Weekly View » Peter Kuhns

Great Indy Seed Swap 2019

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 06:11:16 +0000

The sixth annual Great Indy Seed Swap will be held Saturday, February 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 E. University Ave, in Historic Irvington.
This is a free admission event for Indy’s urban gardeners at all levels (beginner to expert): flower, vegetable, fruit. If you save seeds or just love gardening, bring your seeds and stories and share with others. If you are new to seed saving, come and learn from Indy’s seed-saving community. Several expert seed vendors from across the Midwest will also be selling seeds to help you get started.
What is a Seed Swap? It’s a chance to trade seeds you’ve saved of plants you know and love with other like-minded seed savers. Never saved seeds? Perhaps you have some old seed packets lying around you never planted. If so bring them! In fact, if you have seeds in any form and know what they are, bring them: a potted house plant, a bunch of seeds in an old shoe box, a half-used packet from 2005. The Number 1 way to make a seed swap successful is simple: BRING SEEDS.
For the beginners we will have a seed saving tutorial in the other room of the Bona Thompson around 12:15 p.m. There will also be refreshments, including chili!
Seed saving and swapping has become a popular aspect to gardening. There are many advantages to swapping seeds with fellow gardeners in the area, who are familiar with how a plant will grow in this climate. There are some seed swappers who specialize in certain fruits, vegetables, or herbs, and will have hard-to-find varieties available for sale or swap. Frugal gardeners especially appreciate the fact that these events allow them to expand their plantings at little to no cost. Several seed swaps have sprouted in Central Indiana in the past few years, and the trend continues to grow every year.
Seed saving of heirloom varieties is a tradition that goes back many decades as gardeners saved the seeds from reliable or unusual plants unique to a region. Immigrants have brought seeds from traditional fruit and vegetable plants from their homeland to grow, adding to the diversity of plants available in the U.S. Seed savers are credited with helping to bring back “old” varieties of vegetables with better or different flavor profiles, spurring a whole movement that includes farm-to-fork dining options, a renewed interest in food preservation at home, and a new generation of urban gardeners.
The Great Indy Seed Swap is a great way to get to know local gardeners as well as get new seeds for planting in 2019. For more information, contact Pete Kuhns by e-mail (pkuhns@gmail.com)

2018 Great Indy Seed Swap

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 06:11:47 +0000

The fifth annual Great Indy Seed Swap has moved! The 2018 Great Indy Seed Swap will be held Saturday, February 10 from 9am to 1pm at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 E. University Ave, Indianapolis in Historic Irvington. The Bona Thompson is just a block from the old location: The Benton House. The event needs more room not only for the legions of gardeners but also for seed vendors.
This is a free admission event for Indy’s urban gardeners at all levels (beginner to expert): flower, vegetable, fruit. If you save seeds or just love gardening, bring your seeds and stories and share with others. If you are new to seed saving, come and learn from Indy’s seed-saving community. Several expert seed vendors from across the Midwest will also be selling seeds to help you get started.
What is a Seed Swap? This is a chance to trade seeds you’ve saved of plants you know and love with other like-minded seed savers. Never saved seeds? Perhaps you have some old seed packets lying around you never planted. If so bring them! In fact, if you have seeds in any form and know what they are, bring them: a potted house plant, a bunch of seeds in an old shoe box, a half-used packet from 2005. The Number 1 way to make a seed swap successful is simple: BRING SEEDS.
Presentations are part of the fun so plan on staying for the entire event. On the agenda for this year’s seed swap will be a small class showing beginners just how easy it is to get started saving seeds.
Refreshments, including famous chili, will be available.
In Central Indiana, the average last freeze date is April 16, so starting seeds indoors to be planted out after the danger of frost/freeze in mid-May is February or March for many popular vegetables and flowers. As an example, you should sow your certified tomato seeds 6-8 weeks before planting the seedlings outdoors. Planting your seedlings outdoors should be scheduled around 2 weeks following the average last frost date. The USDA’s zone map shows Central Indiana is in the 6b hardiness zone.
For more information, contact Pete Kuhns by e-mail (pkuhns@gmail.com) or the Weekly View newspaper at 356-2222.

