Friday, January 15, 2010

grow shit!

my mailbox has been full of seed catalogs this week, has yours? even if you don't garden don't you find it difficult to not get excited about the idea of having your very own vegetable garden? well, let me tell you there is a great feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when you plant a seed in some dirt and watch it grow into a beautiful vegetable and then pick it and eat it. i had my first real garden last year. it was small, in a container but i had zucchini, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. it was a ratatouille garden as per request by my 5 year old daughter. of course when i made ratatouille and presented it to her it was met with an emphatic "yuck!". but that's neither here nor there. in retrospect this decision was less about the foods present in ratatouille and more about the rat in the movie.

i think it is important for everyone to try their hand at gardening something. start small. in a container or if you are the go big or go home type...awesome! do it! build a raised bed or dig up your yard- i don't care...just do something. live in an apartment? containers make great gardens. you can even grow awesome tomatoes hanging upside down from a hook!!!
for me, this year i am going to have supermike build a raised bed and it will be full of tomatoes, beans, herbs, cauliflower, zucchini, and whatever else tickles my fancy.




maybe flowers are your thing...i want to do this to the path just outside our back door...ground cover is cheap and it looks gorgeous. lemon thyme makes a great ground cover that smells fabulous...usually takes a full year from planting to look like this though..


i planted ranunculus bulbs in november so come spring i can make arrangements like this:


this is the most beautiful garden i have ever seen. remember it from last year's country living? this is a full time job though...





look at the size of these dahlias!! i am going to try growing them this year...


the fruits of your labor...




this is more my speed...
here is a tutorial on how to build a raised bed.


here is another one of my favorite gardens, jamie oliver's!

to get your own free seed catalogs choose one or all of these:
seeds of change
southern exposure seed exchange great for heirloom seeds!!
kitchen garden seeds

and for a great vegetable garden timetable (as in when and where you should plant shit) go
HERE.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

This summer was my second year of gardening! Its awesome!!!! We grew tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, and a million herbs.

This year I put the herbs in pots closer to the house so that I can access them more easily.

When fall came, I cut down all the herbs, cleaned and chopped them and froze them in little baggies for winter.

YAY.

alison giese Interiors said...

We have a fairly decent garden - tomatoes, carrots, squash, and several herbs. I need to smuggle some seeds for veggies we can't get down here, like sweet potatoes. Have a pomegranate tree, too, but damn parrots peck at the fruit before I can get my hands on them. Oh well, I love parrots, so can't be too pissed...

Can't wait to see pics of your ranuculi (is that the plural??) They're one of my faves!

sarah said...

I have killed approximately 6 orchid plants. What does this mean?

Duel Living said...

I couldn't grow a dandelion if I tried...though I have these grandiose visions of sprawling gardens and lush flower beds. I have shrubs out front (the word shrub is weird) and the deer eat away at them every year. I would fucking lose my cool if I actually grew something and Bambi or Thumper decided to have a feast. Good luck on yours though. May your weeds be few, your beans be plentiful and your tomatos tasty.
xoxox,
Brandi

Anonymous said...

a ratatouille garden is the cutest thing i ever heard of! I love it! It's been on my list forever to try to do a little herb garden... we have a teeny fire escape that I don't dare set foot on, but I think it would hold a few pots! And I have come to realize that no plant can survive my cats (they just learn to jump higher and higher to reach the places I hide plants!), so I am thinking I may plant a few flowers out there, too!

Anonymous said...

p.s. the ranunculus are sooooo gorgeous!!!! can't wait to see your arrangements!

boops said...

i also like the idea of a dish-oriented garden. being an apartment dweller, i think i'll settle for an insalata caprese container garden. (i'll have to buy the mozzarella though)

Rachel said...

Yes, I have a garden/landscape bed that I put in last year against our back fence. Some of it will need to be re-worked this year due to looks, one plant dying, and size issues. I love it though, and it turned out really well.

Chris had a veggie garden for the second year last year, but it didn't turn out too well. He loves starting seeds (so I'll pass along those websites to him), so each spring we (I) plant and take care of the seeds. Then we (mostly me, again) plant them outside, and he tries to take care of them. Mostly, he just looks at the weeds growing tall around them. The first year, we got all kinds of tomatoes and jalepenos and peppers, but last year we got nada. Just a few jalepenos. We had the tallest and best looking tomato plants on the block - just no tomatoes!! It was such a bummer, so this year I'll probably take that project under my wing too.

Great post!

Oh, and I head about Billy and Jessica last month or so and have decided that 1) she wants publicity and an "edge" and 2) he just wants to get laid. Or he's mental. Either way.

alllison said...

can't wait to see your ranunculus bouquets!!

LindsB said...

Thats one of the downsides to living in the city with absolutely zero outdoor space. I would love to have a garden of my own, they are so rewarding!

Post pics of all the fun things you planted- especially the ranunculus, love those flowers!

Connie @ SogniESorrisi said...

I admire people with a green thumb. I have more of a black one.

Emily said...

This makes me wish it was not winter, and i could garden! I hope to cover flowers and gardens on my blog that I just started today (EmilyGDriscoll.blogspot.com) its called The Girl in the Pearl Earrings, please stop by once I get underway I would love your opinion!

LFM said...

I'm totally doing that lemon thyme thing. But- do you guys "start your veggies indoors with grow lights"? That just seems a LITTLE too complicated for me. Anything I can plant in January that won't take grow lights and massive complications?

Lolo said...

Oh please hurry up and end this thing called Winter. Hate it.

Last year I planted a small "hay bale" garden and it turned out well enough for me to fine tune it this year. Saved my aching back and got some incredible tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, etc. out of it.

Sarah Greenman said...

Can I tell you how much I used to love gardening? I've got this new house and some room to dig in the dirt and after reading your post I'm super excited to plan this season of gardening - my first opportunity in like 8 years! YAY!