Keep Your Plants Happy & Lower Your Waterbill (Part I)

With record-breaking temperatures many gardeners are looking for ways to keep their garden from wilting in the heat and keep their water bills low. While mulching reduces the need for watering and rain barrels reduce the amount of municipal water you're using, you can reduce your dependence on municipal water even further by watering more efficiently. This involves using systems like drip-irrigation, soaker hoses, and water timers. In the first part of this series I will go over the basics of drip irrigation.

My First Farmstand!

With my garden having increased 5x in size since last year I have finally ventured into urban agriculture with my own farmstand. It just made sense - it allows me to grow and sample more varieties of vegetables, and planting a few extra vegetable plants doesn't increase my garden workload significantly. I'm located in Churchill (Richmond, VA) which doesn't have a proper supermarket, and corner stores either completely lack vegetables or have very poor selection and quality. I am grateful to be able to share organic, locally grown produce with the surrounding community in the hopes of improving nutrition, improving exposure to vegetable varieties not found in stores, and encouraging others to grow vegetables as well.

I'm selling tomato plants to start with, and have many varieties which are suitable for yards and/or containers. Determinate tomato plants reach a fixed height and produce fruit all at once, which makes them suitable for yards or containers. Varieties this year include: Totem Hybrid, Razzleberry Hybrid, and Container's Choice. Indeterminate keep growing in height as long as the season lasts and produce fruit over an extended period of time. Because of their large size and high nutrient demand they are not suitable for containers and should be planted in the yard. Varieties available this year include: Jelly Bean, Cherry, Rite Bite Hybrid, Yellow Pear, Better Boy Hybrid, Early Girl Hybrid, and Roma.

Small plants are $1 each or 4 for $3
Medium plants are $2 each or 2 for $3
Large plants are $4 each or 2 for $6

10-12pm every Saturday

12-2pm every Sunday

871 N 22ND ST (22ND & Carrington in Churchill)

View Tomato Plants in a larger map

Green Spaces Competition

This year, the James River Green Building Council held their annual green spaces competition for the design of 34 acres of a 44 acre plot of land just East of Shockoe bottom and South of Church Hill. The competition event kicked off May 27th with a competition community forum, and will continue for the entire month of June as the entries will be on display at Gallery 5, starting this Friday, June 4th for Art Walk.

The vision for the Accessible Sustainable Integrated Community (ASIC) designed by myself, Jordan Starbuck, Leyla Peachy, and Jia Yan was a mix of recreational, retail, and mixed-income housing space. The focus was on a space that would be accessible and usable to all regardless of physical ability, income, ethnicity, or age. Key features include LEED certified buildings, with rain water and compost collection that would feed and water the surrounding urban farm and community gardens. The space would be an attraction for all ages, with many outdoor gathering spaces, nature trails, outdoor exercise equipment and activities, a community center, skateboard park, and bike rental/repair/storage/showers. We wanted to leave as much in-tact natural forest as possible, taking care to build structures in areas already open and cleared of trees. We wanted a space that people could feel proud to call home, which would be accomplished by involving them in the building of their own homes (through organizations like habitat for humanity) and community gardens. This would foster a sense of belonging and self-ownership of the space, which would help to improve space maintenance, reduce litter and graffiti, and reduce crime in general.

Community Meetings this Week to Decide the Fate of Churchill

The first of four community meetings will take place tonight at 5pm at the Robinson Theater that will change the face of Churchill as we know it. These community meetings, called a Charrette, are intensive planning sessions which will condense meetings between the community, city planners, city officials, and community leaders which normally take months into one week. While I definitely agree with the principle of bringing all of these individuals together to plan the future of Churchill, one wonders how much effort the city has really put forth to make this an event truly open and accessible to all. Advertising the event as a Charrette is the first mistake. I have a Master's degree, and I don't know what the heck a Charrette is. If you want to reach the public you shouldn't use any language above a 8th or 10th grade level at the most. When you use fancy words when simple ones will do when advertising these events, it's off-putting and intimidating to the people you're trying to reach. That being said, I hope everyone reading this with an interest in Churchill, and even Richmond in general, will attend. Forward this to as many people as you know - let's make sure our voices get heard!