Seed Swap 2017 is On!

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 06:11:37 +0000

The 2017 Indy Seed Swap will be held on Feb. 11 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Historic Benton House (312 S. Downey Ave.). Rain or shine, sleet or 12” of snow, this seed swap will take place!
This is a free event for Indy’s urban gardeners at all levels (beginner to expert). If you save seeds or just love gardening, bring your seeds and stories and share with others. If you are new to seed saving, come and learn from Indy’s seed-saving community.
On the agenda for this year’s seed swap will be a home-built hydroponic seed starting demonstration Peter brings every year just to get some people motivated. The people spoke and they have designated 2017 the year of the native plant so let’s discuss what grows best in Indiana’s fickle climate. Debate will rage regarding the prettiest/tastiest Hoosier plants.
And yes, there will be chili!

photo by Paula Nicewanger/Weekly View
Kay Niedenthal of Purdue Extension giving directions on how to cook spaghetti squash.

Also Kay Niedenthal of Purdue Extension’s Nutrition Education Program will be demonstrating a recipe for Crustless Spinach Pie. Many ingredients from the garden can be added to the basic recipe for a quick, nutritious breakfast—everybody gets to taste a sample.
Last year’s 2016 Seed Swap had an impressive turnout: approximately 100 serious seed savers showed up on a not-so-nasty January day overflowing with seeds and plenty of tales about the 2015 growing season. In addition, several professional seed farmers graced us with their professional seed portfolios for sale and trade. Herb, flower, and vegetable seeds were exchanged.
The seed swap is a great way to get new varieties into your garden. If you are ready for spring, bring yourself, seeds, and enthusiasm and let’s swap! No matter what the weather on Feb. 11, we will be having this seed swap. So put it in 4-low and see you there! For more information, contact Pete Kuhns, pkuhns@gmail.com or the Weekly View newspaper at 317-356-2222.

