This is a story about a little girl. A little girl who didn't like to garden. A little girl who didn't like to garden but had a mom who could garden a quarter into a money tree. A little girl who had a black thumb, and her mom raised worms.
The little girl (who DID have a little curl, incidentally) is me. Of course. And it's true. My mom is the most fantastic gardener ever. She could give Eve herself a run for her money.
I think my parents worked us so hard in the garden in the hope that one day, we too would come to love tending things in the earth and helping them grow up into wonderful DELICIOUS foods- and beautiful things too!
That plan has failed so far, until this year. Well, at least for me. I can't speak for my sister.
I live in Nebraska. Nebraska is a greenhouse. The soil is FANTASTIC. It would be plain STUPID of me to not try my hand at gardening. (well, that, and I am now a big supporter of the "slow-food" movement a la Alice Waters/ Michael Pollan- LOVE them!)
So, I got a few of my girlfriends together (and I have the BEST girlfriends!) and we created a gardening seed-share. Here's the premise: When you buy a pack of seeds, they come in HUGE quantities- 25 peas, 150 carrots, 40 tomatoes, a billion oregano- you know what I'm talking about. Who in their right mind will even attempt to start every single seed they purchase?! Answer: no one. BUT if you could get a few ladies together to SHARE the seeds, everyone could have a VERY diverse garden at very little expense to herself, simply by sharing the extra seeds!
So, we did.
And.... (drum roll) here's the result!
These are shallots. I'm in LOVE with Shallots.
My corn.
My beans and one pea plant (pre beetle invasion. a moment of silence for my dead plants please:(.)
My MAMMOTH tomatoes. That plant is over 4 ' tall and 4' wide. Just one plant. It's a gigantor.
Aaaaand the rescued tomato plant. A runt. But a nice runt. Surrounded by his friends, the carrots. Some carrots are red, or purple, or yellow, or plain ol' orange. But I'll tell you this- at least they GREW!
I saw a garden sign at the local farmer's market. It said: Grow Dammit. That pretty much sums up my gardening knowledge before. Now my garden sign will say: Grow Dammit.At least I know that ANYTHING grows here. It's like in Field of Dreams: If you plant it, it will grow.
Nice to know I don't kill things here!
3 comments:
Yeah for you! I love me some garden...I just have some sweet potatoes growing in a pot this year (well and a window box of herbs)
Oh wow! I love your stories. It reminds me the there are other people who are human. And the "Grow Dammit" sign...that's friggin' funny. I think I might ask my husband for one for my birthday
I guess I need to move to Nebraska. My soil here sucks. Even the good soil that I bought didn't make my seeds grow. I think it's too hot. One day my peas were doing great, blossoms and all. The next day, they were all dead. I do have a massive tomato plant, but I only have 1 tomato. Maybe I should plant again when it cools down a bit.
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