Week Three

What a difference a week makes! We got back in town yesterday to discover some delightful and some less-than-delightful changes to the garden. First off, only one baby pea shoot has survived so far. The baby romaine also kicked the bucket after dealing with temperatures in the 90's this week. However, the rest of the garden is thriving. 

Here's a picture of the garden after week one, just to show the difference in plant size. 

Aside from what's growing in my garden bed, we have a tree that's bearing some sort of mystery fruit. Could it be apricots? 

The baby basil is coming in strong, as is the first acorn squash shoot. The carrot tops are taking on a more "carrot-y" appearance, and we have four bean sprouts pushing out of the dirt. We also have baby cantaloupe! The most exciting development is the first itty-bitty tomatoes. Hooray! 

Baby Basil

Acorn Squash

Carrot tops

Looking green-beany

Cantaloupe- yum

The itty-bitty tomato committee!

Week Two

The end of week two brings a bit of sad news. It was very cold and windy here midweek, and all but one of the pea shoots fell over and wilted. I'm not sure if they'll revive or not, but the good news is that warmer weather is on its way. 

The rest of the garden is looking lush, and I've made three salads so far! The fresh greens are so tasty, and it's immensely satisfying to eat what I've grown.

The little broccoli shoots are also flourishing, and we welcome the first green bean sprout this week. The tomato plants have grown about an inch since I planted them, and more baby carrots have started sprouting. 

Baby broccoli, grownin' and growin'.

Here come carrots!

The first green bean sprout.

The Obama Garden

Here are some links to articles about the Obama's garden. It's a little bit bigger than the average home garden.... but it serves the same purpose! 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/04/09/the_first_garden_gets_its_firs.html

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b118088_michelle_obamas_home_garden.html

More baby veggies

Please welcome to the garden....

Baby "Little Finger" carrots

and baby "Black Beauty" zucchini squash!

First Harvest

It's only the start of week 2 and I'm excited to announce my first harvest! We started the salad greens from seedlings, but they grew so fast; it's very satisfying to think that I'm already able to eat what we planted.

In other news, the Baby Gem romaine has started sprouting, and the peas are unfurling their leaves. 

Baby "Baby Gem" romaine

The peas are growing so quickly!

Week One

The seedlings are here! I can't believe the changes that have happened in just one week. The lettuce mix is getting huge and I think I'll be ready to start harvesting some very small salads soon. The most exciting development is that the seeds have started sprouting. Little baby veggies. Yay!

Baby Broccoli 

Baby Shelling Pea

Building the Garden

When my parents and I set out to build our new home garden, we had the advantage of having a nicely located flower bed as our starting point. The bed had become overgrown with weeds. With a normal vegetable gardening method we would have had to pull all those weeds. Instead, after my dad conquered the formidable task of pulling out a tree stump from the flower bed, we just leveled out the dirt. We then added a six inch flexible border to the existing flower bed border and lay weed cloth inside the new bed.

Next came the fun part of mixing various kinds of dirt. The "Square Foot Method" claims to have perfected a gardening soil mixture, and who am I to argue with that?! So we mixed up the dirt (vermiculite, compost, manure etc.) and then filled in the new vegetable bed. 

The most fun was finally getting to plant the seeds and little seedlings. Many of the seeds and plants I chose are heirloom. I like heirloom vegetables and fruits because of their varied and interesting flavors, their history, and because it feels to me that I'm part of the legacy of maintaining the growth of these particular varieties of plants.

Here's a list of what we planted, in no particular order:

Lettuce mix

Little Gem Romaine (heirloom)

Brandywine tomato (heirloom)

Black Beauty eggplant

Vidalia onion

Blue Lake green bean

Little Finger carrot (heirloom)

Di Cicco broccoli (heirloom)

Hearts of Gold cantaloupe

Moons and Stars watermelon

Black Beauty zucchini squash

Table King Bush Acorn winter squash

Green Arrow shelling pea

Spinach

Red Currant tomato (heirloom)

Rainbow Mix tomato (heirloom)

Adventures in Gardening

The world's climate is changing. That's a simple fact. Unfortunately there's not a lot an individual can do to make a BIG difference. However, there's a lot that individuals can do to make small differences. Differences that really add up. 

Food choices constitute one of the largest ways people affect the environment. There's a new movement of people trying to eat only locally through CSA's and home gardening, and this blog is about my foray into trying to curb my environmental impact by growing my own home garden. Even just 70 years ago, home gardens were the norm, not the exception. I believe that it's time to bring growing back to homes and communities. Even the Obama's are starting their own "victory" garden. Even if you only have one square foot, you can grow something that won't have to use fossil fuels to arrive in your fridge, and most major cities have community plots available for apartment dwellers to use. 

I'd been wanting to create my own home garden for a while now, but I felt a little daunted by the amount of work having a vegetable garden could entail. Then my mom read a book called "Square Foot Gardening," by Mel Bartholomew. Foll

owing his instructions she created a beautiful garden in her backyard in Florida. When I saw how easy it was for my parents to create their garden, and when I learned how little upkeep it required I decided I wanted to build one of my own. 

On a recent visit with us, my parents guided me through building my very own raised vegetable garden. It's not a "square foot" garden, because it's not divided into square feet, but it utilizes pretty much the same techniques. My goal is to track growth of the garden through this web log and share my experiences, both good and bad, with whomever would like to learn about growing a simple home garden.