity for those who were too late to join an early summer CSA this year. The Fall Season is a bountiful time, and harvests will include an abundance of late summer vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, greens, peppers, cucumbers, onions, beets, squash, carrots, etc.

Packing CSA boxes for our Thursday pick-up

We’re accepting Fall Season sign-ups now! Read below to learn a bit more about our CSA and feel free to contact Lauren with additional questions, lmorse@growportland.org or 503-858-0216. Sign-up for the Fall CSA today!

What sort of vegetables will I get in my box?

To check out the contents of this season’s CSA boxes, go to our Flickr account. Keep in mind that our Fall Season boxes will have very different staple veggies than the Summer Season. For an idea of Fall vegetables, take a look at our 2011 Growers Alliance harvest projections.

What pick-up site is best for me?

This year the Growers Alliance CSA has pick-up sites at Mercy Corps Northwest (in the Old Town neighborhood) and the Warehouse Cafe (in the Brooklyn neighborhood).

Choose a pick-up site that is convenient for you. If you reguarly work, live, or make weekly trips nearby one of our pick-up sites, it will be much easier to get your box each week.  If we don’t have a pick-up site that is conveinent for you, send an email to Lauren to let her know. We will be adding more pick-up sites next year, and would like to determine which areas in Portland have strong interest from potential shareholders.

What size box is right for me?

Week 7 CSA box

-Our Regular Size shares provide enough weekly vegetables for 2-3 people who prepare food communally.* They contain about 2/3 the quantity of vegetables found in our Family Size share, and will typically have 2-3 fewer varieties of vegetables than the Family Size.

-Our Family size shares are great for families, or for any group of people who live and cook communally.* They include enough vegetables to provide for 3-4 people.

*Tips for splitting shares:

I recommend splitting a CSA share among multiple people. Not only does this make it easier to pay the cost up front, but it’s also fun to have people to share recipes and meals with. If this is your first time joining a CSA, splitting a share will allow you to get the swing of incorporating an abundance of veggies in your diet without being overwhelmed.

-If you’re splitting the Regular Size share among people who don’t cook together, consider alternating weeks of pick-up. The freshness of the veggies we put in your CSA boxes means that they will keep for two weeks if they’re stored correctly in your refrigerator or counter top.

-If you’re planning to split a Family Size share among 3-4 people who do not regularly cook together, I recommend having 2 people split the share each week (alternating each week between the pairs of two).

Whether you’re looking to gain basic gardening skills or to increase the productivity of an established market garden, Portland has a class for that. Use the list below as a starting point, and remember to check back often with the listed organizations as their course offerings change during the year.

Getting the gardening basics:

• Portland Nursery offers a very wide range of free classes at both their SE Stark and SE Division store locations. Classes range from specific (“Container Gardening with Water Plants”) to more general (“Year Round Vegetable Gardening”). The classes I’ve taken from them have been very full, so I recommend registering early!

• If you haven’t been out to see Oregon Tilth’s demonstration gardens at Luscher Farm, plan on making a trip out this summer. Taking a walk through the demonstration gardens–located in West Linn, OR–is a learning experience in and of itself. For more structured learning opportunities, Oregon Tilth offers an annual series of classes known as their Seasonal Sessions.  These classes cover a wide range of garden focused classes (including one entitled “Chickens in the Garden” in late July that I hope to attend).

• Hands-on gardening classes can also be found at Zenger Farm in SE Portland. Zenger is a six acre urban farm which operates as both a demonstration and working farm. Classes include gardening, food preparation, and management of small farm animals (chickens, worms, bees…).

• Growing Gardens is another wonderful resource for those looking for gardening knowledge from seed starting to seed saving. They offer gardening classes in Spring, Summer, and Fall. They also have a line-up of food preparation classes that includes appearances by top Portland chefs such as Kasey Mills from Toro Bravo. Yum!

• If you live close by to one of Portland Community College’s campus locations, you should know about their community education classes, non-credit courses taught to the public for a small fee. Classes this summer include several garden, soil, and food preservation topics.

