Amy Rice Jones from Petaluma Bounty shares fall planting tips

Post by Sue Capella
We had a full house at The Seed Bank last week for Amy Rice Jones’s free talk on fall planting. Farm manager for Petaluma’s popular food growing non profit, Amy is well respected in the community for her wealth of knowledge on sustainable farming and raising all things green. And her talk was full of great tips for local gardeners hoping to reap the bounty of a fall and winter vegetable garden.

Amy touched on everything, including what to plant from seed now, what needs to be planted from starts, soil amending, veggie bed location and sun exposure, cover crops, and how to protect soil during the winter.

If you’re going to broadcast seeds directly into the ground, don’t delay, you must plant when there are still midday hot spells, said Amy.

Amy answering questions of guests at the Seed Bank

Depending on your location and the vegetable, you can plant seeds now through early October. Get those root crops in as soon as possible though, she stresses, including carrots and beets. And with carrots, keep the soil very moist until they sprout. Some of Amy’s favorite heirloom carrot varieties include “Scarlet Knots” and “Atomic Red.” As for beets, only plant red varieties—no golden varieties in the winter. She likes “Bull’s Blood” and “Early Wonder.”

Other fall veggies that can be planted directly in the ground from seed this month (September) include bok choy, chicory, radicchio, Chinese cabbage, mache, endive and escarole, kohlrabi, radishes, turnips, and leafy greens, including kale, spinach, and lettuces. Some of Amy’s lettuce favorites include “Winter Density” and “Little Gem.” “Bloomsdale” spinach, another favorite, can be planted by seed directly into the ground now through early October and then again February through March for a successive crop.

Bok choy seeds can be sown now through October and again February through March; radishes, through October and again February through April.

Other cool weather crops to plant now include broccoli, mustards, cauliflower, onions, and garlic. Many heirloom garlic varieties can be planted through November.

In October, November, and December, you can’t plant seeds, Amy said. “Plant starts then.”

“With fall and winter vegetables, water midday to help them cool down in hot spells while getting established,” she added.

And give them 6 to 8 hours of sun, preferably including the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Soils become compacted easily during the rainy season, Amy pointed out. She recommends planting cover crops to stop winter soil from getting compacted, keep the soil “alive,” and serve as nutrients that can be worked into the soil.

Cool season cover crops Amy recommends include legumes, bell beans, oats, vetch, and mustards. Naturally emerging weeds such as chickweed and miners’ lettuce are also good as companion plants, helping protect the soil in winter rain.

Mulches, including straw (not hay), also stop the rain from compacting the soil.

Amy uses a pitchfork to work the soil at Petaluma Bounty Farm, where adobe clay is abundant. She digs down at least to the tines, she says. “The deeper you can cultivate your soil, the deeper the roots can go and get more nutrients.”

(You can pick up a Vegetable Planting Summary compiled by the Sonoma County Master Gardeners at The Seed Bank for more particulars on fall and winter crop planting or bring your planting questions to our in store horticulturalist, Gwen Kilchherr, who’s at the store Mondays through Wednesdays. And there are many opportunities to volunteer at the Petaluma Bounty Farm and learn about raising food crops firsthand. Visit www.petalumabounty.org for details.)

Last spring Jere and Emilee Gettle, owners of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and Bakersville Pioneer Village in Mansfield, Missouri, were wading through piles of paperwork to make their dream of a West Coast location a reality. By June, they opened the doors of their newest store, The Seed Bank, in a grand 1920’s Roman Renaissance Revival style building on the corner of a bustling thoroughfare in Petaluma, California, within a 50 mile radius of half their California mail order customers.

Inside the Petaluma Seed Bank in Petaluma, California

The towering building with its elegantly curved façade and huge, arched windows had once been the Sonoma County branch of the Bank of America. Its new currency, non hybrid, non GMO (genetically modified organisms), non treated, non patented heirloom seeds, was a welcome form of “green.” Banks all over the country were closing, and organic farming and growing your own food were becoming even more popular with the environment , health , and budget conscious consumer.

“Everyday, people come in and are tickled by the fact that it’s a seed store in a bank,” says Paul Wallace, store manager and juggler of all Baker Creek’s West Coast business connections.

Gwen Kilchherr, in house horticulturist, with a customer.

“I was surprised at how fast people in Southern California and all over found out about us and how this has become a destination place,’ adds Gwen Kilchherr, in store horticulturalist, local gardening columnist, and radio show gardening expert.

