Richard Sidy is president of the Gardens for Humanity, a founding member of the Sustainability Alliance and a member of the Verde Valley Food Policy Council. To reach him, email richardvsidy@mac.com.
Gardens for Humanity is part of the coalition of non-profits and educational institutions that have organized the 2023 Verde Valley Sci-Tech Festival.
After a beautiful and welcome winter storm, our garden is covered with a blanket of snow. Some call snow “a poor man’s mulch,” and in our arid landscape it is a blessing.
Bare soil starves for plants. That is why disturbed or bare soil invites weeds. Weeds! These unappreciated guests do the important work of restoring and nourishing the earth.
I rarely plant corn, but this year I wanted to plant some glass gem popping corn. I planted individual grains, each of a different color and then each cornstalk made cobs with a rainbow of colors! Each cob is different. There is something otherworldly about plant genetics - it can’t be explained, just admired; for me this is magic!
During World War II there were nearly 20,000,000 Victory Gardens across the U.S. producing about 40 percent of all the vegetables consumed during the war years. Of all the home front contributions to the war effort, these gardens were a staple of what average Americans could do at home to provide a dependable and fresh food supply. Many farm workers had enlisted, and farms had to get by without their normal workforce.
Recently I visited the garden at Verde Valley School, and was walking through it with a young man who is very concerned about the environment and the risks to our climate and planet. He asked if it would be better if people just left Nature alone since it had survived for so many years on its own.
Recently I visited the garden at Verde Valley School, and was walking through it with a young man who is very concerned about the environment and the risks to our climate and planet.
After nursing young plants through the hot dry months of May and June, the onset of the monsoon season is a great relief for gardener and garden alike. Monsoon rains bring a burst of growth to plants that were always on the edge of dehydration unless we watered, watered, watered.
May and June are the hottest and driest months before we welcome the first rumbles of thunder and fragrance of monsoon season at the beginning of July. It is so painful to watch plants struggling and dehydrating under relentless, rainless skies.
Last month I was invited to teach students from Sedona Charter School about sustainability at the Sedona Heritage Museum.
