The Birth of a Garden!
I’m a lifelong city girl but this year I’m going to plant a garden, one that grows vegetables! Our city house does not have a lot of earth around it but it does have some and one side of the house gets glorious sunshine for most of the day. I’m inspired by my friend Kelly who has an acre of land and grows all kinds of things. But I’m also inspired by what’s happening on our planet and by the movement towards being more conscious about the energy we use both in going to and from the shops and in having our food shipped from far away. I’ve always been very conscious about the quality of food we eat and having fresh greens and tomatoes right outside our kitchen door will be great. I was just visiting my friend and neighbor, Sally, this morning and she too is going to put in a wee vegetable plot. My wonderful son is coming to do some work here on the house this week so I’ll get him to pick up some timbers for Sally and us to make raised beds.
There will be things to learn, of course, but that will be fun. Allan and I tried our hand at a community plot a few years ago but we weren’t good at getting ourselves over there. It felt difficult to pull ourselves away from work and will be much easier to have the plot at home. We’ll have to get a delivery of good earth. I’m not quite sure how the original settlers in Massachusetts actually survived on the stony soil here. But once we’ve got some good earth going we should be able to get the vegetables planted and be off to the races. Could be famous last words but I think not! We can’t have that!
Now I will have to plan out what we’ll have—tomatoes for sure and a few herbs like basil, dill, parsley, coriander. Then lettuce greens. I love salad every single day in summer. It is my favorite, favorite food, for sure. I want to put in a rhubarb patch somewhere though maybe not in the same spot as the other stuff because it takes up room. A few zucchini would be nice and perhaps other squashes. I might just start with that and see how well we do this first summer. There’s also the possibility of a second plot beside the deck. That would be for carrots and cucumbers and maybe a few spuds.
When I was in San Francisco I bought a wonderful book called—World Changing. Al Gore wrote the introduction and more on this soon when I get a bit farther into it. The problems in our world are so very complex and challenging now but every little thing we do can make a difference and join us to the spirit of positive change. Even a little city plot. And I think this plot will make me more conscious of others things that can also be done, that I can do. It does feel like time I did more. Some of it is just old habits that need changing. But by next weekend I should be up to my elbows in dirt! Yay!
Go Obama!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Dear Cathy,
When you say you weren’t sure how the original settlers of Massachusetts survived I think you asked the right question! They cut down all the trees and expected to find good soil, just like in Europe. What they found was rocks. Good soil in the New England area was pretty scarce, and so they gave things over to grazing, pretty much, and orchards, and berry bushes (black currants), and only farmed intensively where they could. So you’ll need to bring in soil or plant in pots and tubs until you can raise a sufficient amount of compost. But it sounds like fun to grow real veggies! Good for you!!
Allan
May 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Thanks, my dear! Good history. Think might have to buy the compost to get started but we’ll then soon be on our way! Think salad!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Have you heard of lasagna gardening? It is a no-till kind of gardening. I’ve done it successfully several times and have soil so wonderful that I can pull out dandelions with ease! You start with layers of newspapers on the sod. Then layer organic matter: we used peat moss, grass clippings, shredded leaves, manure, compost, etc. You plant directly into it. Each year you just keep layering. There is a book by that name. You can also use containers for things like tomatoes, peppers etc—and can lasagna garden in those, too.
Our goal is to grow most if not all of our own produce by next season—for us and for my in-laws at least. It seems the only sane thing to do.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Debra, Thanks so much. I’d never heard of this. I am a complete city-girl novice. Totally.
But it makes sense and think I will give it a try. I will tell my friend, Sally, who has more experience than I do. It does feel like one small thing we can do to help the planet out. But we await the results of the soil test. This is the city after all. And, wow, so impressed that you can grow most of your own produce. Wonderful!
May 11th, 2008 at 7:35 am
good luck with this! i am a sporadic gardener who usually gets some tomatoes and basil and a really good crop of weeds out of my garden!
May 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Thanks, Mary! My husband thinks all I’ll end up with is a $500. tomato sandwich!! He may be right..but there is the fun factor!!
May 16th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I hope you’ll take some pictures!!! I’ll have to post soon about the giant lasagna gardening bed I made behind the deck…one more round of layers tonight, and then we plant!
May 16th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Will definitely take pictures!! Once I get going…:)