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Today I received three seed catalogs in the mail. It may seem early to order seeds but I try to order my seeds the first week of January. If I order early I will usually get the seeds I want. 

I grab a cup of tea and sit down and start planning the garden. It takes time to get my seed order down to a reasonable size, order seeds, re-evaluate garden successes and set backs and make or purchase anything you need for the garden.

If you start your own seeds you will need to plan for that too. I also start crops in a cold frame so I will plan for those crops and any cold frame repairs.

For planning out my garden I ask myself: What crops did well? What crops were disappointments? Did I have any insect or pest problems that require netting or fencing? Was water a problem?

Last year was a successful garden so I can breeze through this area.

Next, do I need to repair or make any garden items? YES! My raised beds need repaired and one fence for vines and ornamental gourds is leaning. And I never have enough garden art, but that is the fun part… making new garden art!

I always rotate my crops so that I don’t deplete certain areas of my garden of nutrients and to make sure I don’t plant crops that spread disease through the soil in the same place next season. Tomatoes, potatoes and peppers are crops that should definitely be new garden areas. I make sure I have my garden plans handy for comparison.

I must admit the garden plans for where my crops go take the longest amount of time and its always different when I finally plant my garden too! I always find a fun plant at the greenhouses when I get my transplants.

One of the most important steps in my garden planning is to make every project as easy and possible and to simplify my garden with easy watering, weed free garden planning and making sure the gardens aren’t too big.

When I am planning the garden two ideas are the most important to me: great chemical free vegetables, herbs and flowers and most of all: keeping the garden fun.

Several years ago I heard of a program called Plant A Row for the Hungry. I didn’t know much about its origin but it sounded like a worthwhile project. So I participated and
have ever since. It’s rewarding to help out the community and garden at the same time.

The program is quite simple. People are encouraged to grow one extra row of food in
their gardens for the hungry. It takes very little time and it’s amazing how it will
benefit local food pantries and food kitchens.

Research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has found that one in ten
households in the United States experience hunger or the risk of hunger. Many families
skip meals, eat too little, or go without food for an entire day. Children in these families are much more susceptible to illness and health problems that will appear later in
life due to malnutrition.

Approximately 25 million people have substandard diets. They reach out to public
services for emergency food supplies because they cannot afford the food they need. In the past years, the demand for assistance has increased more than the donations needed to feed the hungry. This results in people being turned away from food banks each year. If you watch the news, particularly around the holidays you have seen it’s harder and harder for the food banks to meet their basic food quotas. Add a holiday with a larger food demand and it’s a sad story.

The Plant a Row for the Hungry program (PAR) was started by the Garden Writer’s Association to reach out to people and let them know there was a problem and that they could help in a very easy way. There are over 70 million gardeners in the U.S. alone. Many plant vegetables and from my experience as a gardener there is always more produce from the garden than you can use.

If every gardener plants one extra row of vegetables and donates their surplus to local
food banks and soup kitchens, there would be a significant impact on reducing hunger. Food agencies will have access to fresh healthy produce. Funds that were earmarked for produce can be redirected to other needed items and the hungry would have more and
better food than is presently available.

The Garden Writers Association

The Garden Writers Association utilize their media position with newspapers, magazines and radio/TV programs to encourage people to donate their surplus garden produce to local food banks, soup kitchens and service organizations to help feed America’s hungry.

PAR’s role is to provide training, direction and support to volunteer committees to carry
out the programs at local levels. They will also assist in coordinating the local food
collection systems and monitor the volume of donations to the soup kitchens and food
banks.

PAR began in Anchorage, AK, in the garden column of Jeff Lowenfels, former Garden
Writers Association president. He realized the food shortage problems for families and
asked gardeners to plant a row of vegetables for Bean’s Cafe, an Anchorage soup kitchen.

Since then, PAR has grown through continued media support, individual and company
sponsorship, and volunteerism. In 2008 PAR will celebrate its 14th anniversary. If you
would like more information go to http://www.gardenwriters.org

When growing a crop you can chose to grow one vegetable or several. It takes very little
time and only costs the price of a pack of seeds. It’s also nice to know you have helped
a neighbor out.

I have supplied squash, beans and tomatoes to two local food pantries. In the fall I try to
supply extra winter squash, potatoes and carrots. These are crops that will hold in
storage for a month or two.

No family and person should go to sleep hungry. If we all reach out we can help to
solve the problem; one town at a time and one crop at a time.

I garden to be close to nature, grow chemical free food and to craft and create from my garden. Gourds are one crop that offer endless opportunities to make useful items and total art pieces, each unique to its own history and characteristics.

I just stumbled upon a gourd artist, Amy Goldman, who uses a very unique bronze casting technique on gourds. I was looking for information on a gourd variety called Bule gourd and found her work These pieces are beautiful and just go to show how art and nature interconnect in so many ways.

I have included the story and the link to the original story and gourd photographs are at the bottom of the article.

Amy Goldman’s Rare Forms
The New York Botanical Garden: Review

Bule Pear
The unusual texture of the Bule Pear gourd is captured in Amy Goldman’s distinctive bronze sculpture. Bule Pear (Lagenaria siceraria) is a hard-shelled gourd native to Africa.

A passionate gardener, seed saver, author, and advocate for heirloom fruits and vegetables, Amy Goldman has created a series of stunning bronze sculptures cast from the harvest of heirloom treasures she grows in her legendary garden. Each piece captures the unique shape and texture of a gourd, tomato, or melon, revealing its sensuous and ageless beauty. Goldman has bestowed on this line of limited-edition bronzes the apt name “Rare Forms.”

Amy Goldman teamed up with Polich Tallix, a fine arts foundry, to produce her sculptures. The pieces are created through the ancient “lost wax” process, used for thousands of years by artists in Egypt and China. This painstaking technique is the only one capable of reproducing in bronze the allure of these marvelous shapes.
http://www.nybgshopinthegarden.org/Bule-Pear-p-17350.html

Besides creating beautiful art from gourds, Amy Goldman shares my interest in heirloom seeds and growing organically. Make sure to check her work out.