Celebrate Spring!

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We enjoy celebrating the arrival of the Spring Equinox, when the hours of daylight equal the nighttime ones. Like all creatures, our human habits and attitudes change as daylight hours grow and temperatures rise. This shift is a good time to be grateful and a good time to plant the seeds of whatever we want to grow in our lives. In this spirit, please enjoy this sneak preview of favorite plants that will be at our fundraiser plant sale April 2nd. And it's your last chance to register for the Seed Propagation Class on the 18th at Ampersand!

Our Spring Calendar

March 18
Indoor Seed Propagation at Ampersand

March 25
Intro to Permaculture at SFCC

April 2
Ampersand Fundraiser Plant Sale in Madrid

April 8
Arid Land Restoration class at SFCC

May 6
Ampersand Fundraiser Plant Sale in Madrid

Indoor Seed Propagation
Register Now!
March 18^th 10am to 3pm

Plant seeds early indoors! You can use a greenhouse, cold frame, or South facing window to get your garden sprouting despite snow on the ground outside. The factors to ensure germination and transplant success include timing, soil composition, and watering techniques. Learn how to stage indoor plantings so that your colder season veggies like spinach and lettuce and warm season ones like squash and tomatoes are ready for the garden when the climate is right. Try your hand at transplanting seedlings from flats into pots and develop your own planting calendar. (More info here)

The photos below include both images of the mature plant, as well as snapshots of them in seedling form as they are getting loved up in our greenhouse.

Egyptian Walking Onions are an easy edible perennial to get established in any forgotten corner. I've had some emerge in a hard packed dirt driveway. A top setting onion, they can migrate by planting their own bulbils as they fall to the ground. They may be propagated by planting the bulbils that form on top of the flower stalk, or by digging and dividing the mother clump.

Shungiku Edible Chrysanthemum: Eat the delicious green leaves and brilliant yellow flowers. This will be a good friend to have in a pot on your front porch where it is easy to toss into your salads and stir-fries.

Sorrel is a lemon flavored herbaceous perennial. I include it in every salad I make but it is also used for soups and stews and even spanakopita. It produces big leaves in my greenhouse year round.

This Thohono O'odham I'itoi Onion is a prolific multiplier onion that was introduced to Southern Arizona by the Spanish long ago. Use the mild shallot-like bulbs and slightly spicy greens. The name I'itoi signifies the Elder Brother, who is the creator deity in the Tohono O'odham legends.

We will have a full list of the plants for sale in our next newsletter. Remember the first plant sale will be April 2nd, in front of the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid, NM. We will sell all frost tolerant vegetables, so you will be able to get them in the garden right away. The next sale with all the tomatoes, cukes, peppers and other summer crops will be for sale May 6th. Mark your calendars!

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