Thursday, June 3, 2010

How Our Garden Grows

It's been a month since we had to buy salad greens. What a pleasure to walk out the front door and, in less than 10 ft, pick most the ingredients for a tasty, healthy meal.
10 feet. A great change when you know that most food in a supermarket travels thousands of miles, burning immense amounts of fossil fuel to get to our tables. By growing at least some of our own food we save fuel, have fresher, healthier food and enjoy the pleasures of our gardens.
Did you know that one tomato plant can produce 6-8 pounds of tomatoes? That you can grow a potato plant from one that you get at an organic market? Others might not work as some of them are SPRAYED to prevent sprouting.
We have 11 tomatoes of 5 varieties, 2 kinds of cucumbers, 2 kinds of green beans, 4 kinds of basil, 3 kinds of onions, 4 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of potatoes, and 3 kinds of lettuce. Variety is indeed the spice of life and it also provides the variety that will protect your crop. Still to come, the sweet potato experiment (going to try rooting one) and carrots and radishes, a sun shade for the lettuce,  a small solar cooker and a new compost bin. Looking forward making tomato sauce and the apple gleaning season that will result in sauce as well. It's great to walk into the pantry on a winter evening, choose a jar and taste the summer!

Today's harvest: Red Sails lettuce, Italian Basil, Oregano!!!




Thrifty garden news!! The Canned Goods store on 4th Plain in Vancouver, WA has organic veggie and herb plants (from a certified nursery in Oregon) for very reasonable prices. Many of the pots have several plants. One tiny pot of purple basil yielded 6 plants for $1.59!

Even if you can only have a couple of pots on your balcony or patio, growing part of your own food is a step toward sustainability and away from the fossil fuel based rat race.

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