Highlighting People that Make a Difference: Barbara Masoner of Grow Local Colorado

by Gail Leidigh, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener since 2021

Grow Local Colorado vegetable garden at Fort Logan by Gail Leidigh

One of the best things about being a master gardener is the opportunity to volunteer with some amazing local organizations, and among them is Grow Local Colorado. Started in 2009 by a group of people who were concerned about the environment, sustainability, and food equity, Grow Local now has 20 gardens in locations throughout the Denver metro area, and last year contributed nearly 10,000 pounds of fresh food to area food pantries and organizations that address food insecurity.

I recently had a chance to sit and talk with the founder and co-director, Barbara Masoner, about the work they do and the future of the organization (conversation has been edited for length and clarity).

Can you tell me more about Grow Local and how it got started?

There was a group of us during the great recession asking what can we do to help? Food inequity was a big issue, as well as the environment and sustainability, and gardening was an obvious solution. John Hickenlooper, mayor of Denver at the time, initially offered Civic Center Park to start a garden, so the project could be seen by the public community, and then later the yard at the Governor’s Mansion. Denver Urban Gardens and Denver Botanic Garden first provided plants, and the collaboration got lots of press. Now we have gardens in 20 different places. Recently, Adams County schools became a partner, as there is such a need there. Our garden partners do have to commit volunteers and their time to grow the food. The Denver city greenhouse has offered to grow our seedlings for us for the past four years.

Are there any aspects of the projects that Grow Local is doing that you are especially excited about?

The ability to share the magic, such as the public seeing the vegetable gardens at Civic Center and asking what it is about. Even during the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020, with huge groups of people gathering at Civic Center Park, the gardens were not disturbed. People from the homeless communities will offer to help plant as a way of giving back.

How do you decide where to donate the food that is grown?

We let the garden volunteers decide where the food goes, and they often have community connections. The smaller food pantries especially appreciate the fresh produce.

Painted rocks to mark growing vegetables at Fort Logan by Gail Leidigh

What are your biggest challenges?

This year we’ve harvested about 5,000 pounds so far and expect it to be about 8,000 pounds for the year. We had some pest and water issues this season and there was an infestation of harlequin bugs at Civic Center Park.

We can always use more experienced gardener volunteers. People mean well, and one year we lined an entire garden with herbs to keep out the geese, and a volunteer accidentally pulled them all.

In our future – figuring how to grow vegetables (in hotter and drier climates), and making our food equitable. Right now, we have offers to glean more fruit trees than we could possibly get to without the help of more people, more paid staff (and more time!).

Will Ferrell in scarecrow form, guarding the crops at The Haven, Fort Logan by Gail Leidigh

What is your favorite plant/vegetable?

That is like asking “who is your favorite child?” I would say okra – it is a lovely vegetable, with a beautiful flower and a delicious fruit.

Who does your social media? You have some fantastic content illustrating your work and volunteer opportunities (like and follow with the links below!).

Linda Kiker, co-director of Grow Local, does the content for our Instagram page, and I do the Facebook page.

Interested in supporting such an important and great local cause? The Grow Local Colorado website has further details on helping out with volunteer and monetary support.

Harvesting and Storing Vegetables for Peak Flavor and Freshness

By: Molly Gaines, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener since 2019

Summer’s Bounty. Photo by Molly Gaines

If you’re a vegetable gardener, you’ve likely begun to harvest some of the goodness resulting from your spring and summer efforts. My garden favorite, ‘Sun Gold’ cherry tomatoes, are just ripening. They taste like pure sunshine (those of you who’ve grown or eaten know what I’m talking about!) and I eat them like candy, straight from the vine. Because of this, it’s rare for more than a handful to make it into my kitchen.

Yet everything else in my garden — the herbs, cucumbers, green beans, summer squash and hot peppers — require some prepping, peeling, chopping, or cooking. They all need proper picking and storage until I’m ready to use them.

How and when to harvest, and how best to store your bounty, can be confusing. It’s a combination of art and science. I hope the following information helps guide you through one of the best parts of a vegetable gardener’s season: harvest time.

A handful of sweet and fruity ‘Sun Gold’ tomatoes. Photo by Molly Gaines

Knowing What’s Ready

In order to assess what’s ready for harvest, I do an early morning garden walk. It’s become one of my favorite parts of my summer days. It’s when I harvest vegetables from my garden, as it is best to pick in the morning when it’s cooler. There’s more time to gather your harvest and bring it into the kitchen before it wilts. Additionally, veggies regain moisture they’ve lost during the day, leading to overall better produce. See more about the benefits of morning harvesting here.

When you planted last spring, you may have noted when your produce should be ready. Every seed packet has a number of days until harvest, as do the tags in starter plants. However, “days to harvest” is an estimate, as it will vary depending upon your growing conditions. Soil fertility, sunshine, heat, water, etc. all impact maturity. In my own garden, our red onions should be ready to dig, but they aren’t even close because they’re partially shaded by large Zinnias above. For specific estimates on days to harvest for each vegetable, visit this helpful link from the University of Minnesota Extension. While Colorado’s climate is quite different from Minnesota, we have a similar growing season.

While it may seem counterintuitive, the more you pick, the more a plant will produce. Don’t let those zucchinis and cucumbers get too big; they won’t taste great or could be inedible. Pick produce frequently and when they are smaller, versus letting vegetables that are ripe enough continue to hang out on the vine. To keep my garden producing at an optimal level when I’m out of town, I like to hire neighbor kids to harvest or invite a friend who loves fresh vegetables to stop by and fill a bucket.

