Todd Allen, is a recently retired video game programmer whose
past interests included: motorcycles and hang gliding. His current interests - gardening, bicycling for transportation, electric bikes, electronics and saving the world. Todd began gardening 15 years ago growing a couple tomato plants in the summer and has gradually expanded his gardening ever since. He believes that increased gardening should play a role in the solutions to many of the biggest issues facing us, our nation and the world.

Sara Rose, is a naturalist for Cook county forest preserve where she works with injured raptors and urban beehives. She is pursuing a masters degree in biology on wild apples of Khazakstan from the regions where the earliest apples may have originally evolved.. She owned & operated a florists shop for 13 years and loves photography and gardening.

[More:]

SJ: it's almost february and it's 5 degrees outside, what are you currently harvesting out of your outdoor hoophouse?

T: Here's a list of what we’ve been harvesting over the last couple weeks roughly ranked roughly from most cold hardy to least:

• lamb's lettuce (mache)
• sage
• kale
• winter purslane (claytonia)
• brussels sprouts
• winter cabbage (not this year but I grew it last year)
• garlic tops
• leeks
• scallions
• buckshorn plantain (minutina)
• chickweed
• chervil
• oregano
• winter thyme
• chives
• polycress
• watercress
• sugarloaf chicory
• spinach
• endive
• grumulo
• mizuna
• escarole
• mint
• turnips (especially the tops)
• radicchio
• parsnips (I dig them up early in the winter to make room for other stuff as they store well in the fridge but they could be dug as needed throughout the winter)
• carrots
• radishes
• onions (In fall I leave runts with small bulbs in the ground to continue harvesting through the winter)
• broccoli raab (in years past)
• lettuce (leaf lettuces and small cos types are best)
• cilantro
• parsley
• sorrel
• chinese cabbage
• swiss chard
• alpine strawberries (just a couple tiny berries)

You should know that the hardiness ranking doesn't correlate with productivity. For instance, we grow a lot of baby lettuce even though it can more readily be damaged by a deep freeze.

SJ: wow, that’s quite a list for midwest winter eats! as far as i understand it, you grow for you and sara's personal consumption. do you also share this abundance with others?

T: We primarily grow for our own consumption but we enjoy giving produce
to friends and family, especially outside the typical growing season. I much prefer giving fresh, home grown produce at Christmas than joining the maddening crowds at the malls so that I can give trinkets.

And of course in summer and fall, like all gardeners, when there is an
abundance of produce we're giving summer squash, green beans, etc. to
everyone we know.

SJ: so todd, what is your biggest challenge to growing year-round in the great outdoors of chicago?

T: We’re growing in the backyard of my small urban lot. First there is the limited space. We have a 12x24 foot hoophouse and about an equivalent amount of space under low tunnels. But the bigger problem is that buildings and trees cast shade on much of the growing space, especially when the sun is at a low angle in the middle of winter. From about the end of November until late January my yard gets about 2 hours of full sun each day. Growth is extremely slow during this period. This period is really an extended harvest season of summer and fall grown cold hardy crops. Dense replanting with salad greens transplants provides an additional modest harvest of 'baby' greens. By mid February we start getting enough sun for more vigorous growth.

SJ: would you go into more detail about your growing system?

T: We follow Eliot Coleman's system in his book "Four Season Harvest". We grow cold tolerant plants in an unheated hoophouse. 18" high wire wickets keep a layer of translucent, breathable row cover fabric off the low growing plants. The fabric is left out whenever temps mightdrop below freezing. For extended spells below 10F we put a sheet of clear polyethelene plastic (that we normally use for low tunnels in the spring) over the row cover. This plastic doesn't breathe and can trap too much heat in bright sun so we only use it when it is bitter cold.

SJ: you have large plastic containers full of soil cubes floating in your fish tank, what are you doing?

T: We grow mostly from transplants started indoors. We germinate seeds in tiny 3/4" soil cubes which can be dropped into larger soil cubes once germinated. Most we germinate at room temperature (about 65F in my house) but some do better (like peppers) in my fishtank which the water temp is kept at 73F and when the tank lights are on is a few degrees warmer in my germination containers (those used Trader Joe's plastic cookie tubs).

SJ: so, where are you sourcing your seed from?

T: In the past we purchased all of my seed either local retail or from mail order catalogs. It didn't cost much because starting seed indoors and doing transplants is very efficient of seed. We get decent germination rates under controlled conditions and there is no waste of thinning. But we’ve come to enjoy trying greater number of varieties so we've started saving some seed so we can focus on purchasing new varieties. The desire to save seed is now a criteria for the selection of new varieties. We look for open pollinated/heirloom varieties and only purchase hybrid seed if it has traits that we desire that we can't otherwise find. And of course we'll swap seeds whenever the opportunity presents itself.

SJ: what are you looking to try this coming season? or rather, what are you planning for?

T: I’m thinking less and less in terms of seasons. A traditional gardener plants in the spring, tends/grows in the summer and harvests in the fall. I harvest every day and do some planting each week.

Our goal is to maximize the variety of home grown fresh food available to be eaten each day of the year. We’ve had something available to harvest every day but we've gone through spells where we only have chard, kale or carrots in quantity.

Our biggest mistake has been to keep too much of our summer crops like tomatoes going too deep into fall inside the hoophouse. For winter harvest we need to clear and replant more ground in the summer with fall crops. Thus we’re mostly planting early determinate paste tomatoes inside the hoophouse. These we expect to replace in August with crops that can holdover deep into winter.

SJ: okay, so let me rephrase that – what are you going to try next?

T: I want to try "guerrilla gardening", doing very low intensity gardening on public lands in places where ones plantings will be minimally noticed or disturbed. For example planting beans along chain link fencing in parks.

SJ: great!!!! go on…go on…!

T: I have very little private space on which to garden and I would like to do more. Also I like the idea of increasing the bounty available to the public on our public lands. I see it as an act of socialism which in our excessively capitalistic society makes it almost seditious, an act of non-violent civil disobedience I find appealing. However, I'd also expect to get some additional harvest for myself. If I fail to get any return on the effort invested after a few tries I'd probably give it up.

SJ: expanding your production by guerilla gardening public lands or modifying your current system of growing… how would that change how you distribute/use your increased abundance?

T: Our primary goal is to provide for personal consumption. We feel much better about consuming food we've grown. I find our industrialized agriculture and food system unappetizing for a great number of reasons. I could expand my growing a lot and still not meet all of our personal consumption. Currently I focus mostly on growing vegetables, herbs and a small amount fruit and a handful of mushrooms. If I had the space I'd first add a lot of fruit and nut trees and grow more grapes, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc. If I had a lot more space I'd try growing shell beans and perhaps some grains, especially ones that are less commonly available. I'd also like to try raising ducks or chickens for eggs and perhaps some occasional meat. I'd be curious to try a dairy goat as well although I suspect it might be too much work. I've read that when done right livestock can be used to help control pests and weeds and their manure makes for rich compost which might help compensate for the added effort.

Producing food is a hobby we find pleasurable. However, I don't think we’d ever want to go much beyond growing for personal consumption and limited sharing/swapping with family and friends.

I enjoy sharing produce with others, especially when it sparks an interest in others to try gardening. But I'm not interested in carrying it beyond that, i.e. farming/growing to produce income which I think would turn this pleasurable activity into work.

SJ: thanks todd!