dr. green thumb

thyme and lavender.  impulse buys

Despite a reference in my previous garden post not easy getting green, I said that if the basil had not grown, that I would go to the grocery store and buy a starter plant and claim that I’d grown it from a seed myself, I have decided to be honest is all my gardening adventures.

For the sake of honesty I will admit that the latest additions to my garden were not grown from seeds but rather purchased as starters from Whole Foods.  On Saturday while doing a little shopping I came across a tempting layout outside the main entrance.  The stand held a variety of herbs and vegetables that were being advertised as two for $5.

After circling the stand twice I decided that rather than selecting starters for herbs or vegetables that I was already planning on planting from seeds, I would choose something else, lavender and thyme.  They were both healthy looking and smelled delicious, I immediately fell into the trap that grocery stores, including Whole Foods are betting that you will get caught in, the impulse buy.

I brought the plants home and set them on the table, they were beautiful looking.  I wondered why I wasn’t buying all my plants this way, certainly it was much easier, it satisfied my desire for immediate gratification, and it seemed to me that it was simpler to keep plants alive than to grow them.

When I put them next to my “first grow” my week old basil plant I realized why I wasn’t simply buying starters for everything in my garden.  Unlike the basil I hadn’t earned the satisfaction that comes from growing a plant from a tiny seed in the soil.  I will enjoy these herbs, fresh lavender teas, and thyme smothered on legs of lamb but they will not be the same as the basil used in a delicious pasta or the lettuce tossed in a summer salad.

chives growing from the head of this elephant

Speaking of the lettuce, it’s not yet begun to sprout.  Perhaps I’m being a tad impatient, since the basil has begun to grow I have become a junky to see my vegetables sprout and grow and flower and develop.  It’s possible that I’m simply being impatient but then the worried parent in me is concerned that I planted them too deep, or drowned them in too much water.

I will give it another week, maybe by next weeks update I will have little green sprouts just like the basil.

As for the rest of the garden, I was busy both Saturday and Sunday and did not buy the seeds necessary and have yet to plant everything I hoped to.  I suspect that I need to get these in the ground as soon as possible, we have had such beautiful weather of late that I don’t want my precious seeds to be missing out on the valuable yet elusive sunlight.
posted by: brian snider

how does your garden grow?

not much now, i do plan on expanding

I’m fairly confident that no one has ever looked at me and got the impression that I was much of if at all, a gardener.  I’ve killed more plants in my life than I’ve kept alive.  A small pine sapling, a rosemary bush, two basil plants, a whole planter box of dill, english mint, sage, and lastly a lemon tree which despite constant blooming, after three years it never grew any fruit.  I don’t believe in green or black thumbs, but I definitely don’t have a green one for sure.  My one and only achievement in growing was a chestnut tree I accidentally planted in my mom’s back yard and which is now fifteen feet tall.  Needless to say, if plants were children, I would be in jail.

Just over a year ago Jaime and I made a drastic life decision, we would begin to buy locally grown organic produce only, local grass fed beef, pork, chicken and eggs, as well as wild caught fish only (no farmed fish).  In turn we cut out most processed foods.  I resisted this initially dreading the loss of my beloved Dr. Pepper and cheap Costco bacon.

In Los Angeles this lifestyle was really quite easy, due to their warm climate, a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables are available at the farmers markets year round.  We were also rather lucky that just three short blocks from our apartment was McCalls Meat (I demand that anyone who lives in LA who eats meat go there) where we were able to buy locally raised and grass fed meats.

I knew moving to Seattle that the conveniences we had previously enjoyed in LA would not be so easy.  I wan’t prepared for just how hard it really would be.  Washington winters are cold and wet, the farms must endure frozen soil and flooding on a weekly basis.  This drastically reduces the availability of fruits and vegetables, about all you could find consistently were; squash, brussels sprouts, carrots, some leafy greens but not much beyond that.

We also found it very difficult to find a nearby supply of meat.  There was some meat available at the market but the best local meat company required an hour long drive north.

We are now renting a house in Bellevue which had a substantial back yard.  Lamenting the convenience of LA I decided to make my life even harder by attempting to grow my own garden.

My gardening guru is my mother who has kept a fantastic looking yard for years.  Her breadth of knowledge concerning vegetables and when to plant them is immense.  Inspired by Michael Pollan’s Omnivores Dilemma, I will be reporting on the progress here in my blog.  While some of what I am planning on planting I will be consuming throughout the summer, I also plan on having a feast towards the end of the growing season utilizing the fruits of my spring and summer labors.

My first set back occurred two weeks ago when my garden guru informed me that the patch of dirt I had been hoping to use for the garden would not work because of the lack of sunlight.  Instead I will be using a network of long rectangular planter boxes, which while they won’t look as pretty or natural as a conventional garden, will provide me the ability to move my garden should I so desire.

I will be planting (and with some luck growing)

carrots

tomatoes (not from the seed but from on offshoot)

lettuce

strawberries

greenbeans

green onions

onions

peas

radishes

cucumber

asparagus

Additionally I will be growing; rosemary, basil, mint, sage, and chives.

I know that these are lofty goals for someone who has never eaten something that they grew and nurtured themselves.  I am determined to grow as much of my own food as possible.  With my guru at my side I will hopefully have a crop of vegetables with a Summer’s end feast for my friends and family to enjoy food grown in my own back yard.