Blog 2 |

Hoop Hoop Hooray! Look at how far we’ve come building the Hoop House!

Faithful volunteers and hoop house builder extraordinaire Steve Hill gathered for the second Saturday to put up the ribs and ends of the Hoop House. Lots of carrying of gravel, leveling, tamping and before the clouds rolled in at the end of the day and the rains began, much had been accomplished. We are thrilled!
Thanks again to all the volunteers, including those who furnished another fabulous feast for lunch.

Next Build Day is Saturday, October 8…
We’ll start at 8 a.m. Saturday, October 8. The plan is to finish the ends and put up the plastic. If you want to volunteer for a few hours, email us. (info@commonwealthurbanfarms.com)
Volunteering is a great way to learn about building a hoop house and it’s a wonderful experience to work together in community. Lunch provided.

Address is 1016 NW 32 (half a block east of Western.)

We’re able to build this hoop house because of a generous donation from Thunder player, Kyle Singler. Thank you, Kyle!!

And then it will be time to celebrate at our HOOPAPALOOZA!
The Hoop House Grand Opening

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: October 22. Noon to 3 p.m. Music, food, fun, tours, silent auction, the whole she-bang! More details to come.

Veggie Spotlight: Sweet Baby Turnips!

Maybe it’s that great CommonWealth compost. Maybe it’s Lia’s magic. Maybe it’s the perfect variety for this spot. Whatever the reason, we are grateful for the return of baby turnip season! Now come the tender white globes of that distinctive sweet turnip flavor, and the fresh greens to add to fall’s table.

This recipe for a delectable turnip soup is passed along by a friend whose mother made it perfectly. The adventure of this recipe is that there are no exact amounts; the cook gets to perfect it, considering the delicate flavor of the turnips available.

Grace’s Exquisite Turnip Soup

Bunch of tender turnips (greens removed)
1 Tablespoon butter
Milk or Half and Half (not too much, just enough to make the mashed turnips the consistency of soup)
Salt
Pepper (Black and/or White)

Quarter turnips or, if small, leave whole. Just barely cover with water. Cook until tender (it doesn’t take long.) Drain. Mash or blend in blender. Set aside.
Heat milk or half and half until just boiling.
Add mashed turnips, butter, salt and coarse-ground pepper
Serve immediately.

The trick is the balance of turnip and milk. You need the milk but not so much that it takes away the exquisite turnip flavor. Salt and butter help create the wonderful flavor.

A Field of Sunflowers

Mid-summer we planted a variety of sunflowers in an empty lot where the soil needs remediation from lead. Now the sunflowers are at their peak! What a sight to behold!

Hoop House Build!
Saturday Number One…

The lovely rain stopped just in time for us to begin constructing our hoop house last Saturday. Holes are dug, leveled & squared, posts are in. Thanks to all our friends who volunteered, carrying buckets of gravel, digging, tamping, cooking and serving lunch for all.

And this Saturday, September 17…

This Saturday we’ll assemble and install the hoops and end walls, too. Then sometime in October we’ll cover it with plastic and be ready for cold weather growing.

We’ll start at 8 a.m. Saturday. If you want to volunteer for a few hours, email us. (info@commonwealthurbanfarms.com) Lunch provided.

Address is 1016 NW 32 (half a block east of Western.) We’re able to build this hoop house because of a generous donation from Thunder player, Kyle Singler. Thank you, Kyle!!

And then it will be HOOPaLOOZA!
The Hoop House Grand Opening

Mark your calendar: October 29. Noon to 3 p.m.
Music, food, fun, tours, silent auction, the whole she-bang!
More details to come.

Veggie Spotlight: Arugula!

Once considered a specialty green with a funny name, arugula is now a mainstay in the salad section and on our farm. Easy to grow, it’s also one of our quickest seed-to-harvest greens. Scatter some seeds on the ground and you can start harvesting baby greens a month later. It really is that easy!

Arugula shines in cooler weather. Hot temps make it spicy and bitter, which is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your palate. Bitter greens, raw or cooked, have their place in the menu. But I admit to preferring the flavor of cool season arugula—smooth, nutty, with just a bit of kick. Fertile soil and plenty of moisture are also keys to a mild-tasting crop. Prepare your soil by working in some compost, then smooth the surface, broadcast seed and lightly cover with a bit more compost. Gently water in. Mulch lightly to keep the soil moist without having to water as much. The seed will germinate in just a few days. You can plant a row of radishes right next to the arugula, and harvest baby greens and radishes a month later for an instant salad.

