minnesota gardening
Don’t laugh. In Minnesota we indoor garden. Yes, this is because it’s mid-May and we can barely plant even now. Yes, we had snow recently. Yes, we do chose to live here. And yes, I’m blog about our compost, {Compost} {More on Compost}, and our garden so much there’s a whole section on it. Our solution for my dearest urban farmer husband’s insatiable desire to plant and eat the work of his hands? Start from seed. Early. Grow indoors. Then someday hope to get it outside. His office is a jungle of green house mess. He is probably the healthiest man I know who sits at a desk for 11 hours because he’s surrounded by plants providing him with fresh air! Kale from last year’s garden AA unearthed and kept alive indoors all winter. This is the only branch that made it. He & SuperBoy planted seeds and placed these pots in the kitchen windowsill. And they’re growing! This guy lives under the light we keep on in the hallway for the kids, and then during the day, migrates to the bathroom windows. It’s a morning ritual SuperBoy reminds me of if I forget. It’s working. This whole photosynthesis thing. We did a replant of green onions. Works like a charm! Also can do this with lettuce, celery, etc. {Repurposed Gardening} And they’re on AA’s dinner plate every single night (regardless of what we’re eating!). And here’s AA’s office green life: Who cares if any of it produces? The best…
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I was too quick to discount my husband’s amazing garden efforts in discussing our failed garden here {Recap on Garden: Don’t Use Seeds}. Here at the end of October, the carrots and parsnips came out of the ground. Mostly because SuperBoy has been wildly couped up indoors and I needed a specific task for him to help me with. So we unearthed what I thought would be remarkably puny carrots and parsnips. O contraire mon frere. Only one beet made it out alive. I think the nasty squirrels went for those stalks hardcore. AA hates our squirrels. A lot. The carrots were so sweet and crunchy! Guess who dipped them in applesauce and humus for lunch? Oh, Mr. SuperBoy. SuperBoy declared victory over the garden. And a great chance to get lots of dirt everywhere. Including in my hair. Woot!
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Gardening is one of those wonderful family activities we love to do. It teaches J about stewardship, caring for the food we eat, having fun in the dirt, and doing something productive and delightful with us. Talk about nourishing the whole person of the child! I remember when he was still an infant and in the sling and I was out weeding two summers ago. It was heavenly. And then last summer he would wobble around in the tomato patch and try to put things into his mouth that didn’t belong there (i.e., sticks, compost, etc). Even if you don’t have a backyard, you can still do a considerable amount of gardening if you have a windowsill or even little terrace. Fresh herbs? Yes, please, thank you! And compost? The best thing to do with your kitchen scraps: grow fertilizer & reduce your garbage can waste. 1) Last year’s garden. We had a massive garden last year. See post here. We also got really into composting. See post here. Now that it’s March (though there is lots of snow on the ground still around here in the Metro area), I’m contemplating our garden for this spring and what will be in it. J has a little book on gardening that he likes to paw through and point & name his favorite garden items. You guessed them: blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Luckily we have all those in the ground already from last year. We also planted two apple trees for…
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