11.2.09

Ms. Green Genes

My parents grew up on farms and moved to town after they got married. They kept a garden on my grandfather's farm every year when I was young. My mother would weed the rows while I would pick up stones. We'd bring home all sorts of fresh vegetables. Very few dishes on our table came from the grocery store.

In past years I've planted tomatoes and peppers. One year I tried okra and eggplant. But for a backyard gardener with younger children, giving up too much of their playing area of the lawn wasn't a real option. But this year?

This year I'm going to try something more ambitious. There are eight packets of seeds waiting to be put in either a starter system for planting after the last frost or the ground when the soil is warm enough. My goal is three-fold.

First, growing some of our own vegetables will cut down on our grocery bill. Second, we'll be eating healthier by eating fresher. Third, it'll be good for the environment by not depending on foods that are shipped miles and miles to our table.

I'm not quite ready for turning over my entire yard to a modern-day Victory Garden. But in the meantime, I'll be stretching my atrophied gardening muscles, especially the one between my ears.

5 comments:

  1. Three goods reasons to garden. Good luck with the seeds.

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  2. I have already had people ask me if I have tators planted!! It's too early for that! Roy finally tilled up the dead peppers and tomatoes!!

    One woman has told me she's gonna give me money to help buy tomato plants!

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  3. If you are going to have a fabulous garden, don't wait. Prepare the soil so that when you plant the seeds it's normalized for acidity, humous, and other thangs that can make a garden successful. Cheers.

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  4. We patio garden since that is what we have, so we do tomatoes and stuff like that!

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  5. Yes, I was pondering what I would plant and then kill this year... I figure the small handful of tiny cherry tomatoes I harvested last year cost me somewhere in the vicinity of $40. {sigh}

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