Arugula is also happy growing in pots; use a Smart Pot or any pot or tub with good drainage. Cut the leaves an inch or so above soil level, and it will re-grow as a cut-and-come-again crop.

Arugula is a stand-out as a raw green, bringing a more full-bodied flavor and texture to salads. But don’t forget it as a cooking green, either. It’s particularly good with eggs; see our recipe for Rae’s Eggs & Arugula as a great way to start the day.—Lia Woods

Rae’s Eggs with Arugula
Thanks to our volunteer Rae for this recipe!

Place a frying pan on medium/low heat. Melt butter or oil, then crack two eggs directly into the frying pan (I don’t whip them.) Immediately season them to your liking. (We use curry powder, but salt and pepper work just fine).

Dice a handful of arugula. By now your egg whites should be cooked through and this is the time when I scramble them. (I like to taste both the white and the yolk separately, which is why I do not whip them together.)

Add the arugula, toss a bit, and plate your yummy breakfast!
Goes great with toast and cream cheese!!!!

October Garden School
Small Wonders: Microgreens & Shoots
October 8th, 11 am to noon
CommonWealth Urban Farms, 3310 N. Olie

Want to grow highly nutritious, tasty greens in a tiny space? Then microgreens are for you. Lia will demonstrate how to plant and grow pea shoots, plus kale, radish, dill and basil microgreens, and teach us how to avoid common problems. Each participant will have a chance to plant a mini tray of microgreens to take home.
$5 pay on-site (Volunteers get in free)
http://commonwealthurbanfarms.com/garden-school/

Veggie Spotlight: Okra…Try it Raw!

Okra. Most people either adore it or abhor it. You have to hand it to a vegetable that manages to be slimy, crunchy, prickly, edible and TASTY all at the same time.

My current favorite okra recipe is not well known, and the simplest of all: eat it raw. I LOVE raw okra. Make sure you have very fresh, young pods. They are wonderfully mild, crisp and moist—the perfect munch-your-way-through-the-garden snack. Okra has visual appeal as well; slice up a pod and you’ll have a cutting board full of little wheels, with a single pale seed nestled between each spoke. At 3-4 calories per pod, fat-free, and chock full of amino acids and minerals, what more could one ask for?

Okra is a star in the summer garden, a consolation prize for surviving July and August in Oklahoma. Plant in May when soil and air temperatures have warmed up, and begin harvesting in two months or less. Harvest frequently, at least every other day; okra pods grow quickly and will rapidly turn woody. Test it with a knife; it should cut like butter. Okra is a generous plant; the more you harvest, the more it will produce.

Okra provides a beautiful and dramatic touch to the landscape. It is a member of the Malvaceae family, along with cotton and hibiscus, and shares their showy, cup-shaped flowers. Some varieties will reach heights of ten feet; plant a dwarf variety that matures at three feet for easier harvesting! The burgundy varieties are especially striking, with red-veined leaves and deep-red pods pointing skyward.

As summer wanes, the decrease in daylight hours triggers a drop in pod production. Okra is an easy candidate for seed saving, and the dry pods perform double duty as ornamental centerpieces during the cold months, reminding us of next summers’ bounty.—Lia Woods

Very Exciting: Our Hoop House Community Build!

September 10 and 17

We’re finally going to build our long-awaited hoop house! Hoop houses are structures made from large metal hoops, secured to the ground, and covered with plastic. They provide a microclimate for plants and greatly extend the growing season. Our hoop house will be about 30′ x 50′. Big!

We’ll start at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 and work all day. Depending on how much we get done that day, we may work only the morning of Sept. 17. We need several more volunteers who can dedicate a few hours. If you’re interested in signing up for one of the work teams on either day, email us (info@commonwealthurbanfarms.com) and we’ll send you the details. Our friends Steve and Andrew Hill of Phocus Farms Hoophouses in Edmond will lead the community-build both days. We’ll serve lunch for everybody both days.

Address is 1016 NW 32 (half a block east of Western.)

We’re able to build this hoop house because of a generous donation from Thunder player, Kyle Singler. Thank you, Kyle!!

Truth in advertising: “yardlong beans” are not actually a yard long. More like half a yard. Which is looooonnng! Plus they’re purple. And fun! Oh, yes, and tasty. We’ve become big fans.

We’re growing our yardlongs on arches made of cattle panels. The resulting tunnels are shady and inviting, and make it easier to harvest.

These beans are in the cowpea family rather than the green bean family, which explains why they grow so well in the dead of summer. The large blossoms are highly attractive to bumblebees and many other beneficial pollinators.