Since it opened, “Baker Creek West” has sprouted and grown into a thriving business as healthy and wholesome as the plants grown from the company’s heirloom seeds. The number of heirloom seed varieties offered for sale has grown from 1,200 to 1,400. Gardening related items for sale line the shelves and walls and include fine, hand forged gardening tools from England based Clarington Forge, vegan gardening gloves, locally crafted handmade soaps, beeswax candles, and organic herbs and spices, and a gardener friendly line of how to books on everything from seed saving and seed sowing to organic vegetable growing and pest control.

Local photographs of Northern California’s bucolic farmlands and pristine open spaces as well as garden themed artwork and handmade quilts by local artisans grace the walls.

Yet, the real icing on the cake—or vegan doughnut—is what The Seed Bank has become to the community, surrounding counties, and even the nation. It’s an old fashioned meeting place that opens its doors to other like minded people and organizations, a place where people can gather and share the message that being kind to the land and eating healthy, organically raised foods is important, perhaps more than ever before.

It was with great excitement and much pleasure that The Seed Bank, in conjunction with local, independent bookstore Copperfield’s Books, hosted a talk and book signing by Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” in January, seating over 400 people amongst the store’s racks of seed packets. The store also hosted a local screening of Kirk Bergstrom’s “Nourish: Food+Community,” an insightful half-hour PBS special that discusses what we eat and where our food comes from.

Local non profit organizations, including community based organic farm, Petaluma Bounty, have held events beneath its soaring ceilings. Sonoma County Culinary Guild even hosted a members only, sit-down dinner for fifty, complete with elegant, white tablecloths, and Petaluma’s Live Oak Charter School recently held the store’s first art show featuring students’ agricultural  and garden themed artwork.

“It’s nice to have somewhere where people can come and feel at home,” says store manager Paul Wallace. And he expects the store will be holding more and more in store events and gatherings.

The Seed Bank, Bakersville Pioneer Village in Mansfield, Missouri, and the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company Web site also provide educational opportunities for gardeners at all skill levels. At The Seed Bank, there are plans for in store horticulturalist Gwen Kilchherr to give more free talks on vegetable gardening as well as composting, insect and pest control, plant care, and preserving and canning tomatoes.

When you visit The Seed Bank, Gwen is also on hand to answer your gardening questions and can provide you with vegetable planting guidelines from local master gardeners.

Informational videos featuring Gwen, Jere Gettle himself, local farmers, organic food and sundry producers, and local chefs who use organic, locally grown foods are being shot by Petaluma video producer and cameraman Daniel Carmody at the store and in area locales to connect the community with other businesses supporting organic farming and healthful eating. (Look for these videos on this Web site and on The Seed Bank and Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company Facebook pages.)

“People who were buying their starts from the nursery are now wanting to start their own seeds and get more for their money,” says Gwen. “They’re finding they can do it. They come back more and more for seeds. They see the catalog and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

Paul Wallace assisting at customer at the Seed Bank

Store manager Paul Wallace says he’s assisted customers who have driven all the way from Southern California with heavily ear marked Baker Creek Seed catalogs, excited about buying their seeds in person. Another customer took orders online from a friend in Germany while pursuing the store, he adds.

For the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company’s West Coast location there continues to be a constant buzz of activity and enthusiasm around growing non GMO heirloom seeds, organic farming, and just about everything that has to do with the healthful, affordable pastime of gardening—much more than the Gettles could have ever dreamt of.

The Seed Bank is located at 199 Petaluma Boulevard North in downtown Petaluma. If you’re in the area, stop by. This charming, historic town is also home to dozens of antique shops, art galleries, fine restaurants, and visitor friendly organic farms.

Sue Capella is a Northern California home and garden writer, photographer, and artist. She can be reached at SueCapella@gmail.com

Andrew Kurtek Heirloom Garlic Grower

Andrew Kurtek has been working hard since last fall

—make that for the past 3 to 4 years—to bring Seed Bank shoppers this year’s harvest of specialty garlic for planting and eating. And there are still a few months to go before his famed garlic hits the shelves.

Missouri born Kurtek is growing garlic varieties from all over the world, forty four varieties in all, which is no easy feat.

The veteran organic garlic farmer has been a regular at the Petaluma Farmers’ Market for over 20 years, but this year you’ll only find his organic gourmet garlic, including seven varieties from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog, at The Seed Bank in Petaluma.

“You have to have a lot of patience to grow garlic,” he says. It takes years, sometimes as many as four or five, to acclimate imported seed garlic to your growing area. And each growing season is eight to nine months long, from fall until late spring.

Kurtek will replant garlic varieties up to three or four times, using the best cloves (or seed garlic) from each year’s crop as he strives to get the varieties accustomed to local growing conditions. The goal is to produce the largest and most flavorful garlic possible, with the longest shelf life possible, he says. His garlic stays fresher much longer than the standard garlic you find at grocery stores, he adds.