Emerging Eastside Neighborhoods: Otterbein

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 05:11:03 +0000

The largest neighborhood on the East side — Otterbein — is starting to see the benefits of an intense effort by its residents to create a strong, successful neighborhood. Encompassing hundreds of homes between Sherman and Emerson, 16th Street and I-70, Otterbein faces unique challenges but also shares a common laundry list of to-do items other neighborhoods have overcome.
Otterbein is relatively new: in 1950, the Grinsdale Company began construction of the Sunnybrook addition in what is now Otterbein using post WWII architecture: simple designs that are now part of the “Mid-century Modern” motif. Unusually though, these small homes almost universally share large lots.
The number of homes is practically overwhelming: 110 lots run along Riley Street alone, and Riley is one of 12 North-South streets inside Emerson and Sherman. And don’t forget all the homes running along East-west streets between 16th and the highway. Yet there is still room for two large parks, a large industrial complex, a school, and several churches.
Assets are plenty for this neighborhood: Otterbein owes its existence somewhat to Forest Manor Park, built in the 1930′s. Located in the northwest corner of Otterbein at 2000 Forest Manor Ave., Forest Manor Park’s 18 acres includes a successful inner-city baseball program, playgrounds for the kids, and plenty of nature along Pogue’s Run Creek. Another, even larger park to the North — Pogue’s Run Art and Nature Park — includes a 1.5 mile loop trail, 22-acre pond/drain basin, artwork from Herron School of Art, a parking lot for easy access, and wetland and prairie preserves. (According to indianatrails.com, there is talk of connecting the walkway to Brookside Park’s walkways.) Otterbein has a third, tiny, pocket park called Dequincy (obviously on Dequincy), with the only walk through bridge on the Brookside Creek Waterway. There are two churches in the neighborhood, and a few retail locations, but surprisingly the frontage on busy Emerson is almost entirely residential.
Along the west side and edges of its borders, businesses include Brookside Industrial Complex, with its helpful Bright Beginnings Learning Academy (BBLA); the Metro Sports Complex, (formerly the Metropolitan Softball Stadium), Forest Manor Park’s Play Ball Indiana, sponsored by RBI, Marion Academy Charter School on 21st Street, and a lone get-it-quick grocery.
Challenges? An estimated 15 percent of the homes are abandoned, crime continues around income-based housing, a large percentage of the homes are rentals, and there is a surprising amount of abandoned retail along 21st Street. According to Beth and Tim Barton, two active members of the neighborhood association, Otterbein may qualify as a food desert due to its size and lack of restaurants and grocers (there is a Safeway but nothing else).
Unique challenges for Otterbein: very few homes come up for sale. It may be easier to acquire an abandoned property than an occupied one because many homes are owned by out-of-state real-estate investment trusts (REITs). Even more are owned by long-time residents like Kim Brown, who has been in his house since 1963.
With the help of Otterbein United Methodist Church, Carl Fannin, and Sheila Gilbert the neighborhood organization was founded in 2013. Beth and Tim Barton, currently on the board of directors and driving the monthly meetings, are helping the founders drive the neighborhood association forward and spreading the word. For example, Beth and Tim are currently training through the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center’s Community Leaders program.
Otterbein United Methodist continues to step in and assist: the church parking lot will be the meeting point for the Otterbein neighborhood cleanup on April 2, from 8 a.m.-noon. A dumpster will be in the parking lot of the church: anyone in the neighborhood can come and dump heavy trash all weekend. Volunteers with trucks are needed to help pick up large items and trash bags left by residents along the road. Neighbors can leave yard trash in trash bags along the street and volunteers will pick up the bags. If a resident needs trash bags, write to otterbeinna@gmail.com and request supplies.
A digital presence continues to be built: the neighborhood association has a Facebook page: search for ‘Otterbein Neighborhood Association Indianapolis’. A recent victory — the neighborhood name now appears on Bing Maps. The board is working slowly on a Web site (help is needed here).
Otterbein is part of NESCO, the Near East Side Community Organization, founded in 1970. Otterbein is the biggest of NESCO’s neighborhoods. NESCO provides financial support and connections with other eastside neighborhoods. Otterbein’s neighborhood liaison is Paul Ross, who will now be known (thanks to the new Mayor) as a neighborhood advocate.

Think Spring at 2016 Annual Seed Swap

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 06:11:08 +0000

Get ready for the real, official 2016 Spring (not this El Nino-inspired impersonation). The third annual Indy Seed Swap will be held on Jan 30 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Historic Benton House (312 S. Downey Ave.). Rain or shine, sleet or 12″ of snow, this seed swap will take place!
This is a free event for Indy’s urban gardeners at all levels (beginner to expert). If you save seeds or just love gardening, bring your seeds and stories and share with others. If you are new to seed saving, come and learn from Indy’s seed-saving community.
On the agenda for this year’s seed swap will also be an introductory class on new forms of veggie/fruit gardening. This is the year of succession planting and a discussion of moving to and managing a succession-planting garden will be part of the day’s events.
And yes, there will be chili!
Last year’s 2015 Seed Swap had an impressive turnout: three dozen or so serious seed savers showed up with a Santa-sized sack of seeds and plenty of tales about the 2014 growing season. In addition, several professional seed farmers graced us with their professional seed portfolios for sale and trade. Herb, flower, vegetable seeds were exchanged. This is a great way to get new varieties into your garden.
If you are ready for spring, bring your self, seeds, and enthusiasm and let’s swap! No matter what the weather on Jan. 30, we will be having this seed swap. So put it in 4-low and see you there!
For more information, contact Pete Kuhns, pkuhns@gmail.com or the Weekly View newspaper at 356 -2222.

Second Annual Indy Seed Swap: Save the Date Jan. 24

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:11:42 +0000

Are you anxious for Spring to arrive? Get started by attending the second annual Indy Seed Swap, to be held in Irvington on January 24th at the Historic Benton House (312 S. Downey Ave.) from 10 a.m. to noon. This is a free event for Indy’s urban gardeners at all levels (beginner to expert). If you save seeds or just love gardening, consider coming and trading seeds and stories with others.