The key is knowing how to cook them. With most vegetables, the big no-no is overcooking. Yardlongs (and eggplant) are the exception to the rule. An undercooked yard long bean (or eggplant) tastes, well, undercooked, rather than fresh. Flavorful, chewy and dense, yardlongs pair well with spicy, salty and slightly sweet sauces. You can chop up the beans and cook them alone or with other veggies, or cook them whole and wrap a handful of them into pretzel shapes for a striking presentation.

Their length makes prep a snap; wash, snip off the bud end, chop and cook. Please note that the long strands will be limp and slightly wrinkled even when they’re fresh. Try pairing them with eggs, in stir fries with some Thai roasted chile paste, or stewed with tomatoes. Lia’s favorite way to cook yardlong beans is a simple stir-fry; some oil, lots of garlic and/or ginger, then yard long beans and fairly high heat until they are well-cooked and slightly blackened. JoBeth offers a recipe below.

Yard Long Beans with Sweet Potatoes & Coconut Milk
1 pound yard-long beans, cut into 2-inch slices
1/4 pound sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 segment
1 T curry powder
1 tsp. turmeric powder
2 tsp. cooking oil
1-inch piece galangal or ginger, crushed & sliced
1 tsp. shrimp paste
1/2 C coconut milk
3/4 C water
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add curry powder, galangal/ginger, and turmeric to pot and stir. Add sweet potatoes and allow to slightly brown. Add shrimp paste.
Add the beans and cook another 2 minutes until the beans are lightly browned.
Add the coconut milk, water, sugar and salt to pot and let liquid simmer for 20 minutes until beans and squash are tender but not mushy. Serve warm.

Buzz and Flutter In the Pollinator Garden

What’s all that buzzing and fluttering?! If you haven’t seen our Pollinator Garden for a while, you’re in for a treat. Olivia’s garden is flourishing with all kinds of amazingcreatures…bees, butterflies, and look closely to spot a caterpillar silently munching on a leaf or a beetle looking for a safe place to lay her eggs. Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet and that bees carry pollen on their legs? Come and take a tour of the garden with Jody to learn more interesting facts about these wonders of nature.

Too, we would love to show you how you can grow your own pollinator garden and create a habitat for pollinators. No room for a garden? Let us share ours with you! We welcome volunteers’ help. It’s a lovely place to be on Saturdays! Visit us from 9 to noon.

CommonWealth’s Pollinator Garden is on Urban Ag OKC’s Butterfly Tour
Sunday, September 25
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.Explore eight diverse gardens and landscapes during
this free, self-guided tour around central-northwest Oklahoma City. From the modernformal to the xeric perennial border to the rustic urban homestead, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

Get inspired to attract these beautiful creatures to your own garden, plus ask plant questions of local experts and purchase native and prairie garden perennials from local growers!

Addresses and details for tour sites will be posted at http://www.urbanagokc.orgby mid-September.
Veggie Spotlight: Purslane
In the category of off-the-beaten-path, we have Purslane. Lia says every August she falls in love with it all over again. “A succulent, mild-tasting green that grows happy as a clam, right when our weather gets super hot and dry. Impressive!”
It’s a bit crunchy with a light lemony taste. Called Verdolaga in Spanish, it’s extremely nutritious; especially as an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids. Michael Pollan calls it one of the two most nutritious foods on the planet. It’s also drought tolerant, grows like a weed (is often considered a weed) and the stem, leaf and tiny flowers are all edible. Lia usually eats it raw, in salad, but it can also be cooked, used in pesto, etc.

Volunteer JoBeth Hamon offers this recipe:
Purslane Salad
1 small onion, chopped. Soak in salt water.

2 cups purslane, washed; leaves cut in half.
1 large tomato, chopped.
Mix purslane and tomato. Drain onion and add.

1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons vinegar
Add salt to taste.

Of Tomatoes, and Birds!

You just never know what the farming adventure will be on any given year. This year, just as the tomato crop came on, so did the birds! Don’t know which ones or why, for the first year ever, they became so interested in eating tomatoes. But they sure did. 80 percent of the crop had peck marks, or holes! Then Stephanie Jordan told us about hanging CD’s in the tomato cages, which we did. That cut the damage by about 50 percent. Then Lia discovered red and silver bird reflector tape (evidently, this problem is more common than we knew.) We twirled it through the tops of the cages, and the garden is aglow with shiny light. There is zero damage now! Tomatoes are safe, and beautiful, and luscious.

