Sooo...I've neglected the blog. OOPS! But I've been working really hard on researching what I need to know to start a garden this year. I've gardened before, a long time ago as a young kid, and then again not so long ago as a seasonal gardener at a local cultural center, so I'm not going in blind. Or at least, not TOTALLY blind...there's so much to learn, and much of it by trial and error.
Why do this? A couple reasons:
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| Young spinach growing in the garage |
1: We eat vegetables in our house. A
LOT of them. We're equal-opportunity omnivores in our household, but about 85% of our meals are vegetarian due to budget constraints. And because my educational background has proven again and again that the soil's health determines the quality and nutrient density of the food that grows upon it...we eat organically, free-range/grass-fed and finished, and ethically. Locally as well, if it's available. That's not cheap. What's a picky, frugal person like me to do, especially when I want to eat ethically, organically, and locally without shelling out the entirety of my paycheck? GROW IT MYSELF...ethically, organically, and locally.
2: Because I can. This is a just an experiment, really; a culmination of every life/job/academic skill I've gained up to this point. I learned to care for animals by being a seasonal zookeeper and life-long pet owner. I learned to identify and properly care for soils and the environment that supports them in college. I learned to grow plants (and weed out the ones I didn't want) at a job I had after school was done, and I learned to preserve what I grew by working at that same organization. So why not put all that knowledge to good use?
3: I want to get outside, get exercise without joining a gym, enjoy the seasons in all their glory, meet my neighbors, get involved in my community, and maybe reduce the size of my food footprint a little. So we've joined a community garden.
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| Check them out at: http://www.naturescrossroads.com |
Our garden starts in our semi-heated one-car garage, sharing space with my sub-compact Toyota. Nights are still below freezing and the critters are hungry from winter hibernation, so we protect them and extend the growing season by starting them indoors. We will harden them off a bit before transplanting them outside. We're growing only the things we eat the most of: peas, lettuce, spinach, sweet corn, onions, tomatoes, peppers (sweet & hot), winter squash, corn, and some culinary herbs. Our seeds are all heirloom, organically-grown, open-pollinated varieties from a family seed company called Nature's Crossroads and located in Bloomington.
Here's what we started with. All we needed was some heavy-duty shelves and fluorescent lighting!
Today, we've got healthy-looking sprouts growing in pure compost. Lettuce looks fabulous, and I can hardly wait for the spinach!
I'll be updating the blog on our progress throughout the growing season!
