Just when I thought there weren't any tomatoes on my plants I saw these:

friends

And lots of peppers, too!

hello, sun

I didn't do much to my plants this past week because we had so much rain, so it was nice to come out and see all the growing that's been going on.  Unfortunately this kind of growing was happening, too:

sucker!

I've been pinching these little suckers off because I read something about tomatoes that told me to do that.  It's kind of fun!

We've been lucky to be getting all this rain - not so lucky when you get caught in it walking home from work - but the plants love it.  I think the 2nd Annual Garden Tour couldn't come at a better time.  Think how lush all these gardens are going to be!

With the Garden Tour just THREE DAYS away, we'd like to take this time to thank the many businesses (some of which are also part of our Shop South Philly member-benefit program) for helping out on the day of the tour. When you check in at Urban Jungle to pick up your wristband and tour map, you'll also learn the location of these refreshment stops, some of which are being hosted at the businesses themselves with others at some of the gardens. Thanks go out to Wash Cycle Laundry, The Wishing Well, Rita's on E. Passyunk Ave, Black N Brew, Theatre Exile, OCF Coffee House, and Girls Can Tell for providing refreshments, specials and discounts to Garden Tour participants. Many thanks also to Urban Jungle for being both a ticket sales location and allowing us to use some of their space as our check-in location. We also have get a shout out to Ultimo Coffee and Grindcore House for being ticket sales locations. We're certainly lucky to have so many friends in the world of local South Philly businesses so that we can offer in-person ticket sales in several convenient locations. Cantina Los Caballitos will be the location of our Garden Tour after party - featuring 20% off drinks. The Cantina has hosted a few events for us in the past and we couldn't be more grateful. Finally, we have to give special thanks to our sponsors, each of which ponied up the cash that helped defray the costs of the Tour and ensure that more of the proceeds of the Tour go directly to the Co-op to help us cover the start-up costs for the storefront itself. Those sponsors are Saul Ewing; The Campaign Group, Inc.; Theatre Exile; and Fresh* Dipped. Please take the time to click on all the links above to learn more about these great and generous businesses. The Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour will be on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at http://southphillygardentour.eventbrite.com/ or at these locations: Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St., Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St. The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here. This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!

 

Bouvier Community Garden. Photo courtesy of flickr user xram[/caption]

From two overgrown, abandoned garden plots owned by the Neighborhood Gardens Association, the Newbold Neighbors Clean & Green committee has, over the past three-plus years, carved out an urban oasis known as the Bouvier Community Garden. The verdant grounds provide the neighborhood  with a venue for environmental education; a link to a sustainable community food system; a space for quiet respite; a composting program through Bennett Compost—oh, and a home for one mischievous gnome.

You can learn more about this major achievement of vacant lot beautification AND see a number of unique household and community gardens by going on the Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour, on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at http://southphillygardentour.eventbrite.com/ or at these locations:

• Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue

 

• Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St.

 

• Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St.

The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here.

This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!

A civic association, a public high school and a major greening, gardening and beautification advocacy group have come together to transform a formerly vacant and barren asphalt lot along one of the city's major thoroughfares into a beautiful and green addition to South Philadelphia.

The two plots produce a bounty of fruits and veggies that are actually sold at a nearby farmer's market. Have we whet your appetite enough yet?

You can learn more about this major achievement of greening and beautification AND see a number of unique household gardens by going on the Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour, on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at http://southphillygardentour.eventbrite.com/ or at these locations:

• • Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue

 

• • Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St.

 

• • Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St.

The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here.

This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!

Ever wonder how your co-worker turns out such incredible produce from her teeny container garden? Ever stand on your tippy-toes to catch a peek at flowers blooming beyond alley fences? Ever turn green with envy over your neighbor's inexplicable koi pond?

This year's South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour has the cure for what ails your voyeuristic green heart/thumb: In addition to getting the inside scoop on South Philly's vast variety of community gardens, a handful of homeowners will also open their doors, sharing secrets on everything from proper container-garden soil combos to the best ways to eliminate pesky South Philly-dwelling slugs.

Get the inside scoop on tons of private gardens, and more, on the Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour, on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at http://southphillygardentour.eventbrite.com/ or at these locations:

• • Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue

 

• • Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St.

 

• • Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St.

The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here.

This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!