Garden School in August
In the Garden, 3310 N. Olie
$5 pay on-site (No fee for volunteers)

Plan and Plant Your Fall Garden—Start Now!
August 13—11 a.m. to noon
Timing is everything with the fall garden! Plant too early and the crops fail due to heat. Plant too late and they won’t be ready to harvest before the first freeze. Some vegetables are cold hardy and can be planted later in fall for a winter harvest. Lia will share her fall planting calendar along with tips for veggies best suited for fall gardening.

Tool Sharpening
August 27—11 am to noon
Toby Sarge will demonstrate how to sharpen garden tools and how to make small repairs. Participants are encouraged to bring their garden tools for hands-on learning while sharpening their own tools!

Slow Flowers…with a Bright Impact

Sunflowers and zinnias and marigolds, oh my! Our cut flower garden is in full swing, and we are awash in color. Zinnias take center stage insummer. We grow Benary’s Giant, a particularly fine variety with tall, sturdy stems and vivid, almost neon blooms. Our Giant Series Marigolds are, indeed, big & tall & blazing orange; if you want BRIGHT, we’ve got you covered.
Sunflowers are a happy happy flower, like a big smile wrapped up inside a package of yellow. From what I’ve observed, a vase of sunflowers just draws a smile right out of everyone. We like to mix all those bright colors with the cool greens and purples of Thai basil, for bouquets with just the right amount of splash and calm, and a sweet scent as well.

I have learned that succession planting in flowers is just as important as with vegetables. Plant a row of zinnias in April and it’s probably petering out by now, and likely getting powdery mildew as well. But plant another row of zinnias in June, and it will be in full glory in August; you can take out the over-the-hill row while feasting your eyes on the late-planted row. We now plant zinnias, and several other flowers, from April thru late July, for the longest window of enjoyment.

And now for a bit of shameless self-promotion…

Need a birthday gift? You can purchase a beautiful, local-flower bouquet from us for just $15-$25, Mason jar vase included. Special event on a budget? Email us to purchase a bulk bucket of flowers for DIY arrangements. Can’t get enough of them? We have a weekly bouquet subscription service available, and it’s not too late to join.

Look What’s Coming Up in the Bioremediation Lot!
An on-going project is the bioremediation of a lot in CommonWealth Urban Farms where lead still permeates the soil. Sunflowers draw lead out of the soil through their roots, so again this year, we went to work preparing the ground—some wood chip-enriched, some red clay—for a planting of sunflowers. One overcast morning recently, a team hoed and raked and yanked up Bermuda grass, then worked up rows. Lia brought several varieties of sunflowers—including Firecracker, Soraya, Santa Lucia—with different maturation times so that there will be sunflowers popping up into autumn. Miracle of miracles, it rained the morning after the seeding! And then it rained again. In July!

And now there are baby sunflowers.
Thanks to Hannah Braden for managing this project!

Well, technically Garden School is over for the year, but we’re having one last hurrah and offering a DIY workshop. Starts at 9 am this Saturday. We’ll provide all the materials and tools for you to build a sifter that fits on top of a wheelbarrow. We use ours at CommonWealth ALL the time – if you’ve volunteered with us, you’ve probably helped us put it to use! Great for sifting compost, coir, and potting soil mixes. A $5 donation will cover cost of supplies. A shout out to our friend Charlotte for cutting and drilling all the recycled wood – thank you! RSVP so we’ll have enough supplies for everyone.

Potluck at the Garden
This Saturday, October 31st, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

3310 N. Olie
Garden tours!
Face painting for kids!
Scavenger hunt & prizes!
Music by the Bradens!

We’ll have lots of food, so come and eat with us even if you don’t bring a dish.

Bring a friend – everyone is invited.In case of rain: our neighbor, Pat, has kindly offered her home so we can feast together inside and dry.

The Fall Garden is a beauty this year. We have rows and rows of green; the summer crops are mostly gone, and now it’s the season for leafy greens and root crops. We’re harvesting lettuce, kale, arugula and our signature Kickstarter spicy mix, plus sweet little baby turnips, red radishes and daikon radishes. Soon the first crop of spinach, beets and carrots will be ready. Come this Saturday and see for yourself!

Every week, we start a few more rows of roots and greens to continue the harvest through the winter months and early spring. That’s right – it’s not too late to plant!

Prepare your bed, then sprinkle some lettuce, kale or arugula seed on top, lightly cover with compost or fine soil and gently water it in. The seeds will germinate in a week or two – more slowly than in September since the soil has cooled down.