Photo by Ethel Winslow/Weekly View
Pete saves seeds from tomatoes grown in editor Ethel Winslow’s garden. Here, last year’s Japanese black trefele and the Pink Ozarks are ready for eating, canning and fresh salsa.

In addition to a large swap table we will be demonstrating a new hydroponic seed starting system, teaching a beginner’s class on seed saving, and yes, there will be chili!
The 2014 Seed Swap experienced a great turnout, even though a blizzard had passed through the night before and temperatures hovered around 5 degrees F. Two dozen serious seed savers showed up with a Santa-sized sack of seeds and plenty of tales about the 2013 growing season. Many stories were swapped, questions answered, and excitement shared for the 2014 growing season.
If you survive the first three weeks of January and are ready for Spring, bring your self, seeds, and enthusiasm and let’s swap! As always, everyone is welcome even if you are new to gardening and don’t have seeds.
For more information, contact Pete Kuhns, pkuhns@gmail.com or the Weekly View newspaper at 356-2222.

Starting Seeds on a Shoestring Budget

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 06:09:44 +0000

After mistakenly spending thousands and trying every sort of technique available (in all the books I purchased), I finally stumbled on the simple way to start seeds inexpensively.
Let’s cover the ‘basics’, which in Indiana means tomatoes and peppers. For numerous reasons these two types of veggies (well actually a fruit and a veggie) love Indiana weather. Heat, humidity, soil, the amount of rain and sunshine: everything about Indiana summers contributes to the best tasting tomatoes on Earth. Peppers also do well here and taste great.
Tomatoes are expensive in the supermarket, and nine times out of ten, horrifically pathetic in taste and texture. Peppers seem awfully pricey too. Can we do better in an inner-city garden? Absolutely!
February/March is the time to start seeds, so let’s look at what it takes to get seeds to sprout before Spring gets any closer.
The only materials needed for starting seeds are
• Seeds
• Dixie cup or plastic cup or coffee cup
• Peat starter pellets (“Jiffy Pots”)
• Egg carton
Seeds can be had free at your local seed swap or through friends. Worst case scenario is to buy a pack or two at a discount store for 50 cents. Dixie cups or plastic cups are probably overflowing in your cupboard so no worries there. Peat starter pellets? Available at every hardware store. You don’t have to have these; you can use potting soil instead if you have some lying around. Egg cartons are free and easy to obtain.
What about mining a supermarket tomato for seeds? That won’t work: you cannot reliably start tomatoes from supermarket tomato seeds. Supermarket tomatoes are hybrids, and they will not create new tomato “starts” reliably. You need open-pollinated or hybrid seed itself, which usually involves a purchase or a friend who also gardens.
What about substituting backyard dirt for those pricey peat pots? Dirt out of your backyard isn’t the best way to start seeds indoors. It has too many weeds in it. Jiffy Pots are sterile and provide the perfect environment for seed starting. Jiffy Pots in a 25-pack can be had for ~$2.50/bag.
Follow these steps to sprout seeds for tomatoes and peppers:
1. Pull out two plastic cups or dixie cups from the cupboard. Label one “Tomato” and the other “Pepper” .
2. Fill each cup about 1/4 full with tap water. Let that water sit overnight to warm up. Room temp tap water is what you’re looking for before proceeding to step 3.
3. Sprinkle a dozen or so seeds from your tomato packet in the “Tomato” cup; sprinkle a dozen or so seeds in the “Pepper” cup. Stir the water inside the cup and set aside. 3. Wait 24 hours.
This soaking gives the seeds a head start. They’ll be ready to sprout now that you’ve soaked them. So let’s plant!
1. Pull out 12 Jiffy Pots and expand them by placing them in a bowl of warm water.
2. Divide the egg carton into a section for tomatoes and a section for peppers (use a Sharpie or pen to mark which side is which).
3. When the jiffy pots expand, put a jiffy pot in each egg tray in the egg carton.
4. Using a butter knife, dip the knife in the Dixie Cup and slowly extract two or three tomato seeds from the cup.
5. Put two or three seeds into each Jiffy Pot (multiple seeds is ‘insurance’ to ensure something sprouts). Push each seed into the soil a 1/4”. Repeat for each seed. Make sure all the seeds are covered by soil.
6. Finish the tomato side of the egg carton, then repeat for the pepper side. You will use 12-18 seeds for each plant type (2 to 3 seeds per Jiffy Pot x 6 Jiffy Pots for each plant type).
7. Close the top of the egg carton and place it somewhere warm, such as on top of the refrigerator or close to a radiator. You want the seeds to be warm (around 70-75 degrees).
8. Wait four or five days, then take a peek.
Sprouts! The sprouts do not need sunlight for a few more days, but eventually they will. When the sprouts are 2-3 inches tall, put the egg carton in a window and start watering the Jiffy Pots each morning. Eventually you will need to move each one to a Dixie Cup full of potting soil to allow each plant to continue to grow.
That’s all there is to starting seeds inexpensively!