Dear Friends, LoMo, East Passyunk Crossing, Newbold, Pennsport, Point Breeze, Passyunk Square... when I first moved to 12th and Dickinson in 2008 I have to admit that "South Philly" felt so big to me. So many different neighborhoods... distinct boundaries of civic associations... feeling like I needed my passport just to cross Broad Street. In fact, my husband and I chuckle about the question our realtor asked when I mentioned that there were some houses listed on Jackson Street... "does she know how far Jackson is?" A few weekends ago, a group of committee members and I started hand delivering Co-op share certificates to everyone who has paid up their full $200 equity. As I walked from block to block and house to house I began to sense that South Philly was somehow smaller now - no longer a bunch of distinct neighborhoods or blocks - but a community of people connected to each other by the Co-op. I discovered so many great little blocks that I’d never been down and I noticed a lot of similarities - the cat and dog finder rescue stickers, little planter boxes or container gardens - among the houses of Co-op members. Most of all, I loved getting to meet the many people who were home when I rang their doorbells to drop off the certificates. For everyone involved in the Co-op, our community has gotten bigger (292!) while South Philly itself feels that much smaller. If you haven't joined yet, becoming a part of this community is as easy as clicking on this link to fill out an application and sending your first equity payment. If you pay off the whole $200 you can expect a ring on your doorbell from one of our committee members who will be delivering your Co-op share certificate. We print the certificates twice a year before the general membership meetings. In the meantime, we have another great way for you to see parts of the neighborhood you may have never experienced before: the Second Annual South Philly Garden Tour on 9/8 (THIS Saturday!). Check out the many Garden Tour Countdown posts on this blog for more information about how you can finally get into that neighbor's backyard that you've been dying to see. Have a great week! Alison L. Fritz President, Board of Directors South Philly Food Co-op P.S. If you had paid your full $200 before our spring membership meeting and haven't gotten your certificate yet, don't worry. We haven't forgotten you. We will be stopping by soon to drop it off soon. Thanks!

Gardeners are ingenious people. After all, they take dirt, water and dried-up little seeds and turn them into crisp vegetables, juicy fruits and glorious flowers. Such ingenuity often extends beyond planting and maintenance. Just ask the Friends of Manton Street Park and Community Garden. When they needed some dirt, just like a certain famous pig, they got some help from a spider, with a donation of soil from the Arden Theatre Company’s production of Charlotte’s Web—after Wilbur no longer needed his pen.

That’ll do, garden tour participants. That’ll do.

See this and other neighborhood gardens on the Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour, on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at http://southphillygardentour.eventbrite.com/ or at these locations:

Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue
Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St.,
Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St.

The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here.

This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!

Just a really quick reminder that TODAY is the LAST day to take advantage of the offer our friends at The Energy Co-op have made to donate $20 to the South Philly Food Co-op for each household that joins and mentions the South Philly Food Co-op  as their referral. Alison and I signed up for this last summer when we had a similar offer from The Energy Co-op and couldn't be happier with the rates and the great feeling of knowing we're supporting a local, cooperatively owned, energy supplier that gets all of its energy from local, renewable sources. Somehow our lights just seem that much brighter!

The Energy Co-op is a member-owned, not-for-profit, service-driven energy provider that promotes efficient energy use and the use of renewable energy; provides energy cost savings, education and advocacy on behalf of its members; and, of course, supports cooperative movements.

Learn more about The Energy Co-op at their web site (full disclosure: yours truly is a member), and if you want to join, you can do it HERE (just remember the South Philly Food Co-op sent ya!) And, of course, if you haven't yet joined the South Philly Food Co-op and have been thinking you'd like to, well, now would be a great time to do that, too ;)

I think that we gardeners all want something a little different from our green spaces.  For me, it was tw0-fold.  I wanted the sense of bringing fresh vegetables from the garden to the kitchen that I had when I was growing up in Westmoreland County.  And I wanted to conceal the concrete-block walls with living greenery -- especially in the gray winter months.  On top of that, my family wanted a cozy spot to enjoy some outdoor hanging out.  I've found it's not impossible to get all this, but it takes time, careful space management, and planning.  I'd like to share with you some of the things that worked for me.  (As well as a few cautionary tales.) 

See this and other neighborhood gardens on the Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour, on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at our eventbrite.com page or at these locations:

• • Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue

 

• • Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St.

 

• • Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St.

The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here.

This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!

It's somewhere down there!

Here's a fun fact... one of the gardens on this year's South Philly Garden Tour is located on the roof of a building that is taller than anything else within a mile! The lucky owners of this home have a view that rivals anything those folks in the (ahem) Residences at Two Liberty Place have. (You can't see Two Liberty Place from Two Liberty Place, can you? A ha!)

You'll go up 66 steps from the street to the garden to catch site of an urban oasis that you'll only ever be able to see again on Google Maps. (Unless, that is, you become buddies with the home owners!)

See this and other neighborhood gardens on the Second Annual South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour, on Sat., Sept. 8, 2012 (raindate Sun., Sept. 9, 2012) from 1-5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at our eventbrite.com page or at these locations:

• Urban Jungle, 1526 E. Passyunk Avenue
• Ultimo Coffee, 1900 South 15th St.
• Grindcore House, 1515 S. 4th St.

The Garden Tour will be a self-guided ticketed event, and will feature over 20 public and private gardens throughout South Philadelphia. Participating gardens will have their doors/gates open for the duration of the event, and will have someone available to greet visitors, show them around and answer questions. RSVP on Facebook here.

This is one of many fundraisers that will help us raise the funds for a site analysis of potential store locations. Help us make it a success – buy tickets for yourself, your friends and your family! And, if you haven’t yet joined, meet some of our member-owners and please consider joining now!