Covering your bed with floating row cover, solar cones or simply clear milk jugs with the bottoms cut off with make a big difference at this time of year. Covering it creates a micro-climate with greater moisture, warmth and protection from wind – you’ll get quicker germination, and your little seedlings will be ready for eating much sooner.

Doug Tallamy, acclaimed author of two books about native plants, is speaking this Saturday, August 22, 2:30 pm at OSU/OKC on the third floor of the Student Center, 900 N Portland.
A dynamic speaker, Tallamy explains, “You have probably never thought of your property as a wildlife preserve representing the last chance we have to sustain plants and animals that were once common throughout the US. But that is exactly the role our suburban and urban landscapes are now playing- and will play even more in the near future.”

I’m particularly keen to hear more about establishing pollinator habitat in the city. Our volunteer team at CommonWealth is making plans to turn the flower patch next to the street in front of CommonWealth into a pollinator garden. Plus create signage so anyone visiting CommonWealth can learn about what’s planted there and why those plants are beneficial to pollinators.

And why are pollinators beneficial to us? We can thank pollinators for one out of every three bites of food we eat. Bees, butterflies, wasps, flies, beetles, bats, small mammals and birds are all pollinators. The bee in the photo here is visiting a cucumber flower to gather pollen; as it moves from flower to flower, bits of pollen get transferred from male to female flowers. Next time you eat a cucumber, thank a bee.

Many pollinator populations are in decline, caused in large part to a loss in feeding and nesting habitats. Monarch butterfly populations have declined 90% (yes, that’s 90%) in recent years. Adding natural habitat areas into farms and gardens works: pollinators are attracted, yields increase. If you build it, they will come! The Pollinator Partnership website has great information on helping pollinators.

More info on Doug Tallamy at the Oklahoma Native Plant Society website or Facebook page.

Farm Stand

We’re open! Our Farm Stand is open on Saturdays from 9 am to noon; if you’re looking for FRESH and LOCAL, then come on by. We’ll have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, fresh basil, onions, potatoes, garlic & elephant garlic for your selection. We’re located at 3310 N. Olie.

Garden School: Cookin’ with the Sun

Solar Oven Demo & Tasting

Saturday, August 22nd from 8:30 – 9 am

Summer brings SUN and plenty of it! Instead of heating up the kitchen, why not put that solar power to use? Sun ovens heat up to 360 degrees, and can be used to bake, boil or steam any kind of food. This is an easy, forgiving way to cook, like a crockpot that doesn’t need electricity. Lia will demonstrate cooking garden veggies in her sun oven, and attendees will get to sample dishes cooked with solar power.

I confess. I used to detest zinnias. Bright, bold and brassy, zinnias are a neon type of flower. But when I first started growing cut flowers, I found zinnias to be the top flower – not amongst the top, but THE top flower – on one after another Top Ten list by flower farmers across the country. OK, OK, I said, I’ll grow some zinnias. And grow they did! Endless blossoms in pink, coral, orange, scarlet, wine, purple, white & yellow, all thru the hot summer. Their eye popping color quickly became an essential element in our bouquets, and they were equally eye catching in the landscape. I became a zinnia convert.

Zinnias hail from Mexico, which makes them good candidates for Oklahoma heat. Spaniards who encountered them in Mexico dubbed them “mal de ojos” meaning either “ugly to the eye” or that they are so bright they hurt your eyes. (I admit to feeling validated when I first heard this.)

Zinnias come as single, semidouble and double flowering; singles are more like daisies, and doubles look more like dahlias. For cut flowers, we grow Benary’s Giant zinnias almost exclusively. Tall plants, big flowers, long, sturdy stems – thank you, Benary.

If you’re looking for bedding plants, Profusion is a dwarf zinnia that’s fantastic for borders. Another favorite of mine is Persian Carpet, an heirloom zinnia with a southwestern look.

Start zinnias in pots inside or plant directly outside in a sunny spot when the soil has warmed. In 2-3 months, you’ll be surrounded by swarms of color. Bees and butterflies are attracted to zinnias, too, making them a great pollinator plant.

For longest vase life, harvest before the pollen ring forms on the flowers, shown in the photo here of the single petalled yellow zinnia. The double yellow flower below is at the perfect stage for harvest; the petals are fully open, but the yellow stamens aren’t showing yet. Zinnias thrive on hot weather; the first frost ends the season for these bright beauties.

CommonWealth now grows over 25 varieties of flowers, with bouquets and bulk flowers available for purchase. More details on our Slow Flowers webpage.