This one was hidden and missed. Try to find and pick those zucchinis early! Photo by Molly Gaines

How to Harvest and Store

Harvest your produce gently and with care. Snapping off the end of your green beans or cucumbers will invite quicker decay in the fridge. It can also damage the plant, inviting disease and pests. If you’re not able to easily twist or pull a pepper or tomato or any other veggie from the vine, it’s time to use scissors or pruners. I always keep scissors close to my garden for easy use.

Speaking of proper storage, it’s disappointing to open the fridge and finding hard-fought basil browned, or last week’s fresh cucumber now mushy. We Colorado gardeners work very hard for our veggies, so it’s worth storing them properly until use. Visit here for a terrific guide to harvesting and then storing garden favorites, from when to pick to proper storage directions, including ideal temperatures.

What to Do with Excess Harvest

If you find yourself with more fresh produce than you can handle, there are a number of Denver-based organizations that will accept your extra vegetables. Here is a recent article listing some of those organizations. For more information about how to best contribute your produce locally, visit the Grow and Give website, for general donation information.

These harvest and storage tips should find you enjoying your summer bounty as long as possible, enjoying peak flavor and maximum freshness — and savoring every last bite.

Other Helpful Resources on Harvesting

https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/vegetables/1842-harvest-vegetables/

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/tog/harvest.cfm

https://growgive.extension.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2021/01/Colorado-Vegetable-Guide-2.1.pdf

Grow a Garden Workshops Take Root

Pallas Quist, DUG Master Community Gardener, leads a Growing Green workshop in Denver.

What do you get when you mix 25,000 seed packets with 29,000 vegetable transplants and 18 organic gardening workshops?

Thousands of happy Grow a Garden participants for the 2017 gardening season.

Grow a Garden is the new name for Denver Urban Gardens Free Seeds and Transplants program. This program helps income-qualified individuals, families and gardening groups by providing free seeds, plants and know-how for growing productive vegetable gardens.

This year DUG is partnering with CSU Extension to present the “Growing Green” vegetable gardening workshops. This collaboration represents a full circle of gardening education because CSU Extension initially offered similar workshops to the community about 20 years ago.

DUG developed the workshop content and slide show to focus on organic gardening basics for growing fruits, vegetables and herbs. The goal is to help gardeners of all levels plant, grow and harvest their homegrown fresh produce to help stretch their grocery dollars.

Teams of facilitators—a DUG Master Community Gardener and a CSU Master Gardener—met at a train-the-trainer session led by Jessica Romer, DUG’s director of horticulture and Dan Goldhamer, CSU Extension horticulture agent.

Facilitators then joined forces to present information for getting started, planning and designing the garden, amending the soil, timing the planting, and maintaining the garden.

“I feel like I’ve been launched,” said beginning community gardener John Anduri after one of the Denver Grow a Garden workshops. “I thought the information was perfect because I don’t know beans about gardening.”

Like CSU Extension Master Gardeners, DUG’s Master Community Gardeners attend horticultural training classes, but they also have specialized training in community gardening and community organizing. It was a unique and satisfying collaboration for volunteers from both organizations.

After the workshop, Grow a Garden participants picked up their supply of seed packets so they could start planting their cool-season gardens. Warm-weather transplants, like tomatoes and peppers, will be available at distribution centers in May.

As continuing support through the season, Grow a Garden participants can attend any of DUG’s other gardening classes for free.

By Jodi Torpey
A Denver Master Gardener

Grow Local Colorado and the Harvard Gulch Park Vegetable Garden

The Denver Extension CSU Master Gardeners (CMGs) in partnership with Grow Local Colorado have been growing a vegetable demonstration garden at Harvard Gulch Park on the corner of Emerson St. and Iliff Ave. in Denver for several years.  Produce from this joint project is donated to the Community Ministry Food Bank and the Food Bank at the University Church of Christ.

Harvard Gulch Park vegetable garden – June 2016

Every year beginning in March while there is still snow on the ground, the CMGs start vegetable plants from seed at the City Park Greenhouses.   They nurse the seedlings until late May when the plants are big and sturdy and ready to be planted at Harvard Gulch Park.  With the help of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado,  the CMGs plant tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, squash, peppers, cabbage,  lettuce and chard in the demonstration garden.  Over the course of the next several months, CMG volunteers water, weed and harvest the bounty for donation to local food banks.  As of the middle of August, the Harvard Gulch garden has produced more than 440 pounds of produce and the season is just kicking into high gear.

Our partner, Grow Local Colorado is an organization dedicated to promoting local food, local community and local economy.  The Harvard Gulch Vegetable Garden is one of several Grow Local sponsored gardens in Metro Denver including a number of Denver parks and the Colorado Governor’s Mansion.  These Grow Local sponsored gardens are providing thousands of pounds of fresh produce to communities that do not have easy access to healthy food.  The garden partnerships are just one of several projects Grow Local is engaged in to encourage Coloradans to grow and share produce with others in their communities.  Visit the Grow Local website to find out more.

If your garden is producing more vegetables than you and your family can consume, consider donating your garden surplus to area organizations that help those experiencing food insecurity.  The attached link at the Denver Extension website is a guide to organizations in your community that will gladly accept your surplus bounty.

Harvest from Harvard Gulch Park vegetable garden

The City and County of Denver is working with members of the community to ensure food security for all Denver residents through the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council.  To learn more about the Sustainable Food Policy Council and Denver’s food system from production to distribution to consumption check out the Denver Department of Environmental Health’s Food Systems Policies website.    Find out how our food system works (or doesn’t) and its impact on the health of our citizens.

If your green thumb was too green this summer, join Grow Local Colorado, the Denver Extension CSU Master Gardeners and others in helping bring healthy produce to all members of our community.

Written by Mark Zammuto, a Denver County Master Gardener