Susan and I went to the
GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference on Saturday, March 21st, and it was fun and inspirational. We went to two talks, met a bunch of interesting people, and got some useful handouts.
The first talk was about public composting. I didn't realize when we chose this talk that the emphasis was on the
public and not on the composting. I think that our first year of composting has gone very well, but I don't think we're ready to start working on a system that takes in food scraps from the general public. Even so, it was cool to hear about large scale operations being run by the
Lower East Side Ecology Center and the
Hollenback Community Garden in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. I'd like to expand our composting to two or three bins this year and look for a steady source of "browns." I was reminded of a composting resource that not everyone may know about - the LES Ecology Center collects food scraps at the Union Square greenmarket every day it is open.
The second talk was about growing healthy vegetables in a small space. I was hoping for a magical way to grow twice as many veggies in a 4'x4' plot, but there's only so much you can do. The main bit of useful advice was to squeeze three separate growing seasons out of your garden. Get in early in the spring with plants (like radishes, spinach, lettuce, and other greens) that are well-suited for cool weather. When the weather warms up enough to plant your main summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, tomatoes), harvest enough of your spring crops to make room for the new guys. Repeat in the fall, adding a second planting of cool-weather veggies. Susan and I will be planting spinach, kale, and radishes on our garden work day on April 18th. Also, I'm inclined to make our work day earlier next year - maybe late March or early April - to give us a little extra time at the beginning of the season.
One surprise about the day was how easy it was to get to Hostos Community College for the conference. When I hear "the Bronx," I think "long subway ride," but Hostos sits on top of the first 4/5 stop out of Manhattan. It took us less than an hour to get there, even with the N not running past Queensboro Plaza. On a normal weekend without track work it would be 45 minutes, tops. We will do more to publicize this event next year and will definitely be returning.
