Harvest For The Hungry Garden

Harvest for the Hungry Garden will be having its plant sale on April 24, 2021, with new extended hours 8:00 to 5:00., but you must get an appointment to attend. As usual there will be thousands of pepper, tomato, and other vegetable starts. Dozens of varieties of flowers and habitat plants are also available. The garden is located at 1717 Yulupa, Santa Rosa. For information about the plants available and for instructions about signing up, please go to the Harvest for the Hungry Garden website: www.harvestgarden.org. Please note that signups begin Saturday, April 10.

A tomatillo is not a tomato and neither is a ground cherry! But oh how we love those husky tomatillo members of the physalis family in our salsas and sauces! Californians are not surprised to find tomatillos in yellow, green and purple (and Harvest for the Hungry has all 3) but we are not as familiar with the other members of the physalis family. Harvest for the Hungry would like to introduce you to: Physalis pruinosa, Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry.... We added Aunt Molly’s to our sale because so many of you are preserving your harvest and looking for something new and delicious to use in cooking, jam making and dehydrating. Aunt Molly’s is in the Slow Food movement’s Ark of Good Taste. The following description of Aunt Molly’s from Baker Creek Seeds notes that Aunt Molly’s has a very high pectin content. 65 days. Polish heirloom variety has an unusually fine flavorvery sweet with a nice hint of tartness. 1/2-3/4-inch fruit is enclosed in a papery husk which drops to the ground when fully ripe. High pectin content makes this one an excellent choice for pies and preserves. We are also stocking Physalis peruviana, also known as Peruvian Ground Cherries or Cape Gooseberries. The fruit is smaller, tarter, anda deeper color than Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry.

Tor, one of our very dedicated volunteers, keeping our garden weed free. Photo credit: Helen Howard

It was all hands on deck at the garden today as the tomato uppotting began. A huge thank you to our dedicated volunteers who all pitched in.

Native plants play a vital role in the ecosystem and are essential to the survival of native songbirds. Why are native plants so important? With the exceptio...n of just a few species, nearly all native songbirds raise their babies on a diet comprised of insects. Native plants sustain healthy insect populations and produce four times as much insect biomass compared to non-native plants. If we want to sustain healthy bird populations in our yards and natural areas, we must provide the resources they need to reproduce. Support your local songbirds by planting native plants. Take a look at our plant list for inspiration. These California natives that are known favorites of the songbirds in our NSCC Songbird Sanctuary Gardens. Visit Calscape.org, a plant database of the California Native Plant Society, for additional plants for your area of the state. Not in California? Consult your state of local chapter Native Plant Society for the most reliable list of native plants for your area. NSCC's CA Native Plant List for Songbirds: Toyon berries in winter, insects Coffeeberry berries in fall, insects Oak insects, acorns, nesting and roosting habitat, safe cover, oaks support over 500 species of butterflies and moths (their caterpillars are baby bird food) Willow insects, safe cover and nesting habitat during summer Ribes nectar late winter/early spring, berries in late spring/early summer Manzanita nectar late winter/early spring, insects, safe cover year-round, nesting habitat Mallow nectar, insects Coyote brush insects, seeds, nesting material, nesting habitat, safe cover year-round Wild grape berries in late summer/early fall Elderberry nectar, insects, berries in summer Ceanothus nectar, insects, seeds, roosting and nesting habitat, safe cover year-round Saltbush/Quailbush tender tips of plant are gently pruned and consumed by finch and sparrow species all year, seeds, provides safe cover year-round and nesting habitat Grasses insects, seeds, safe cover, nesting material, nesting habitat Sticky Monkey Flower nectar, seeds, insects California Fuchsia nectar, seeds, insects Buckwheat nectar, seeds, insects Goldenrod nectar, seeds, insects Aster nectar, seeds, insects #californianativeplants #babybirdfood #nativesongbirdcareandconservation #garden #songbirds #insects #homegrownnationalpark

What a difference a week makes. From smoke and ash filled skies last week, to a beautiful, clear, blue sky on an autumn day. Volunteers, Tor and Janice, are planting broccoli rabe.

A very strange day at the garden today. We should have been wearing headlamps to harvest by!

Much gratitude for our dedicated volunteers who showed up to harvest and plant under dark, smoky apocalyptic skies today.

Not rain, thunder, lightening, extreme heat or smoky skies keep our dedicated volunteers from showing up! Locusts anyone?

https://www.pressdemocrat.com//garden-docs-build-the-perf/

What do your peppers look like?

A nice article about Elisha’s Pantry. One of the agencies that we grown food for. http://santarosapressdemocrat.ca.newsmemory.com/

Just another day at the garden. The harvest is in full swing these days. It’s hard to believe that in a few weeks the winter crops will be planted!

Mike, one of our garden managers, brought in some of his tomatoes for a taste test. All of them delicious. Of course these tomatoes were from our very own plant sale.

Wednesday at the garden.

Rogue deer (and her two fawns ) in the garden this morning. We finally got them out, but not before they had chomped on some tomato plants.