Organic gardening! Finally, after 17 years of petitioning, Alice Waters (drool) gets her wish. The Obamas have created an organic garden at the White House that will be overseen by the assistant White House chef, Sam Kass. Michelle Obama started the initial planting with the help of local school children just a few days ago. The garden will be fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake, lime and sand. A few of the yummers planned for chomping are spinach, chard, collards, berries, lettuces, and herbs. But no beets. Barack hate the beet (um?? whatever, B).
After a while of contemplation and jealousy of my step-pop’s ability to grow almost everything that goes into my mom’s (and once my) mouth during the warmer months, and most of the cold months (deep freezer…drool), I decided to take dirt matters into my own hands and get some growing going.
On Saturday I phoned my stepdad—Rick James as I like to call him—and got a 45 minute instructional conversation as to how one with limited (erm, rather no) gardening experience builds and starts a garden. He gave me beyond helpful advice and I am thoroughly excited to get started.
I’m planning on building an 8 ft x 4 ft bed for veggies and herbs. Last Monday I stopped by my local hardware store to do some investigating and seed shopping. I didn’t want to get too redundant with vegetables because I put in my check for my CSA share and knew I would already be getting a lot from that. Also, as a beginner I didn’t want to get too in over my head. I settled on rainbow chard, mesclun, radishes, basil, parsley, and nasturtiums for flowery eats.
Excitement, excitement! As for now, purchasing the seeds is as far as I’ve got. I will be sure to update on urban gardening as the warmer weeks approach. Wish me luck!
You are winning! I loved the pictures of Michelle O'B digging in the dirt looking like she would stop by daytime talk television afterwards. I'm really excited to hear about your urban gardening endeavors! We've been engrained to believe that urban centers are impossible for any forms of agriculture, which is bullshit. Way to be, Lil' Beau! This summer I'll be doing the opposite: deep backwoods, northcountry, protect the veggies from the bears gardening. I love you! Yes!
ReplyDeleteI'll be protecting my family's garden from deer (our fence works pretty well for that), small "rodents" such as the devilish chipmunk, and insects such as the Japanese beetle that ATTACKED our garden last year. If anyone has suggestion on protection methods, please share! We're planting lots of pickling cucumbers (so we can pickle them and make our Polish specialty, "ogórkowa zupa" which is pickle soup... recipe to come!) summer squash, beans, spinach, collards, and more! LOVE LOVE LOVEEE GARDEN TIME! :)
ReplyDeleteOh... and the Obamas RULE!
ReplyDeleteI'm told a good way to fight bad bugs is to let good bugs into your garden like ladybugs and praying mantis. But i'm sure you can google dat shiiiit
ReplyDeletecareful cause there aint no sun down there
ReplyDelete