• Though a little late for this season, it’s worth mentioning Portland’s Bureau for Planning and Sustainability (BPS) Urban Growth Bounty classes. BPS began offering these classes in 2010, and they have been quite popular (another instance in which I’d recommend signing up early).  Classes run from the beginning of the year through early summer and are already finished for 2011. They range from soil preparation to food preservation and are taught by local experts. If you missed them this year, be sure to check in early for the next round.

For incorporating trees and large perennials into your garden plan:

• For those looking to expand their gardening knowledge to perennials and tree species, the Portland Fruit Tree Project (PFTP) offers year round pruning and tree care classes.  PFTP is also a great resource for learning about fruit in general–with their summer harvest parties! Check out their website to learn more and join in.

Taking your gardening knowledge to the next level:

• Maybe you’ve been gardening for years and want to take your skills to the next level. Consider becoming a certified Master Gardener through Metro’s OSU Extension Service. Those who complete this 66 hour, formal training in all aspects of gardening are treated as community resources, volunteering in various capacities to share their knowledge. Many Master Gardeners also go on to complete OSU Extension’s Organic Gardening Certification Program.

Enjoying the fruits (and veggies) of your labor:

• Livingscape Nursery in N Portland is a great resource for food preservation classes. They have a full kitchen in the back of the store where classes are held. In addition to cooking, Livingscape also offers many classes for chicken and bee-keeping basics.

In addition to cleaning tools regularly throughout the season, Spring and Fall are convenient times to do more intensive tool cleaning. Many gardeners–myself included –don’t give their garden tools the regular maintenance they deserve. Clean, well sharpened tools  not only last longer, they also perform much better in the garden. So why not take one of these rainy spring days and start making tool cleaning a habit?

Step One: Cleaning

Shovels in need of a gardener's lovin' care!

Shovels, hoes, rakes, and other tools that come into regular contact with soil:

Clean soil, fertilizers, and debris from both the head and handle of the tool. A rough cotton cloth or wire brush should do the trick.  Hosing tools down with a jet of water can quickly clean metal parts, but be sure that the tools are dry before storing them. If rust has formed on parts of the tool, use steel wool, a wire brush, or 80-grit sandpaper to remove this buildup. WD-40 can be used in combination with these to speed the process.

Pruning tools:

Remove saps or residues that have built up on these tools with a rough cotton cloth. Use a 50:50 solution of rubbing alcohol and water to both sanitize the tools and remove any remaining debris.

Step Two: Conditioning

Shovels, hoes, rakes, and other tools that come into regular contact with soil:

Wipe down the metal with a solvent such as WD-40. To maintain this coating, you can mix a quart of motor oil into a 5 gallon bucket of sand. Store tools head down in the sand to clean off grit and to condition the metal.

If the tool handle is wooden, check for cracks and splits. Sand smooth any splinters and use a rag to apply linseed oil to the wood. Continue applying until the wood no longer absorbs the oil. This conditioning prolongs the life of the wood, reducing the splintering and cracking that can occur when handles frequently get wet in the garden.

Pruning tools:

Keep joints working smoothly by applying WD-40 to the pivot points.

Step Three: Sharpening

If you’ve been working with dull tools, a sharpening session can do wonders to increase the efficiency of your garden work. Though it’s an important part of maintenance, sharpening should be done with care so as not to harm tools! Here are some tips to get you started:

Shovels, hoes, rakes, and other tools that come into regular contact with soil:

Most hoes and shovels are sold pre-sharpened, but could use some maintenance from year to year. Use an 8 inch mill file to sharpen. Keep your tool secure in a vise or clamp, and draw the mill file (tooth side down) in one direction over the area you are sharpening. Angle the mill file to follow the tool’s beveled edge.

Pruning tools:

One method of sharpening pruning tools is to use an oil stone. Draw the stone along the blade in one direction until the blade has regained the desired sharpness.

Step Four: Storing

All tools benefit from being stored in dry, protected conditions. No shed or outdoor box to keep your tools in? Don’t despair! Sounds like another perfect rainy day project to me…

Planting lettuce starts in our SE Sherrett St garden!

Portland’s erratic April weather has already proven how quickly sun can turn to rain (or even hail). Our average last frost isn’t until the end of the month, so it’s best to be cautious about what veggies you put out in the garden. Below are a few recommendations of which plants can be planted now and which should wait.

