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Scroll through the resources below for more activities like:
Windowsill microgreens
Recipes from NC State University Dining
Planting cover crops for your garden
Additionally, find extra information on growing vegetables, strawberries and saving seeds!
Ready to order your next box? Register now on Eventbrite.
We want to see your gardens, your plant labels, your seed harvesting, and how you're exploring the outdoors.
Post a picture of you in your garden or your projects and share with us on the Padlet for the September/October Grow Box!
Use this planting guide to determine planting depth, spacing, dates, and nutritional info!
Download and cut out this veggie wheel. Then determine what veggies you can plant this month!
Use this planting guide to determine planting depth, spacing, dates, and nutritional info!
Download and cut out this veggie wheel. Then determine what veggies you can plant this month!
Need a little "how to" on making plant labels?
Watch Daniel make his plant labels here.
Time needed: 20 minutes
Have you ever gotten so excited to plant seeds that you forgot where you put which seed? Or maybe you can’t quite remember how much sunlight or water that one houseplant needs. Or perhaps you’re just wanting to spend some time sitting outside and getting artsy. Plant labels are a great way to stay organized in the garden while being creative!
Labels: Popsicle sticks, paper, cardboard, clothespins, pebbles, old wooden spoons, and anything else you could use to make a label
Markers
Optional: paint, sticks, tape
Find a plant around your home, yard, or garden that needs a label.
Using the markers or paint, write down the name of the plant on one of your labels.
Write the date that the plant was planted .
Get creative with your plant labels! You can draw a picture of what the plant looks like now or a picture of what you think the plant will look like when it’s all grown up! You can also give the plant a nickname that’s silly or serious, depending on how you feel.
When you’re done, stick the label in the soil near the plant. If you need to, gather some sticks and tape your labels to them so that they can be easily stuck in the soil.
Look for more plants to label!
Why do you think labeling a plant would be useful?
How would including the date the plant was planted help you in the garden?
What other information do you think would be helpful to put on a plant label?
Do you think it’s important for gardeners to stay organized? Why or why not?
If you've collected seeds, make some homemade envelopes to store them in! You only need a few materials you probably have at your house - paper, scissors, and tape. Make sure to add your artwork to each envelope and share with your neighbors and friends as gifts!
Microgreens can be grown in any kind of tray you might have at home.
Microgreens can be grown outdoors or indoors with light, and on a thin layer of soil media or organic fabric. They are harvested when the seed leaves and sometimes the first true leaves have developed and take 7 to 14 days from seed to plate.
Expand the text box to learn how to grow your own!
Supplies:
Clean plastic tray with holes for drainage (or take out containers, clam-shells) or pot from Grow Box
If growing indoors - a tray with no holes to catch water
Soil-less potting mix
Seeds for planting (be sure these are food grade and without a seed pesticide)
Directions
Select the right seed for the right season. For example, if you are growing your microgreens outside, consider warm weather seeds like sunflowers, amaranth or basil. Pea shoots or cole crops grow best when it’s cool.
Put 1 inch to 1½ inches of potting soil in the tray and scatter the seeds thickly over the soil. Large seeds will almost touch, while smaller seeds might be at 10 to 12 seeds per square inch.
Cover lightly if at all with a fine layer of potting mix and water gently.
Keep the growing mix moist but not soggy.
Once sprouted, the tiny plants need at least 4 hours of sun a day or a grow light to get their full green color. During summer months, limit sun exposure to the morning hours.
After 7 to 14 days, use scissors or a sharp knife to cut the microgreen seedlings off just above the soil line, rinse, and enjoy in all your recipes!
Dump the soil in the garden, wash and sanitize the tray, fill with new soil, and prepare for your next batch.
Adapted from Jeana Myers, Wake County Horticulture Agent, NC Cooperative Extension
There are so many different types of microgreens you can grow. Each has their own flavor profile, texture and nutrition. Try them all!
A study from the University of Maryland discovered that microgreens contained four to 40 times more nutrients than their mature counterparts.
Roasted garden vegetables available at University Dining's All Carolina's meal outside Fountain Dining Hall.