CommonWealth Farm Stand

It’s pepper season! Red or green, fat or skinny, sweet or hot or really hot, peppers are a beautiful and versatile vegetable. Red (or orange, yellow or purple) peppers are simply green peppers that have fully ripened. They sweeten up as they mature, with an increase in nutrition as well. Mix the colors together for a lovely crudite platter, or sauté them with onions, or grill them for a special treat. A favorite variety of mine is Jimmy Nardello, pictured above. This heirloom pepper looks like a hot pepper but has a sweet, rich flavor and is excellent raw, roasted or stuffed.

And yes, we still have TOMATOES! Big tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, we got ’em.Our farm stand is open on Saturdays from 9 am to noon; if you’re looking for FRESH and LOCAL, then come on by. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, fresh basil, onions, potatoes, garlic & elephant garlic fill out the selection this week. We’re located at 3310 N. Olie.

Garden School: Planning the Fall Garden

Saturday, August 15 from 8:30 – 9 am

Timing is everything with the fall garden! Plant too early and the crops fail due to heat. Plant too late and they won’t be ready to harvest before the first freeze. Some vegetables are cold hardy and can be planted later in fall for a winter harvest. Lia will share her fall planting calendar along with tips for veggies best suited for fall gardening.

IMHO, summer = tomatoes. Tomatoes! We got ’em. We have an abundance of both slicers and cherry tomatoes this week. It’s the season for sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, panzanella salad (that’s the one with tomatoes, cucumbers, basil & croutons – I could eat this every day all summer), pasta with sautéed cherry tomatoes, bruschetta, gazpacho, grilled cheese & tomato sandwiches, salsa… tomatoes every day in every way.

Our farm stand is open on Saturdays from 9 am to noon; if you’re looking for FRESH and LOCAL, then come on by! Sweet peppers & hot peppers, yard long beans, fresh basil, onions, potatoes, garlic & elephant garlic round out the selection this week. We’re located at 3310 N. Olie in OKC.

Slow Flowers: Marigolds
Like sunflowers, marigolds are pure summer cheeriness. Is it possible to look at an armful of marigolds and not smile?

Marigolds are a summer workhorse in the flower garden. They bloom from June until frost, cranking out a steady supply of blooms for bouquets or just to enjoy in the landscape. We grow Tagetes erecta, aka African Marigolds, which are actually native to Mexico and Central America. (Go figure.) We have one 30′ x 3′ row of African Marigolds, from which I’ve been harvesting 200 flowers weekly for a couple months now. Impressive! Eventually, the blooms get smaller; a second planting in mid-summer will extend the harvest of large blossoms.

Easy to grow, this is truly a beginner’s flower. Start seed indoors in March and transplant out in April in a sunny location. Tagetes erecta will grow to 3′ in height, with an abundance of large, fluffy, yellow or orange flowers on long stems. Tagetes patula, or French Marigolds, are shorter, with red, orange, yellow or bicolor flowers. They are an excellent choice for bedding plants or in containers. Tagetes tenuifolia are compact little plants with lacy foliage and clusters of small, single flowers. Their citrusy scent make these the choice for edible flowers; just use the petals, as the base can be bitter. They’re also lovely in borders & pots.
In Southeast Asia, marigolds are strung into garlands for decorations at weddings and other ceremonies. Here’s step by step directions from flower farmer Katherine Anderson showing how to make a marigold lei or crown for yourself!

CommonWealth now grows over 25 varieties of flowers, with bouquets and bulk flowers available for purchase. More details on our Slow Flowers webpage!

CommonWealth Urban Farms

Hoop Hoop Hooray! Look at how far we’ve come building the Hoop House!

And then it will be time to celebrate at our HOOPAPALOOZA!
The Hoop House Grand Opening

Hoop House Build!
Saturday Number One…

And then it will be HOOPaLOOZA!
The Hoop House Grand Opening

Veggie Spotlight: Arugula!

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CommonWealth Urban Farms

Hoop Hoop Hooray! Look at how far we’ve come building the Hoop House!

And then it will be time to celebrate at our HOOPAPALOOZA! The Hoop House Grand Opening

Hoop House Build! Saturday Number One…

And then it will be HOOPaLOOZA! The Hoop House Grand Opening

Veggie Spotlight: Arugula!

And then it will be time to celebrate at our HOOPAPALOOZA!
The Hoop House Grand Opening

Hoop House Build!
Saturday Number One…

And then it will be HOOPaLOOZA!
The Hoop House Grand Opening