General notes for early spring plantings:

• Even the hardiest plants can be crippled by a cold night. If planting greens outside, be ready to protect them with row covers or cloches.
• If you’re sowing heavy-feeding plants like lettuces or brassicas, it may be necessary to work a high nitrogen fertilizer into the soil when planting.
• If you’re incorporating a winter cover crop into the soil, it’s best to give the green matter up to a few weeks to break down before planting in the area. Microbes are sluggish when the soil is cold and will be slow in breaking down plant debris until the weather warms up.
• The “Days to Maturity” listed on your seed packet refers to maturity under peak growing conditions. If you’re starting summer veggies with cool spring temperatures, they often take days to weeks longer to mature than those sown in summer.

Veggies to plant outside now:

Beets and Swiss Chard: These will germinate even with the cold weather.

Brassicas: Your broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and turnips can be seeded directly outside.

Carrots and Cilantro: These can be direct seeded outside now, but they benefit from some protective covering.

Lettuce, Spinach, and Arugula: These greens actually prefer cooler spring temperatures to the heat of summer, but you may need to protect small plants with row covers if extreme cold or hail strikes.

Onions: Direct seed now for fresh onions and scallions this spring and summer.

Peas: These need time to mature before the heat of summer, so get them in the ground soon!

Veggies to keep inside your home or greenhouse:

Solanums (Tomato, Pepper, Eggplant): These plants need consistently sunny days and warm soil, so they need a few more months before transplanting outside. If you haven’t sown seed indoors yet, do it soon!

Melons, Squashes, and Cucumbers: These are also heat loving plants and won’t fair well outside at this time. Now is a great time to plant them indoors for transplanting later!

Arugula--one of the first greens in the Spring!

The first hint of Spring is in the air, and I don’t just mean the scent of Daphne blooming. The air warms up much more quickly than our Pacific Northwest soils and, while sunny skies have us ready to plant, the soil below may still be in hibernation for the winter.

Here are three things to consider when gearing up for gardening this year:

1) What is your soil’s texture?

Soil is composed of three different classes of particles, defined by their size. Among other things, these particles determine the soil’s ability to retain water, provide drainage, and hold onto nutrients. Your soil will be a mix of:

• Sand: pieces of physically weathered rock (1/16 to 2 mm in size)
• Silt: smaller pieces of physically weathered rock (1/256 to 1/16 mm in size)
• Clay: pieces of chemically weathered rock (smaller than both sand and silt)

You can determine the ratio of these components with a simple test.

1. Collect about a pint of garden soil (avoid roots and rocks), and allow it dry.
2. Add the soil to a quart mason jar and mark the jar at the soil’s top.
3. Fill the remainder of the jar with water.
4. Shake! You want to suspend all the particles in the water.
5. At two minutes, mark the jar where the first layer of soil has settled (this is the sand).
6. At two hours, mark the jar where the second layer of soil has settled (this is the silt).
7. The third layer may take several days to settle (this is the clay).

Once you know the ratio of sand-silt-clay in your own soil, check out this soil characteristic triangle to determine its classification. If you’re like me, your garden soils contain a large dose of Willamette Valley clay, deposited thousands of years ago by the Missoula Floods.

2) What soil amendments do I need?

If you’re growing in a new area, a soil test is a good investment. These tests can tell you the pH of your soil, the presence of minerals and nutrients, and its organic matter content (important for for retaining water and nutrients). Be sure to check out Oregon State University’s list of laboratories that perform soil tests in the area.

3) Is my soil dry enough to work?

Working your soil (i.e. digging, turning, raking, or even walking on) before it has dried out from the winter rains can create a mess. If your soil has a lot of clay, working it while it’s too wet may create soil clods that remain rock-hard for the remainder of the season!

To test your garden’s wetness, make a golf-ball sized ball of garden soil in your hand. If the ball breaks apart when poked with a finger, it’s ready to be worked. If it stays together, give it a few more sunny days to dry out.

Additional soil and garden resources:

The realm of soils is so vast that I can’t hope to scratch the surface in this post! If you want to dive deeper, here are some additional resources to get down-and-dirty with:

• Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Soloman
• Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman
• Start with the Soil by Grace Gershuny
• The Nature and Properties of Soils by Nyle Brady
• Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery
• OSU’s “Soil Test Interpretation Guide“