First, I confess that not one load of grass has been removed from my lawn. If' I'm going to get anything planted I need to remove this fancified weed from the front and side lawns.
Second, Dianne and I met someone tonight who is interested in the urban, compact gardening I am attempting. He has about the level of knowledge as me which is to say we're hacking our way through the first years of true gardening. I was asking Dianne the difference between 'determinate' and 'indeterminate' as I select tomato varieties from my new and most delightful source of seeds-- Seedsavers. The flash catalogue alone (see here) is pure pleasure. The non-profit organization is as old as me and is committed to biodiversity and preserving 'heritage gardening' in North America. With each members contribution of a new varieties, small and great gardens alike get a chance to try something new-- fantastic for a foodie like me!-- and a select amount are preserved for future generations.
I thought everyone should know. At the end of tonight, we'd had a superficial coverage of heirloom seeds, grow lights, affordable urban gardening, and creating tiered compact garden containers from freecycled dressers. This is another goal of mine. To freecycle low treatment old dressers, staple in ground cover and tier them.
I plan to order from seedsavers this week. I'm nervous and worried about this investment. I have NEVER started seeds successfully. I can transplant and start from cuttings like there is no tomorrow, but nurturing a seed into existence on a tight budget? I couldn't even do it with Burpee's 'guaranteed' pod system. First I need heat. I don't keep my house warm. Except for the places we'd like to be cooler, not one area of my old Victorian isn't drafty and cool. I'm cheap. I walk all day on a treadmill or pile on sweaters to stay warm.
Also, I need some grow lights or bulbs to accompany the old aquariums I plan to use as mini greenhouses for seed saving. I'm a bit confuzzled, to use the teen vernacular, about which full spectrum bulbs to choose. Should I go compact florescent, regular florescent or incandescent? Ask me some time about my first year of homeschooling and attempting to seed start in a dank basement of our rented duplex. I don't know if it was my placement, the cool, the dark or the dripping poo that prevented any plants from taking off! What a hoot that I even tried to grow something in a mold and waste-infested basement in NE- Pennsylvanian.
I only plan to start some herbs and my tomatoes indoors. Everything else will begin later, though I'd like to devote one whole aquarium to lettuce and herbs indoors for early and late harvesting. Getting this right is important. I have no good windows for seed starting or planting, in spite of my 10' ceilings and high windows. This is a neighborhood where I could hang out my bedroom window and wash my neighbors' siding. The front porch may be great for helping my daughter escape the event of a house fire, but nothing grows in these. They are too shaded.
So advice on starting soils, heat levels, light bulbs and the craziness of choosing heirloom seeds, rather than the 'proven' hybrids is welcomed.
Here goes...
I am keeping the following sites handy:
1. This site gives advice on choosing varieties that compliment box and container gardening.
2. Dummies.com has some handy info on box gardening an starting seeds indoors.
3. This site is the BOMB for some ideas on savvy and urban container gardening!
I think Dianne and I decided to plant a kind of pinwheel pumpkin from seedsavers. We buy these at a local international grocery. They are delightful. She gave me a bit of pause saying that squash need a bit debugging, manually, to succeed. "Don't you spray with soapy water or pepper oil water?" I asked. Nope. Apparently there is no way around a bit of that on-your-knees work that I did as a kid in my parents garden. I hated that. I'm a wuss. I want affordable, foodie varieties without all the weeding and debugging and stuff. Oh, and no chemicals. We'll see how this year goes.
Lastly, I admit, I want a bit of beauty in this, so I don't hate it and so I don't honk off my neighbors, though I live a small town version of 'a bad neighborhood.' Most won't care that my front lawn looks like a disaster area, if I share a few of the fruits of this labor. But I will care. The inside of my home is meticulously decorated and cleaned, albeit with thrift store goodies. Nevertheless, I need lovely plants to mingle with the veggies, and pretty veggies. That's why I'm loving seedsavers. The catalog attends to the type of leaf on a plant, its zone, its hardiness and fecundity, as well as its appearance. Still, I don't know what flowers to mingle with the veggies. This year its gotta be cheap!
I asked the major bug picker at my house about dusting vines, he says "Diazinon" but we won't use it. spraying with pepper, soap may work, but any dew or rain and it's gone.
ReplyDeleteword on zucchini. you only need 3-4plants, that is PLENTY. I remember people erupting into gales of laughter at church once when a new gardener said she had planted 9 zucchini plants. try to find compact plants.
If you are worried about cost, try sharing and order/packets with a gardening friend.