Your 2014 Garden: Let’s Get Started!

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 06:09:15 +0000

January is a quiet month for most Hoosier gardeners. But for those who grow veggies every summer, and actually start their veggies from seed, January is a great time to learn more about the seeds in your possession.
What possibly can you ‘learn’ from seeds, you ask? The most important thing of all: will those seeds actually germinate? If you discovered some seeds in your dad’s shed, or have been sitting on seeds for years, don’t wait till planting day to see if they’re worth planting. Why not test those seeds to see if they’ll germinate. This test is easy, fast, free, and fun. Let’s begin…
Everything you need for this test is in your kitchen:
1. Pull a big paper towel off the roll for each type of seed you plan to test.
2. Lay it flat.
3. With a Sharpie write the seed’s name or the type of plant (just to ensure you don’t get confused later).
4. Now get the paper towel completely wet under the sink. Wring it out so it’s just damp, not soaking.
5. Lay it flat again. Place 10 seeds on one half of the paper towel. Small seeds: place 20.
6. Fold over the other half of the paper towel.
7. Grab a ziploc bag and stick the paper towel in a ziploc. If you’re testing multiple plant types, you can double up here.
8. Put the ziploc on top of the refrigerator.
Now it’s just a matter of time. Some seeds, such as celery, chard, and tomatoes, take days to germinate; others — basil, lettuce, beans — break much faster. Just keep an eye on the bag. Wait at most a week and open up the ziploc. Pull out each paper towel test: if 10 seeds sprouted, you have excellent seed! That means 100 percent of your seeds will germinate. If only five sprouted, you may need to abandon that batch of seed or get it planted this year to create more (newer, healthier) seed! High germination rates mean you can safely assume you only need to start one seed per plant pot. Low germination rates mean you’ll need at least 3 seeds per plant pot.
The oldest known seeds to successfully germinate? The Arctic flower Campion found in a Siberian squirrel burrow germinated after sitting underground for 31,800 years! Seeds are hardy little storage containers, but over time most lose viability. Still, it’s worth saving them. Keep seeds cool, dry, and in the dark at all times. Over the years you will build up quite a collection. A word of caution: seed-saving is addictive! Next week we’ll look at starting seed to get ready for your 2014 garden.
To learn more about germinating seeds and to swap seeds, plan on attending the Seed Swap, Saturday, January, 25th at 1pm at the Benton House, 312 S. Downey (46219) in Irvington. More info: peter@gardenbuilder.com

