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Urban Preppers: Five Things You Should Know About Community Gardens

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: A guest contribution from Sarah to The Prepper Journal. All things garden and growing your own food this week as planting time is upon us.  And, as always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

Community gardens have grown globally in recent years, from 1960’s onward. Perhaps, this is due to the growing number of us living in skyscrapers in cities, with little opportunity to take in the fresh air and get our hands dirty. Or perhaps it is because, in an increasingly digital world, we long for something to bring us together in the real world. Regardless of the reason why, community gardens have become more popular, and here are five things you need to know about them.

What is a Community Garden?

A community garden is any plot of land that is used by a number of people, either by separating the plot into individual lots or sharing the plot as one large lot, for gardening.

There are many community gardens across the world, and most are used as:

• Gathering places
• Showcases for ecological and art awareness, and
• Food production

More European-style gardens consist of allotments where individuals or families can grow their own food or flowers, although these have normally evolved from “victory gardens” from the Second World War.

Plot sizes can vary from as tiny as 1.5 squared meters (4’ 9” x 4’ 9”) in inner city gardens or art gardens to as large as 15 squared meters (49’ x 49’).

Communal gardens have a variety of uses, such as:

• Providing green space
• Providing habitats for smaller creatures
• Growing flowers rather than food
• Providing education to local schools
• Providing gardens for those who otherwise wouldn’t have a garden, such as the homeless, the elderly or recent immigrants.

The Right Gardening Tools

Before getting started in gardening, it’s important to have the right tools. This will make your time much more productive, and could actually be beneficial to your health! How many of us remember our moms and dads digging out flower beds or weeding the garden, and then being full of aches and pains for a few days? It all comes down to having the right tools.

You shouldn’t have to worry too much about heavy machinery. Most community gardens will supply training and guidance on using specialized tools. In one garden I recently visited, they even had a community table saw to build fences and wooden containers! In others, I’ve also seen that they provide access to a lawn mower for large plots with plenty of grass, and chainsaws or tree pruners for plots with large trees.

However, you should still have a variety of your own tools best suited to your own needs, such as:

• A reliable string trimmer, if your garden doesn’t allow for “free growing” and prefers the look of neatly trimmed yards with food or flowers growing within
• A heavy-duty garden brush, to clean up any mess you would make on paths etc
• A rake, to help you spread evenly compost or soil
• A composter or rubbish bin, although there may be a community composter or bin you can use
• Garden clothing such as boots or gardening gloves
• A bird feeder or table, to give the surrounding nature a helping hand
• Plant food, grass seed, bark or compost depending on what you would like to use your plot for
• Pest control or weed killer, although some gardens do not allow you to use chemicals
• Starter plants or seeds
• Depending on the weather in your country, you may need your own hose, but this could be provided.

You don’t have to have everything on this list, or you may think of other things you might want. The important thing is to get out there and have a great time.

Types of Gardens

There are four main types of gardens, which are:

Neighborhood Gardens – The most common garden, where people work together to grow fruits and vegetables. The plots inside them are usually rented for a small fee.

Residential Gardens – These gardens are used by the people in block communities, assisted living and affordable housing in cities or towns. They are organised and maintained by the people living there.

 

Institutional Gardens – These are attached to public businesses such as hospitals or private communities like prisons to improve mental health and physical health as well as providing skills for employment.

Demonstration Gardens – These have educational purposes, and often offer classes about gardening, and can help in setting up a community garden.

Administration of Community Gardens

Most community gardens are:

• Inclusive
• Diverse
• Pro-democracy
• Community-driven

But all gardens have an organization structure of some kind. This depends on whether the garden is “top down” e.g. a management team at the top, or “grass roots” e.g. the individual members make the decisions. Either way, you’ll find one that suits your style.

Health Benefits

Everyone knows that keeping physically active helps keep us healthy. However, community gardens have also been linked to various factors such as:

• Reduced rates of obesity
• Availability of affordable fruits and vegetables
• Consumption of fruits and vegetables

So there you have it, community gardens are great for you, your family, your community, and the local wildlife. So if you haven’t joined a garden yet, why not do it now?

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Orchestrate Your Orchard for Success

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: A guest contribution from Nigel to The Prepper Journal. With Spring even breaking across our norther border with Canada the time to be doing this is NOW, or as soon as possible anyway. And, as always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

Orchards are a great way to get ready for long-term survival. They are sturdier than most crops, and don’t need to be replanted. They can offer a large amount of produce for a relatively low input of energy, and the options are broad in most climates.

Especially in cold areas, orchards can provide food that supplies vital nutrients and keeps longer than most vegetables. Apples, for instance, can be wrapped in newspaper, straw or other carbon-based material and stored for months on end without losing their flavor and nutritional value. Stored fruit easily can or cook down for a flavorful addition to the potentially meager meals of winter. Fruit from your own orchard can be a great addition to your other food stores.

By planting a variety of types of trees in your orchard, you reduce the risk of losing most or all of your crop if a parasite or dry spell occurs. Dwaft trees in your orchard can mean that you get more varieties in a small space and also extend your harvest season. Having a variety of fruits will prevent boredom, too.

