I Know What You Did in the Garden this Year

October 16, 2021October 19, 2021 Mike Nowak Chicago Excellence in Gardening Awards, Conservation@Home, gardening, Imperial Towers Community Garden, Kyla Muhammad, native plants, Peggy Malecki, sustainability, The Conservation Foundation, The Mike Nowak Show, UIC Nutrition Teaching Garden, Urban Habitat Chicago

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(October 17, 2021) Where did 2021 go? I’m speaking about the gardening year, of course. One day we’re celebrating spring and the next, it’s Halloween. So, before it all gets away from us, it’s time to celebrate local gardeners. Do I know what you did in the garden this year? Probably not. But it sure makes a good headline.

Today we talk to winners in the 2021 60-Second Garden Video Challenge. This competition celebrated its second year in 2021. It is part of the continuing mission of the Chicago Excellence in Gardening Awards (CEGA). CEGA began recognizing the contributions of gardeners to the City of Chicago in 2017. Like many organizations in 2020, it changed course slightly during the pandemic. Instead of visiting gardens in person, CEGA asked for 60-second videos from anywhere in the country. Those videos were viewed on the CEGA YouTube page and judged by how many likes they garnered.

And, by the way, we will look at those videos on today’s show.

Imperial Towers Community Garden

We start with Vicky Rozich and Gene Arbetter from Imperial Towers Community Garden in Chicago. This garden was about 20 years in the making, which Gene will explain. It is both sheltered and exposed to the elements, which Vicky will explain. But you won’t believe what it looks like in only its second year. I learned that one of the people behind the creation of the space was friend of the show Mike Repkin of Urban Habitat Chicago. The garden received a 2019 Cook Fresh® Community Urban Garden Grant. And I love this quote from their website: “Forget whatever you’ve heard about which plants “love” which other plants. This isn’t Match.com for vegetables: There’s a science to it.”

Muhammads’ Sustainable Garden

Meanwhile, Kyla and Rasheed Muhammad transformed their typical suburban home and yard into a model of sustainable landscaping. They ripped out much of their lawn, planted a rain garden and pollinator-attracting plants. The Conservation Foundation of DuPage County and their Conservation@Home program featured the Muhammad garden in a video. In fact, Kyla says she will be teaching a free webinar for The Conservation Foundation on November 3rd at 7pm called Perennial Foods: Less Time in the Field, Less Fuss, More Yield. Click on the link to register for the event.

UIC Nutrition Teaching Garden

Finally, we visit the UIC Nutrition Teaching Garden. I just learned that this garden is the only 5-time winner of the CEGA awards! She was on our program a year ago. Registered dietician and Nutrition-Focused Culinary Instructor and lab manager Renea Lyles runs the garden. It is an outdoor extension of the campus’s six experiential learning kitchens. Last year, the challenge was to educate students online during the pandemic. But it is always an opportunity to connect what happens in the garden to what happens in the kitchen. We congratulate Renea Lyles on her accomplishments at UIC.

I know what you did in all of the above gardens. Because I’ve seen the videos. You’ll see them this morning, too.