Tulsa Grows

Look, you guys! My little garden is growing.

Since I plan to try organic gardening this year, I went this morning to the northeast campus of Tulsa Community College for a seminar on the subject, hosted by Tulsa Community Garden Association.

From what I could tell, it was a good turnout:

I counted about 115 gardeners eager to learn about giving the pesticides a time-out and letting the ladybugs do the work. Also in attendance was Rita Scott, the woman behind Sustainable Green Country, an instigator of Oklahoma's Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign and a passionate, extremely active woman who is a wealth of information on food issues; Rainbow Girl, the local artist and Master Recycler who brought the Mother Nature Needs You campaign to Tulsa; and a few other local groups and growers passionate about food, nature and giving back to planet Earth.

Here's Rainbow Girl talking to a seminar-goer about Art In, an upcoming event at the Denver bus station that will feature local artists in an effort to increase awareness about our local transit system (more info. on this below).

She was also plying wares, including totebags hand painted by her, Mother Nature Needs You shirts and these Your Mom shirts, printed on t-shirts claimed from a local thrift store.

Of course, I had to have one. Plus, a portion of the proceeds went to support the TCGA.

See that huge rosemary plant back there? Not only was it a perfect specimen and made me weak in the knees with wanting for lamb, but it was only $5. Several of the other plants were going for just a couple of bucks. I resisted, though. After all, I'm supposed to be growing my own herbs. I think.

It's going to take me awhile to digest all the information presented at this seminar. I look seven pages of notes, and a stack of handouts is sitting on my dining room table, glaring at me. Here are some preliminary links:

• Tulsa Recycles: Curbside recycling is a service available to City of Tulsa residential refuse customers for a small voluntary subscription fee. Anyone know off-hand the amount of this fee?
• Oklahoma Food Cooperative: Fresh from Oklahoma family farms to more than 20 pick-up sites statewide. Visit the Web site for information on products and pick-up and how to join the coop.
• The Pearl Farmers' Market: Another Rita Scott project - that woman is amazing, y'all. Veg out downtown Thursday evenings 4:30-7:00 p.m. starting April 23. This market is great for downtown dwellers-by-day who make regular pit stops on the way home to pick up this or that for dinner. Why not opt for local produce sold in a beautiful park in the shadow of downtown rather than trudging through a steaming parking lot only to be dehumanized under the florescent lights of a big-box grocery store "produce" section? I'm not opinionated about this, no.
• Downtown Tulsa Farmers' Market: 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. every Tuesday at Third and Boston on Williams Green. I love this market; it's a great lunch stop for the downtown set.
• Art In for Tulsa Transit: April 4, 1-4 p.m. at the Denver Tulsa Transit station, 319 S. Denver. The event, which will feature local artists, poets and musicians, aims to support and create awareness for Tulsa Transit. The gathering will be thanks to the Mother Nature Needs You campaign and Friends of Tulsa Transit. For more information, call Rainbow Girl at 346-2131 or e-mail her at mothernatureneedsyou at yahoo dot com.
• Sustainable Green Country: "Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Proud sponsor of Buy Fresh Buy Local in northeast Oklahoma and a chapter of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network.
• The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture: A wealth of information on anything and everything ag in Oklahoma.
• OSU Extension Fact Sheets: A topical list of fact and help sheets on anything and everything gardening in Oklahoma.

I'll post more as I delve into the stack more thoroughly. Unless, of course, the stack eats and makes fertilizer of me.


The mission of the Tulsa Community Garden Association, the group that sponsored the seminar this morning, is to promote and facilitate the development of community gardens in the Tulsa area, among other things. Right now the TCGA is fighting for the community garden ordinance vote at the Tulsa City Council. Read more about what's going on with that here.

How is your garden growing? Feel free to post links to your favorite local gardening, food and/or green sites and resources in the comments.

Organic Gardening Workshop This Saturday

Hey, Tulsa gardeners: Forget the pesticides and herbicides this year and let the ladybugs do the work! Grow organically. Learn the techniques and advantages of organic gardening at a workshop hosted by Tulsa Community Garden Association this weekend. 

WHEN: March 14, 9 a.m.-12 noon

WHERE: Tulsa Community College NE Campus, 3727 E. Apache

COST: $10 at the door

Topics will include "Why Grow Organic?" with Sue Gray, "Black Gold" (composting), "Butterfly Gardening" with Carol Eames and information about community gardens. 

Since pre-registration by March 10 was suggested, it might be a good idea to call 592-1466 or e-mail info@tulsacga.org to let them know you're coming and if you're bringing anyone along.

Happy chemical-free gardening! 

What My Valentine's Day Activities Hath Wrought

No, I'm not here to announce that I'm expecting another baby. I have, however, been germinating.

Well, my veggie seeds have been. On Valentine's Day, I planted a few varieties of vegetables and several cooking herbs in an indoor seed mother thingie.

You can tell I have a really technical knowledge of this gardening stuff. Actually, I knew little about what I was doing when I started. Thanks to the following links, though, I now know more:

• OSU Extension fact sheets on vegetable gardening in Oklahoma; I thought the one about planning a vegetable garden was particularly helpful.
  
• Pioneer Woman's step-by-step tutorial (because she's the capital-Q Queen of the step-by-step tutorial) on how to build raised beds, which are perfect for vegetable gardening.
• The beginner's guide to organic gardening, as seen on OrganicGardening.com. Duh.

While it's not much, I consider it to be a good start. Feel free to leave more links to Tulsa gardening stuff in the comments. Please. Because my soul thirsts for gardening knowledge.

I first became interested in raising food for my family when I did a story on the business of farmers' markets for Tulsa Business Journal back in 2007. The passion of the growers I talked to for the story impressed me to go home to plant seeds in my backyard that very night. In the middle of May. I mean, $30 worth of seeds I bought at the Wal-Marts would grow all nice and neat and produce lots of lovely food if I put each plant in the ground three inches from all of the other plants - right?

Whoops. My crops of corn, tomatoes, strawberries, broccoli, jalapenos, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, white onions and carrots - all planted at the same time during the first heat wave of the summer - were over-grown, disorganized and nutrient-deprived. And dry. Plus, I planted the whole mess right under a shade tree.

I hope my grandmother isn't reading this right now - you know, the grandmother whose entire yard is always looks like it came fresh off the cover of Southern Living magazine:

I certainly didn't inherit her talent for gardening. But, I didn't give up after a false start, and that's what counts, right? Say yes.

This year I'll be transplanting starts of roma tomatoes, brandywine tomatoes (heirloom alert!), jalapenos, yellow squash and green beans. I'll also plant several cooking herbs in pots that I'll strategically place all over my yard to make things really sparkle and smell delicious and drive the neighbors even more bonkers than they already are: Italian parsley, sweet basil, rosemary, cilantro, thyme and chives.

This weekend we're building raised beds; the next step (I think) is to have our soil amended. I'll be keeping you all posted on how my little garden is coming along. Right now I'm just hoping everything lives to be transplanted.

What veggies are you growing in your garden this year? I hope to hear of someone growing some really weird stuff - like the tomatoes they use to make purple ketchup - and I'd also like to know where that someone lives so I can come eat some of it.

Just kidding about the purple ketchup thing. Maybe.