Edible Gardens, Chicago Botanic Garden

The first garden visited by Chicago Spring Fling 2009 was the Chicago Botanic Garden. Spread out over nine islands, the Garden is huge: 385 acres. One could spend an entire day there and not see all of it.

The Fruit and Vegetable Garden occupies one of the islands of the Chicago Botanic Garden. There are several areas within this garden, showcasing orchards, vine fruits, vegetables, and other edibles. Here's the entrance display that greets you after you cross the bridge to the island.



All of the display gardens were laid out beautifully. The formal designs and beautifully constructed hardscape would serve many kinds of gardens well. For food production, the structures assure interest and orderliness during the less tidy seasons.

Glam Shots

Violets, Parsley, and Cabbage


Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights'


Potato Flowers


I did not disturb the Bollworm Traps in the orchard, but I did peek inside. No bollworm moth action when I visited.


Some Viola. I want to make some candied violets someday. I don't know what the best species or variety would be.


Flowers of some Brassica.




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Forbes discovers foodies

The story comes out of Associated Press, but I came across it first on Forbes:

High prices at the pump and the produce aisle have sent home gardeners into their yards with a mission: Grow-it-yourself dining. Sales of vegetable seeds, tomato transplants and fruit trees are soaring as enterprising planters grow their own food.
- As economy stumbles, gardeners turn to yard-grown produce, Ellen Simon, AP

One of Brooklyn's own gets a quote:

GRDN, a shop in the New York City borough of Brooklyn [specifically, Boerum Hill], is getting a lot of questions about which edible plants can be grown on a fire escape, said staffer Cindy Birkhead. "There's lots of interest in herbs, blueberry bushes, tomato plants, any transplants or shrubs that bear edible fruit."

It's too late, but it's not too late, is it?

The Earth Policy Institute (Lester Brown) today announced publication of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization:

In setting the carbon reduction goals for Plan B, we did not ask “What do politicians think is politically feasible?” but rather “What do we think is needed to prevent irreversible climate change?” This is not Plan A: business-as-usual. This is Plan B: an all-out response at wartime speed proportionate to the magnitude of the threats facing civilization.

Of particular interest to gardeners and foodies alike is this observation:

We can also reduce carbon emissions by moving down the food chain. The energy used to provide the typical American diet and that used for personal transportation are roughly equal. A plant-based diet requires about one fourth as much energy as a diet rich in red meat. The reduction in carbon emissions in shifting from a red meat–rich diet to a plant-based diet is about the same as that in shifting from a Chevrolet Suburban SUV to a Toyota Prius hybrid car. [emphasis added]

This is not news to me. I learned this 30 years ago, when I first read Frances Moore Lappé's Diet for a Small Planet. But we already know that, as a species, we are not good at putting into action what we already know.

Tomorrow never comes, so we live for today. We will be the cause of our own collapse and extinction. Then the earth will begin to heal from our predations.

Sorry, just not feeling optimistic today.