Like every other yuppie stay-at-home mom in America, I'm kinda obsessed with creating a small garden that will help provide vegetables for our family and also give my kids some exposure to the actual production of food. I fully admit I've read too much Michael Pollan and now find myself full of unwarranted enthusiasm about organic gardening. You can call me annoying. My husband does.
But, regardless, we are going to build a raised bed in the backyard and plant our veggies and see how green my thumb actually is.
On Monday morning, I went to the library and picked up a book on organic backyard gardening. On Wednesday morning, I visited our local garden center and picked up some peat pots for starting seeds and some potting soil. I felt partially dumb for not even knowing what kind of potting mix to purchase, but partially empowered because OH MY GOSH I've actually just purchased the supplies to start seeds in my dining room!!
Here's the run down. I'm planting carrots, peppers, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Mike thinks it will be easier to use tomato starts, but I wanted to try some heirlooms so I've started some tomato seeds and then we'll have a tomato-off later to see which ones are the bestest. A friend sent me some basil seeds so I'll also be growing basil in a pot, plus some for around the tomatoes. Apparently, they are a natural insecticide for tomatoes.
According to my little book, most seeds should be started early inside and then transferred. Right now I've got them set up in my dining room on a folding table. God bless you, Honda, the CR-V folding table is now hosting the Roth family seed starting headquarters.
Anna was a lot of help this morning. She took the spade and placed all the dirt in the peat boxes. It's been so rainy this week and this was a great outdoor activity. Poor Abe had to be strapped into his stroller where he watched us have all the fun. He was pretty patient, but we had to scramble to get the pots filled before he got upset.
Fortunately, we cleaned up just in time. And, now I'm just going to water and wait for the next few weeks. I can't wait!!
2 comments:
exciting! your husband needs to join the cult, man. get on board, dude. : )
if you want you can borrow my book "The Square Foot Gardener". It's very good but I think I can't fully employ it until we one day have more of a yard. I don't know, though...maybe I can force the issue on our porch. ; )
I think gardens are cool! But, I don't think I'd be very good at growing one. You should add some fruit to the mix...strawberries! Or what about some pumpkins so you'll have them handy for Halloween??
Post a Comment