Rick Bayless Garden Tour: Fall Edition

by Brooke on October 2, 2012

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Last Wednesday, I hosted a second Rick Bayless Garden networking event with Alex Hamel for dietitians, chefs, bloggers, foodies, etc.  If you want to see pictures and read about about the the Summer tour click here.

We had the privilege of getting a private tour of Rick Bayless’ garden by Bill Shores.  He has been managing Rick Bayless’ gardens for eight years and has been in the field for the past twenty years.  Bill provided the group with a wealth of knowledge on creating and maintaining space-efficient urban gardens.

Bill talked about a few key differences in the garden between the summer and fall seasons.

One, main change is the lighting, which dictates what is planted in the garden during each season.   Since, the autumn days are shorter and there was reduced light in the garden Bill lit the garden torches for our tour.

He mentioned that he is currently growing Chinese long beans, edible flowers, herbs, garlic chives, and Swiss chard in the garden instead of salad greens.

He pointed out the butternut squash vines growing on the garden trellises.  I was in love with the butternut squash vines!

Bill also got asked a lot of questions from the group about composting fundamentals.  I asked him why the compost area didn’t smell.   Bill explained that aerobic fertilizer doesn’t smell, but anaerobic fertilizer does.  He mentioned that he uses a combination of used potting soil, cardboard, and shredded tree leaves to keep the compost anaerobic.

After the garden tour, we went to Cortland’s Garage to network.  We had a networking game for our guests with door prizes.  A special thanks goes out to Alliance Bakery & Café and Nourishing Notes for donating door prizes!

I would like to thank all those that attended the Rick Bayless Garden Networking Tour and look forward to seeing you at the next event!

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

sally October 5, 2012 at 2:38 am

Hey Brooke,
What kind of squashes are those in his garden? I might need to add some of those to my arsenal…
Love,
Sally

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Brooke October 5, 2012 at 2:06 pm

Hi Sally,

They are butternut squash. The vines were in a few different locations in his garden. If you decide to plant some in the future, please let me know how they turn out!

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