Whether you grow veggies in a community garden plot, your own backyard or on a deck or patio in pots, now is the time many of you are enjoying a delicious harvest, depending on what you’ve planted. Harvesting fresh vegetables in Minnesota peaks during the entire month of August and even into mid-September.

Boosting your soil right now with an extra dose of  rich compost or worm castings may be beneficial for getting the most flavor out of your tomatoes and peppers! Top dressing around your plants will also  help retain moisture in the soil during these dog days of summer. It will also benefit your midsummer vegetable plantings for a fall harvesting of beets, turnips, leaf lettuces, radishes, green onions and a variety of leafy greens.

Looking for a coupon? Visit online coupons and save $2.00 off one bag of Carpenter’s Cottage Down to Earth Worm Castings, located in our produce department in the garden section.

Join us this Saturday, August 6th from 11-2pm here at Valley Natural Foods! We’ll meet in the Co-op Community Garden area for our co-op’s first ever participation in Gardening Matters’ Community Gardening Day.

Over 50 Twin Cities community gardens are on the tour and everyone has fun, with different activities available at each site! Valley Natural Foods will be serving free cold beverages, Fair Trade coffee and glad corn snacks for all Co-op Community Garden visitors. Be sure to check out the official map of all  the garden locations and  festivities available.

Cool off after the tour by visiting our Valley Natural Foods Juice and Java counter! Check out our online coupons and save $1.00 on a refreshing fruit smoothie of your choice. Coupon good through August 9, 2011.

Gardens of Eagan and Green Earth Growers each have just shipped us their next round of bedding plants! More varieties of heirloom tomatoes, flower packs and interesting herbs are all here, just waiting to be planted into your garden. There are even a few artichoke plants out there but we’ve been told artichoke plants must get in the ground NOW as they can take about 100 days until harvest! There’s a fun selection of herbs as well, including stevia plants! Beautiful geranium plants are available in 6″ biodegradable pots made with rice-hulls.

All bedding veggies, flowers and herbs are displayed storefront during regular business hours. Check our online coupons for $.50 off your choice of one single or one 4-pack of bedding plants this week!

Free for the taking! The sod from our co-op community gardens has been rolled up and placed on pallets at  the east end of our Valley Natural Foods parking lot. Perhaps you need to patch up a few places in your yard after our long winter. If so, please help yourself! Just stop by customer service and let them know you will be taking some sod. You may take as much sod as you like.

Co-op Community Garden Update: For those of you who have leased a plot in the smaller garden mandala, feel free to begin your gardening. For those of you awaiting plots in the larger mandala, look for a future e-mail announcement about an upcoming work day for completion of those plots.

The garlic is, that’s what! Last fall, Gary Johnson, now serving as our community relations developer planted northern-hardy Chesnok and Krasnodar hardneck varieties of garlic last  November.  We noticed the garlic shoots poking up through the straw right after the snow receded!

Throughout the growing season, we will learn through this garlic demonstration how to harvest scapes (the flower stem that shoots up from the center of the plant before the plant matures), the final harvest of garlic bulbs and how to dry and store them.

The Valley Natural Foods garden classroom is located on the south side of our building and will serve as a teaching platform for various gardening techniques, styles and plantings. It ties into our Farm to Market education—a belief that we should know where our food comes from. The Garden Classroom also supports our mission of a healthy community.

7th Annual Community Garden Spring Resource Fair

at the Sabathani Community Center, Minneapolis
Saturday, April 2, 2011, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
(doors open at 8:30 am)

The 7th Annual Community Garden Spring Resource Fair Offers 15 exciting workshops!

Keynote: 9:00 a.m. Frogtown Farm – The Power of Collaboration

Morning Workshops: 10:40 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.

Eliminate Erosion – Increase Productivity, MetroBlooms Landscape Designers

Tell your Garden’s Story! Working with Media, Margo Ashmore, Northeaster and NorthNews Newspapers

Garden Together! Communal Gardening Panel, Gardeners from Celeste’s Dream, Jardin Paraiso Comunidad and St. Cloud Community Garden

Fruit Tree Orchards: Planting for the Long Term, Midway Greenspirit Community Gardeners

What’s the Hoopla about Hoop Houses? Extend Your Growing Season! Starr Carpenter, Market Grower, Rebecca Harnik, Minnesota GreenCorps

Afternoon Workshops (Session 1): 1:00 p.m. – 2:10 p.m.
Doing More with Less: Superabundant Small Gardens, Susan Reed, Dowling Community Gardener

Environmental Justice and Soil Mitigation, Representatives from Environmental Justice Advocates of MN and the Women’s Environmental Institute

Share Your Produce! Gleaning and Food Shelf Donation Panel, Panelists from Emergency Food Shelf Network, MN FoodShare, and Guardian Angels Community Garden