Kurtek has 5,000 garlic plants growing on a quarter acre in West Petaluma, and he does all his farming himself and by hand, from tilling to planting to weeding to harvesting. He plants early, mid season, and late season varieties to ensure a bountiful crop regardless of weather conditions. Garlic isn’t happy in cold climates and doesn’t like its soil saturated for too long. Kurtek was a little nervous this rainy season, but his crop made it through just fine.

Andrew and his garlic

Garlic is fertilizer greedy, he adds. He uses a mix of weathered eucalyptus leaves from his property along with some wood ash, potash or oyster shells. The mixture adds to the garlic’s sweetness, and the dried eucalyptus leaves—he swears—keep the gophers away.

Come May and June, Kurtek will be harvesting Baker Creek Heirloom garlic varieties such as Okalahoma, Kaskaskian, Red Toch, Lorz Italian, Inchelium Red, German Extra Hardy, and Brown Tempest. Other organic specialty types you’ll find at The Seed Bank will include Kurtek’s own Purple Haze, a huge, hearty, purplely garlic great for roasting, as well as Chinese White, and Thai Fire.

A bulb of Kurtek’s garlic represents years of labor and care as well as some of the best tasting garlic you’ll ever enjoy.

“I just truly love the flavor of garlic,” says Kurtek. “I don’t even think I’d want to live without it.”

Stop by The Seed Bank in late May and early June for Kurtek garlic—great for roasting, recipes, and as seed garlic for planting.

Sue Capella is a home and garden writer based in Northern California.

Amy Stewart

SAVE THE DATE: April 14th, 2009
In cooperation with Copperfield Books we are pleased to announce that Amy Stewart will be speaking at the Seed Bank in Petaluma, California on April 14th at 6pm.

We are excited to have her join us and share from her new book Wicked Plants. I (Emilee) read it from cover-to-cover and love Amy’s take on this sometimes overlooked world of the plant kingdom. It is an alluring book and very informative. Check out the book trailer below for a small sampling of this garden thriller!

Visit Amy Stewart’s website at: www.amystewart.com

A beautiful salad mix. Produce abounds in California during the dead of winter!

Over the past few weeks of our stay in Petaluma we have had the wonderful opportunity to tour several local, organic and sustainable farms in the surrounding area. It has been wonderful to meet so many interesting people and take a walk in their shoes, so to speak. We toured Terra Firma farm last week and enjoyed learning about their operation; we were also invited to Skywalker Ranch and the gardener gave us an inside look at this amazing property closed to the general public. We also visited Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Occidental, California where Sasha was thrilled to eat fresh Romanesco Cauliflower right out of their garden. (I think she misses our home garden about as much as we do!) We also visited Laguna Farms, which is the largest CSA in the area.

San Rafael Farmer's Market

In between our farm tours, we have been hitting every farmer’s market in the area that we can. We love to go to San Rafael’s Sunday market. There are hundreds of vendors with fresh produce, flowers, plants, bread and hand made items as well. The citrus has been wonderful as well as all the leafy greens. We love all the fresh winter produce (we long for it at home in snowy Missouri) and the wonderful atmosphere at this local market.

Mouth-watering citrus

Standing room only in the Seed Bank!

Feb. 3, 2010: It was a great evening, and so nice to be in a room with over 400 like thinkers. It was so fitting that Pollan spoke at The Seed Bank, surrounded by thousands of packets of heirloom seeds, the beginnings of the purest foods available. I loved his simplest advice from his newest book “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual”: “Don’t eat foods your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize,” and “Don’t buy foods with more than five ingredients.” They’re such easy rules to remember.

One new approach for me, however, will be: “Avoid foods making health claims.”  Pollan’s insights on the claims made on cereal boxes brought this one home though. Cereal makers are actually claiming that their breakfast “food” filled with 40 percent sugar “boosts immunity.” It will also be a personal switch to avoid low-fat and “lite” foods, opting to eat less of the real thing instead–another of Pollan’s food rules.

Michael Pollan shares his Food Rules at the Seed Bank

Pollan’s audience at The Seed Bank definitely resonated with his most general rule:  “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” He encouraged planting a vegetable garden, even in a window box, though I’m certain he was surrounded by some of the Bay Area’s most avid veggie gardeners.

“Cook” he told us. That’s the best way to stop eating processed foods. He got a big laugh when he suggested not eating any foods that come at you through a car window, alluding to fast food. And it was wonderful to hear eating food described as “a communion with others and with nature.”

Michael Pollan signed copies of his books at the end of the event.

I’m now even more inspired to eat natural and whole foods, at a table, and in good company . Thank you Jere and Emilee Gettle for a rare evening in a rare location surrounded by rare seeds.