TDN Newsletter: 2-14-15

February 14th, 2015   Dear Gardening Friends, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!                            Things are heating up here at Two Dog as we prepare to launch our Spring season next month…thousands of Tomato, Peppers & Eggplant seedlings are getting ready for transplant, Cucumbers, Squash, Strawberries, etc., are filling the tables and light shelves, Basils are burgeoning, and in a week or so, we’ll be sowing the first rounds of my beloved Green Beans! Yay, I can’t wait!!   We recently had that huge Tipuana Tipu tree in our back yard pruned way back, and now the sunlight is pouring in!  Alex made new risers for four more tables, and Pre-Orders for Tomatoes and Strawberries are appearing regularly in our email now.   I’ve got our own personal Tomato list narrowed down to 24, but I think I may be overestimating our front yard!  I know I want to try lots of the "New" ones, though.  I'm happy to see that, in their Pre-Orders, folks are interested in our new Tomato varieties.  Not only the new Cherries, but some of the “Heat-Tolerant” ones, as well!  Please be sure to check those out, especially if you are a Market customer … we know how hot it gets in the Valley! And don’t forget to have shade cloth at the ready. It could save your entire crop.                       You can see the whole Tomato line-up here.           Hopefully, all of you who participated in our Annual Tomato Survey received your Free Tomato Coupon in an email last month; we sent it out the same night we sent the last Newsletter.    Be sure to print it out to redeem your Tomato Seedling at our Sale (March 14th & 15th) or at one of the Farmers Markets. Now, drumroll please… the Winner of the Random Drawing for a FREE EARTHBOX KIT is Tim Johnson!!  Congratulations, Tim!!!  We’ll see you at the Sale, I’m sure!   Don’t forget to mark your calendars for March 14th & 15th, when we hold our Annual Spring Kick-Off Sale and Food Drive!!   Bring a donation of canned tuna, dried beans, rice, lentils, fresh packaged bread, or whatever you can offer to our needy Angeleno neighbors, and that’ll get you 10% off everything we offer…and at the end of the weekend, Alex and I will donate 5% of the Sale profits to the Los Angeles Food Bank as a cash donation.                I’ve lost track of how many years we’ve been holding Food Drives for the L.A. Food Bank, but those folks do some very important work!!!  We do hope you’ll join us in showing them some LOVE!  You can see more details here:     In the spirit of the awesome EarthBox, of which, Alex and I now garden in 40+, I’d like to share this photo of one of our newest customers, Nate, and his first EarthBox. Actually, he and his Mom bought two, and he planted them up (and also built an amazing compost tumbler!)  I’m not sure that he wanted us to use the photo of him rockin’ his headgear, but I couldn’t resist!  Just look at the satisfaction in his eyes!!   Congrats, Nate, you did a great job, man!!   Just a Side Note about Kids & Gardening...   Parents, please, please let your kids garden when they ask.  Alex and I see it nearly every weekend at the Farmers Markets:  a child (of any age) comes in all wide-eyed, checking out the different varieties, and begs the parent to buy him/her some plants, any plants, “just one plant, Mom/Dad”…and that parent says, “Not right now...” “ We’ve got to figure out the yard first”, “Maybe next weekend”…blah, blah, blah, and that moment vanishes. It absolutely kills us. Just last Sunday, a boy came in and, I swear this is true, began exclaiming, “Mom, look, broccoli, Mom look, BROCCOLI!!, and it fell on deaf ears, and the ship sailed.  And our hearts sank.   Helping your kids learn where food comes from, how it looks when it’s growing, what time of the year it grows in, and how much better food tastes when you grow it yourself, is the greatest gift.  Please don’t miss the opportunity; they may not always be wide-eyed about it.  It’s really not that hard (we’re here to help!), and the reward is very great.     That’s it for now, Friends. Please do try to come to our Spring Sale & Food Drive, and bring your Gardening Friends!   Many thanks, as always, Garden On!   Jo Anne, Alex, Jake, Lalo & Charlie