Thursday, May 24, 2007

Garden math

We finally took the shovel and began our backyard kitchen garden. The perfectionist in me put it off for so long--I should have constructed raised beds in fall, I don't have a garden plan yet, what if we move again...

Better late than never! This is one of the few spots on our property not shaded by mature trees. We were loosely inspired by the wagon wheel plan in Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens, illustrated by Tasha Tudor. We placed a potted cherry tomato in the center, then devised a crude compass to mark the edge. I'll plant a few sunny annuals around its edge and fill in with herbs from seed. Martha Stewart sells a few herb garden collections at K-mart.

At this point I know that gardening is not for resale. It's for me. At least all the digging is good exercise and even better therapy.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

A cherry tomato roadside stand on a busy yard-sale day in August is lots of fun for a child!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I've put off a garden for all the very same reasons. My kiddos REALLY want to have one, though. Maybe we should just go for it!!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your garden. I am sure it will be beautiful. Some rocks along the outside edge of the garden space would work.

I do home day care, and one of the things the kids love is 'working' in their garden area. We plant things like bird house gourds plants and pumpkins for them to watch grow. Also if we plant it and they water it and pull weeds etc they will EAT it later when I cook the item for them...I just love to watch the children play in a garden. We also have many flowers that children are allowed to pick for their mothers. I am lucky enough to have good weather almost year round. My husband is also very helpful in the gardening with kids idea. He has a love of all things growing and shares with everyone.
This is Roxie in Texas again, enjoying your blog space. Thanks so much for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I'm working on the same thing! I just reserved the book at the library since I love Tasha Tudor and have a lot of her books. I'm hoping my 2 1/2 yr old son will be more willing to eat things he has grown. I know he will love watering them! He does a great job with my flowers now.

Emmy in Nashville

Anonymous said...

Hello, this is Roxie again. I wanted to share with you also something else the day care children and I did last year. We had a pizza garden. We grew all of the things needed to make a pizza. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc. The kids had a ball and we learned a lot. Then the children helped me make a pizza with the tomatoes and things we grew. It was a big hit.

Thanks again. Roxie

Sharon said...

This is my first year with planting a garden and I can not wait to see the veggies growing. I'm really hoping that everything will grow and I will have lots of veggies. If we have too many--which I'm hoping we will--I thought it would be fun to peddle them door to door around our neighborhood. A good lesson for my daughter to learn about money. For now though, I am just enjoying watching them grow.

Anonymous said...

I'm a new reader, and I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your blog. Thanks for the great inspiration!

Unknown said...

Good luck with your garden!

Anonymous said...

Good Luck! I love your blog!

Anonymous said...

Hi Meredith-
I just looked up the book you mentioned to see if it is in our library system. It is! Yeah!! I'm going to request it tomorrow when we go to the library!

Susan

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your gardening! I see what you mean about resale, but as both my husband and I like to garden at least on a small scale, we think of a pre-made garden space as a attribute when house shopping.