Well, the raininess continues, but yesterday we did get a beautiful, sunny morning for the City Harvest plant pick-up. City Harvest is a program within the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Working with a large partnership of urban gardeners and farmers, City Harvest provides seedlings and other supplies to these sites and, in exchange, the farms and gardens donate a share of what they grow to food cupboards and community kitchens throughout Philadelphia. For me, one of the most powerful benefits of growing in an urban setting is the ability to quickly and easily get nutritious food to many people. I had been part of City Harvest with the most recent farm I managed, donating extra produce to nearby Face to Face Germantown. Now, in my near-urban garden, joining City Harvest again was a no-brainer. Knowing that I will grow more food than we will be able to eat at home, the first place the excess will go will be to sites in Philadelphia that are able to use or distribute the produce to those in need.
In addition to donating a portion of the harvest, City Harvest partner sites also volunteer a set number of hours each season helping in the greenhouse or with distribution days. Earlier this week, I spent two hours along with several other City Harvest members helping to set up mixed trays of pepper seedlings in preparation for Saturday’s pick-up. On Saturday, I got to see the fruits of this labor as I picked up not only the peppers, but also full trays of tomato, cherry tomato, eggplant, cucumber, and summer squash seedlings.
Given the weather we’ve had recently, I’m going to wait before planting any of these heat-loving, summer crops in the ground. Abnormally warm weather in March and April gave hope that we would be able to both plant and harvest early this year. However, May has brought with it conditions more akin to the typical April. Besides the rain, nighttime temperatures have continued to drop into the 40s, with lows in the upper 30s forecast for tonight! With these kind of temperatures, it’s just not worth planting the seedlings yet. Directly after planting, seedlings tend to experience what is called “transplant shock” as they try to adjust to life in the ground. From experience, I’ve learned that planting in less than ideal weather conditions can significantly lengthen this adjustment period, so for now the plants are hanging out on the warm driveway during the day and spending the cool nights inside. With temperatures forecast to rise by the end of this week and sunny conditions supposed to return, the summer seedlings will wait a few more days before hitting the real world of life in the dirt!
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