Mini-Greenhouse Extends Your Garden’s Growing Season

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 05:10:12 +0000

Did you start a late autumn garden, or are your brassicas growing at a glacial pace? Add weeks of additional frost-free growing conditions to your garden with this simple project.
Floating row covers are great, and they’re easy to install, but urban gardeners who use raised beds can create a mini-greenhouse in the same amount of time for the same expense. Even better, urban gardeners who use raised beds are halfway there: the raised bed serves as a sturdy, grounded framework for a simple, quick mini-greenhouse.
You only need two things to start constructing a custom mini greenhouse:
• 1″ Irrigation Tubing. A 100′ section costs about $25.
• 6 mil drop-cloth. Small 10′ length packages cost about $5. We had a bear of a time finding a small package of 6 mil; large rolls are about $25. We found some 4mil for $6 and went with that. (UV-vulnerable plastic only lasts one season, so expect to toss this at Christmas.)
This material is enough for several mini-greenhouses depending on the bed size.
Before you break out the scissors, calculate the length of each support, and its shape. Large greenhouses are half-circles. That isn’t the best shape for small greenhouses. Instead, use a ‘vertical ellipse’ to get some extra overhead in the greenhouse space. You need the extra height because a bed-based greenhouse is so close to the ground.
You only need two numbers to find the best shape: the length of the ‘minor axis’, and an ‘eccentricity’ value. The latter is your choice. The greenhouse you see in this article has an eccentricity of .5.
1. Measure the inside width of your bed. The interior width of the bed shown in this article was 46.5″. This interior width of your bed will become the ‘minor axis’ of an ellipse.
2. Go to this helpful website and enter that number as the minor axis: www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/callipse.htm
3. The only other value you need is the eccentricity. Enter a value between 0 and 1. Again, the greenhouse shown in this article has an eccentricity of .5. If your bed is narrower than 45″, consider using an eccentricity of .6 or .7.
4. Click on/tap ‘Calculate It’
5. Write down the ‘perimeter’ value (last item on the page).
Nice work. You just need half that value, and then need to add twice the bed height. Here’s the simple formula:
(Perimeter value/2) + (bed height x 2) = length of each support.
6. Calculate the length of each support piece.
Example: The bed in this article had a perimeter value of 158″. The bed height was 7.5″. So the length of each support came to:
(158/2) + (7.5×2) = 79 + 15 = 94″
The four supports that make up the structure of this article’s small greenhouse were each 94″ long. We cut the ends at a 45 degree angle to create sharp spikes.
Press the supports into the bed evenly spaced, then add a support at the top to strengthen the structure against heavy winds and snow. We just found a scrap, drilled some holes, and zip-tied the mess together.
Drill two holes in the pipe supports and one in the scrap, then snake the zip tie through everything.
Cut the plastic to length, and drape it over the sides and front/back. Pour on some bricks and you’re finished. Now you can weather the colder moments in October and November with ease.
Just remember to open up the entire greenhouse if the weather looks warm and sunny. Cook the plants for dinner, not in your new greenhouse.

Garden Bilder Now Available for the iPad

Peter Kuhns — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 05:10:23 +0000

Do you walk through Farmer’s Markets thinking about your own backyard, wishing you had made time last spring to plant your favorite crops? Think it is too late to plant a garden? Think again. Because you live in the city, where it’s much warmer than the countryside, you still have time to plant an autumn garden that will keep giving deep into Mother Nature’s colder months. And it turns out, there is an app for that! The new version of Garden Bilder for iPad, created by Indianapolis-based Beefsteak Software and released in the Apple App store this week, includes tools for planning your autumn garden and connecting with Indy’s gardening community. And its free!
Garden Bilder is a powerful garden simulator and social networking platform that enables you to create the perfect urban garden. Select from a detailed database of over 1,700 varieties of edible fruits, vegetables, herbs, nut trees, and grains. Then let Garden Bilder predict yield and help you prepare your dream garden.
The real power of this app is networking: find, follow, and friend gardeners in your community. Garden Bilder’s ‘Dashboard’ serves as a home screen that allows users to post photos of their garden and talk about what they grow. Users can see on a map other Garden Bilder users nearby and chat with them, making it possible to share knowledge and even trade excess harvest. Garden Bilder’s privacy settings allow users to control how much of their information is public and who they communicate with.
The new version also includes landscape elements (patios, ponds, fences, and decks), companion planting information, and exciting new garden templates (including an autumn garden and a super foods garden).
Beefsteak Software was awarded the top prize for Garden Bilder at Techpoint’s Entrepreneur Bootcamp, presented by Ice Miller, in Fishers, Indiana in July. In June, Garden Bilder also won the People’s Choice Award at the 59 Days of Code software completion in Fresno, California.
Versions of Garden Bilder for the iPad and iPhone are available for free from the App store. If you have an iPad, visit the App store or search for ‘Garden Bilder’.