Caring for a Variety of Fruit Trees

While it is nice to have the variety, peaches, pears, apples, cherries, and nectarines all have different needs. If you are further south, you might have citrus trees that are even more specific in their care. Most people know to trim their trees back slightly in the fall. You should also clean up any fallen fruit- if it is diseased or develops certain fungi, it can “mummify” and infect your trees in the spring. You should also clean up leaves, especially if you have cool summers- leaves can keep mold and fungus spores alive over winter.

In the spring, there is a little more work to do.

Nutrition

Now is the time to add compost and reinforce your tree wells. Fish and tea compost is beneficial at this early stage of the game, although shredded leaves and trimmings are also helpful. Be sure not to apply this too thick, or it can instigate mold issues.

You can also apply copper or neem oil to trees at this time. Coat the leaves and branches alike in an even layer. This will go a long way towards preventing disease and insect infestation.

Fruit from the previous season shouldn’t be used as fertilizer. You might use it for your vegetable garden. However, when applied to the type of tree it came from, mummified fruit is likely to start disease or encourage insects to move in.

Protection

The simplest first step is to whitewash the trunks of your fruit trees. They were protected from the stronger summer rays of the sun in the previous year, but the spring can be difficult. The lack of thick shading from leaves opens up trunks and larger branches to sunburn. You can use a traditional paint or you can use specially formulated or homemade paint. The goal is to add a physical barrier between the trunk and the sun.

You should also use this time to trim away any diseased or damaged wood. Shoots near the base can harbor borers, which will kill an orchard in a short amount of time. Dying wood can also hold disease and should be removed.

Pruning and Trimming: Emergency Cutting

With the exception of peaches, fruit trees should be trimmed and pruned during the dormant season. However, taking care of any “emergency pruning” in spring is essential to the success of any tree. Taking a day to trim away any wayward growth in the spring can increase your harvest by almost double, because energy and nutrition aren’t being redirected to unnecessary branches and offshoots instead of your fruit.

Only allow growths at strong angles to grow. Branches at very wide or narrow angles invite splitting due to fruit weight or weather later on, and make it difficult for fruit to hang in such a way that the greatest number can reach maturity. Aim for angles of 10 or 2 o’ clock, with the main trunk being 12 on the clock.

Similarly, if you are allowing buds to grow, stay within an inch of the bud. If you cut a branch down too close to the bud, it will likely grow in an unwanted direction. You will then have to trim it, losing both your original branch and the desired bud. If you cut too far from the bud, the branch will grow back, eating up resources the tree could use elsewhere.

Finally, trim at the point where a sprout is aimed in the direction you desire. It will continue to grow in this direction. Using these general guidelines will provide optimum shaping.

In case of a power outage, the best pruning tools are either a manual pruner saw or gas-powered pole saw. Electric tools require the additional, fuel-wasting step of a generator were there a disaster- your fuel will last longer than a power plant will likely stay on. Gas-run pruners and saws make your work easy without gambling that they could be rendered essentially useless with one outage. However, if you have an alternative electricity source like solar power you may opt for an electric pole saw option.

Pruning and Trimming: Peach Trees

Peach trees will need a stronger saw, as their wood is fairly dense. However, the rules for cutting back and shaping peach trees is very similar to other fruit trees. Aim for 10 or 2 o’clock angles, cut an inch from the bud, and cut in the direction you desire growth.

Peach trees are unique in that if you cut them before they bud, their production will suffer. Winter pruning signals distress to a peach tree, and it will divert resources to fixing this “problem” rather than growing fruit. Instead, waiting until spring means the tree has already begun the start of the fruiting process (budding) and will more readily accept pruning.

Mulching

Again resist the temptation to use trimmings from your pruning days as compost material. You should similarly avoid adding leaves from your trees, unless they are thoroughly broken down. Otherwise, you create a breeding ground for diseases that can wipe out a tree or an orchard.

Instead, use a chipper mulcher to chip completely dry pruning. These can be placed around the tree to help it retain moisture in the summer. Leave a space between the trunk and the mulch of a few inches at least, so that you do not smother the tree or encourage mold.

Starting or Expanding an Orchard

When starting or expanding an orchard it can be tempting to plan the seeds of fruit that you have on hand. Maybe the seeds of fruit you purchased from the market or even from one of your existing trees. This can be hit and miss and is not usually advisable. Modern day fruit trees are a Frankenstein’s monster of different hybrids and often a graft of a good fruit baring variety on a different but good hardy root system variety. If you are new to fruit trees it is easier to buy and plant them as bare rooted fruit trees. If you want a DIY approach to propagating fruit trees you may want to learn about grafting.

Grafting

Grafting can increase your orchard’s pollination options and increase fruiting success. Grafting different varieties to an existing tree can also give you a wider variety of flavor options in your harvest. However, grafts need a clean cut. The smoother and more even the branch stem and the adjoining graft are, the more likely they are to succeed. While your sugar or sap glue mixture will connect the two parts, a greater contact surface area means a higher rate of success.

Overall, your spring work will likely require about a day for each five to ten trees you have. Larger trees take more time, so plan accordingly. It is important to do this before the last frost but after budding, so plan accordingly.

Author bio: Nigel William writes about topics like camping, survival, gardening, DIY, and home improvement among other things.

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