Since 1982, NC State Dining has been serving the Wolfpack delicious meals. NCSU Dining uses vegetables grown on campus at NCSU's Agroecology Education Farm as well as from local farms and serves them up to students all year long!
A bowl of prepped, ribboned kale for Sukuma Wiki, yummmm!
Download the recipe PDF
Sukuma wiki is an African dish, enjoyed in many parts of East African countries and comes from a Swahili phrase meaning, “to stretch the week.” This version was created for our February 2020 Taste of East Africa event at Fountain, and is a staple vegetable recipe in Kenya. It is delicious with ugali and githeri. Alison's kale was a great base! You can use any greens that you have: collards, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens or even kohlrabi or cabbage leaves.
Quick 10 Minute Recipe - Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 pound fresh greens, sliced into ribbons
2 large tomatoes, cut into 1" pieces
1 yellow onion, diced into 1/2" pieces
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp curry powder or turmeric
1 lime, juiced, or 2 Tbsp vinegar
Directions
Heat oil over medium-high heat
Add onions, cook for 2 minutes, or until they start to soften
Add greens, salt, pepper, and curry powder and stir to combine
Add tomatoes and lime juice and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the leaves have started to lose
color
Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes:
Any greens can be used! Some examples include: spinach, swiss chard, collard greens, mustard greens, beet greens, or turnip greens.
Make sure to wash the greens, before cutting, to remove any bacteria or dirt.
North Carolina is the #1 sweetpotato producing state in the United States.
Download the recipe PDF
Developed by Jaelyn Phelps for a Safe Eats dinner; Safe Eats is NC State Dining's group for students with dietary restrictions, and we traditionally have 2 major get-togethers per year where students share a family-style meal that is free of the Top 8 Allergens, gluten, and corn. We also accommodate additional allergens during that event as requested by student member attendees. Jaelyn was also a strong advocate for the Campus Diabetes Network, and we partnered with them for this particular event.
Home to over 400 sweetpotato growers, the state’s hot, moist climate and rich, fertile soil are ideal for cultivating sweetpotatoes, averaging at nearly 60% of the U.S. supply. Sweetpotatos are roots and store well, making this recipe great any time of the year!
For more information on growing sweetpotatoes visit here!
Ingredients
1 large (~8oz) sweet potatoes
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp rosemary
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper
Ask an adult for assistance: Slice potatoes very thin with a mandolin slicer, box grater, or a sharp knife
Toss sweet potatoes in oil and season with salt, pepper, and rosemary
Spread the potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden
Notes:
Make sure to wash the potatoes before cutting, to wash off any dirt or bacteria
You can use canola, olive, or vegetable oil
Mix things up by adding in your own spices like; paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, etc.
Dip these in ranch, ketchup, honey mustard, or barbecue sauce.
Just one more favorite from our Dining Hall chefs! With a love for this southern vegetable, Vivian Howard has taken okra and made tasty and adaptable "fries." Chef Lesley with NCSU Dining varies it a bit by using ranch powder or a combo of garlic, onion, salt, and dill instead of the seasonings listed.
Join Tim Alderton on a tour of edible landscape plants growing in the Arboretum's gardens.
Unfortunately, due to vendor supplies, we were unable to send strawberry starts in the Grow Box! If you have a neighbor or friend that have strawberry plants, ask if they would share and dig up a little daughter plant for you to grow in your garden!
Download this Scrumptious Strawberry guide to get growing with these simple steps for starting a strawberry garden in the fall.
Download this calendar of month by month chores to best care for your
strawberry patch!
A cover crop is a plant that is used primarily to slow erosion or soil loss, improve soil health, increase water availability to plants, choke out weeds, help control pests and diseases, increase biodiversity and attract pollinators to your garden.
Use the table to the left to determine which cover crops you can grow in your garden this fall.
Find an area that you don't have any plants and sow your cover crop seeds!
Watch as your cover crops grow. What do you notice?
Liz Driscoll, 4-H Horticulture+Agriculture Specialist | liz_driscoll@ncsu.edu
Elizabeth Overcash, JCRA Children's Program Coordinator | elizabeth_overcash@ncsu.edu