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By Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Long before there were stay-at-home orders and stress about food shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ian Wilson was helping city dwellers turn unused patches of their yard into fertile plots to grow their own organic vegetables, herbs, berries and fruit.
Since 2013, when he founded his company, Portland Edible Gardens, Wilson has served as a consultant for home gardeners, with all levels of green-thumb skills, who want to pour their energy into improving the place they live and their access to fresh food.
“I believe our gardens will carry us through this difficult time,” Wilson wrote to people who subscribe for free at portlandediblegardens.com to receive information on creating productive, edible gardens. “We plant seeds in times of abundance and in times of scarcity. Our garden’s gifts are too many to name and more generous than we could ever know.”
After earning an advanced certificate in ecological horticulture at UC Santa Cruz in 2010, Wilson managed one of Portland’s oldest CSA farms, the 18-acre 47th Avenue Farm, which provides food to more than 200 families.
Wilson posts instructional videos on Portland Edible Gardens’ Instagram, Youtube and Facebook page, and instead of in-person visits, which have been suspended during COVID-19 preventative measures, he is available for private video consultations.
What’s growing right now in his family garden?
- From seed: Carrots, radishes, sugar snap peas, turnips
- From nursery starts: Arugula, broccoli, kale, lettuce, onions, spinach
Oregon State University Extension berry specialist Javier Fernandez-Salvador suggests growing strawberries, which are self-pollinating, unlike blueberries, and have better yield and larger fruit with increased pollination from bees.
Wilson posted a guide April 6 on his PEG Journal that spotlights local sources for seeds, vegetable starts and soil amendments that remain open as essential businesses during stay-at-home orders.
Or you can order gardening items online. Here are a few ideas:
Gardening books: “The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre” by Carleen Madigan includes instructions to grow and preserve grains and vegetables, raise animals for meat, eggs and dairy, and even keep honey bees.
Coming in May: “Kitchen Garden Revival: A modern guide to creating a stylish small-scale, low-maintenance edible garden” by Nicole Johnsey Burke, who explains designing, planting, tending and harvesting a plot.
Seeds: The Oregonian columnists Marcia Westcott Peck and Dennis Peck buy seeds adapted to the Pacific Northwest from Territorial Seed Company, Nichols Garden Nursery, Adaptive Seeds, Peace Seed Organic, Siskiyou Seeds, Wild Garden Seed and Victory Seeds.
Seed trays: Small, shallow containers with drainage, from egg cartons to Burpee seed-staring kits, can be filled with a seed-starting potting mix, and planted with seeds, sprinkled with water and placed on a sunny spot.
Young plants: The benefit of starting with young plants, like those from Bonnie Plants, is that you get to harvest fresh produce from your garden sooner. Wilson says root vegetables, like carrots or beets, which are sensitive to being transplanted, are best started as seeds.
Planters: Read the plant’s growing instructions to know the container’s necessary size and depth, then select a vessel based on a style that appeals to you, from textured, earth-fired clay pots to steel rectangle troughs.