Understanding the 2012 Farm Bill, Mark Muller, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Adam Warthesen, Land Stewardship Project
Sticks and Stones Garden Art, Nancy Ward, Artist and Community Gardener

Afternoon Workshops (Session 2): 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

Community-Based Problem Solving, Jay Clark, U of MN Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA)

Join the Local Food Economy, Collie Graddick, The Co-op Project, Starr Carpenter, Market Gower

Employer Sponsored Community Gardens Panel, Gardeners from the Haberman Group, Blue Cross and Boston Scientific

In-Ground Mushroom Cultivation, Jeremy McAdams, Cherry Tree House Mushrooms

How to Eat More Veggies Everyday,Tracy KS Yue, Healthful Cooking Coach

Saturday, April 2, 2011
9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. (doors open at 8:30 a.m.)

Sabathani Community Center
310 E. 38th St, Minneapolis (near 23, 18, and 11 bus lines)
More information, complete schedule, and pre-registration online at www.gardeningmatters.org

As food prices rise, communities and families are looking for options to assist with their household budget. Community gardens are neighborhood educational centers for growing your own food, deepening roots in the community, & beautifying the neighborhood. Community gardens are a hands-in, feet-on green space bridging generations & cultures.

Presenting Sponsor: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
 

Event Sponsors: Edible Twin Cities, JobCorps, Linden Hills Co-op, Sabathani Community Center, Specialized Environmental Technologies, Inc., Valley Natural Foods
 

Grassroots Sponsors: Barbette, Bryant Lake Bowl, Egg/Plant Urban Farm Supply, MN Institute of Sustainable Agriculture, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum – Education Department, MN-NRC-SARE, MN State Horticultural Society, Mother Earth Gardens, Red Stag Supperclub, Seward Cooperative Grocery and Deli, University of Minnesota Extension

With the approaching Daylight Saving Time (2:00 a.m. March 13), what a great time time to start thinking about your garden! And why not start early by planting your seeds indoors with an easy-to-use Jiffy Professional Greenhouse seed-starter kit. Stop by our produce department and pick-up a kit or two. Then check out our colorful display of  High Mowing Organic Seeds. It won’t be long before Spring arrives (official date is 12:00 a.m. March 20)!

No space for a garden? Come garden with us by leasing a plot right here at Valley Natural Foods. If you are interested in community gardening, please visit: Want to Get Healthy? Get Dirty!

Discover the benefits of gardening in a safe, educational and community setting!

As a cooperative, member-owners of Valley Natural Foods expressed interest in the co-op developing community gardens as part of our expansion.

We now have 24 key hole garden beds and 24 field crop areas available for lease!

Lease rates for members:
Key-hole $18.00
Field crop area $5.00
Lease rates for non-members:
Key-hole $22.00
Field Crop area $7.00

The Co-op Community Gardens are to:
*Be an open growing space for our community
*Provide home-grown produce for healthier eating
*Mentor and develop tomorrow’s gardeners
*Connect children, youth, adults and seniors
*Share gained gardening knowledge through classes
*Provide education and outreach to Dakota County schools
*Promote and demonstrate environmental stewardship
*Encourage gardening as a fun and enjoyable activity

Registration information:
Forms available online (print out and bring in with your payment)
Forms available by e-mail (contact the coordinator, Gary Johnson at: community@valleynaturalfoods.com)
Forms available at customer service

Take a look at our Co-op Community Gardens brochure!

Starting next week Wednesday, Small Planet Foods® will be holding a consumer sweepstakes!

Enter for a chance to WIN an organic garden when you buy ANY 5 Muir Glen® or LÄRABAR® products. (Prize to be awarded in the form of a $2,500 check)  Products must be purchased in one shopping visit between 3/1/11 and 3/31/11. Look for entry forms on a tear pad near the Muir Glen® or LÄRABAR® products starting March 1.

For every valid entry form received, Small Planet Foods® will donate $1 to support the Organic Farming Research Foundation. (max. donation: $5,000).

So what a great time to stock up in March – not only will you be supporting the Organic Farming Research Foundation with your sweepstakes entry, but selected varieties of  LÄRABAR® Nutritional Bars and Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Organic Soups will be on sale!

We are delighted to welcome Gary Johnson to our co-op family! Gary will be working as our community relations developer for our community gardens and educational outreach here at Valley Natural Foods.

Currently buried under a couple feet of snow, our two “mandala” gardens are located on the grassy lawn east of the Valley Natural Foods parking lot. Both gardens will contain several keyhole gardening areas, and will be leased as community plots. We can hardly wait to start digging in the dirt - hurry up spring!

If you are interested in gardening with us, why not sign-up for one of our February gardening classes, while we are waiting for spring! Click Here to see our exciting class line-up, here at Valley Natural Foods.