Starting our urban (and hopefully organic) garden
I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. I'm a firm believer in creating goals as soon as you find the need or desire to do so rather than waiting for the dawn of a new year to tell yourself you need to do something you should've done long ago. Last weekend, my husband and I finally planted our first greens in our urban garden, and even though it just happen to happen on New year's weekend, it had been something I'd wanted to do for years. The original plan for a garden was delayed after I realized I would eventually put my old home on the market and move. Then when we settled into our current house a little over a year ago, there were just other things that took priority, e.g. furnishing the place. We purchased a cedar raised garden bed kit from Costco several months ago, and it wasn't assembled until more recently after I'd declared a new household rule that for every time John played a round of golf, he'd have to accomplish some task around the house. (And tasks I considered maintenance (e.g. mowing the lawn) didn't count--they had to be "new" tasks.) Even after assembly, it took some time for us to get around to doing the research for optimal urban organic gardening. John's boss, who is an organic gardener himself, recommended us this book entitled How to Grow More Vegetables.... Can you say there is a lot to learn for gardening? I think John cracked open the book a few times and then gave up. We drove straight to Lowe's and bought Black Kow manure which was then stored in our garage for quite some time. You can imagine how nicely our garage smelled for those several months of cow poop storage. Finally, on the day after New Year's Day, we ventured over to Buchanan's Native Plants, a nearby nursery specializing in Texas plants. The employees were incredibly patient and helpful, holding our hands through the entire timid process of popping our garden cherry. We ended up walking away with cilantro, oregano, Sicilian (or flat-leaf) parsley, rosemary, thyme, and broccoli for our vegetable garden. For the shaded area next to our front door, we bought a dormant hydrangea and several aureas which John planted in the half barrel whisky cask we'd also bought from Lowe's last year. Hopefully the hydrangea will bloom nice and big once spring and summer come.
In February, we plan to return to Buchanan's for some tomato plants and basil which fare better in slightly warmer weather. I don't even know if the plants we'd already purchased will survive the rest of winter; we don't have a clue as to what we're doing so don't take this post as advice of any kind--it's more of an update in our culinary lives. Yes, with our new urban garden, John and I hope to cut the spending at grocery stores all the while learning to appreciate the care that goes into growing our own food and enjoying the delicious and healthier alternative of self-sustainability. I know it's silly but I've been going outside almost every day and sticking my nose into the herbs and inhaling the magical scents. (Hey, how else can a blind person monitor the growth process of her plants?) More updates on our gardening experiences to come. In the meantime, here's a picture of our humble garden. Also, feel free to leave some gardening tips for us in the comments section. We can use all the help we can get. Remember, this is a couple who's killed a cactus and just about every plant they've ever come across.
