Christa Snaps

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May 13th, 2011

I really thought about not having a garden at home this year. Fed up with rabbits, baby groundhogs, and spinach leaf miners, I harvested the last of the onions, and went back inside for the winter. At the most, I was going to plant one envelope of wildflower seed someone sent me with a book promotion.

I never even cut back the dried out stems of the lilies. Doug Hall suggested I tell people I did this on purpose,  for Winter Interest.

When our landlord came to mow the lawn, I felt a sense of guilt. At the very least, I could go into the yard and remove the dandelion crops from my garden beds. And take down my failed baby crib/chicken wire lettuce jail. And pull out the giant stalks of dead zinnias.

Once we started digging in the dirt, I was hooked. Since I never bothered with seed starting, we got some basil plants from a local plant sale. We got them in the ground and I longed for straw mulch. And compost. That is how I found myself driving out to the Rodale Institute this morning, on a quest for more plants. I love the drive out to Kutztown.  When I see this field, I know to make the turn off 222. It’s the second time I’ve been to the farm this week. We were shooting stuff for the Aug/Sep issue there on Wednesday. Not a bad work week!

There were already a lot of shoppers when I got there. I said hello to Maya, Eileen and Coach and started to browse. They had all sorts of peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and herbs for sale.

The herb selection was amazing. I think I got dill, rosemary, thyme, cilantro and summer savory. I’m not sure. Every plant was greener and smelled yummier than the next. I kept sticking things into my flats.

Suddenly I had a full flat of seedlings. I had to ask where a plant pig such as myself could leave the first flat while I started the second flat.

Tomatillos! Peppers! Red pear tomatoes! Chard! The lettuce seedlings I vowed never to grow again looked crispy and cool. I intend to grow these red and green leaf lettuces  in a vertical planter, far far away from the neighborhood rabbits and groundhogs. So now I’m back in the growing-my-own-food game. I can’t wait to go home and start digging.

The sale is done for today, but go out to the Rodale Institute tomorrow between 10 and 4 and see what they have.

Don’t miss  this event: 10:00 – 11:00 Q&A with the editors of Organic Gardening Magazine

Tags: dandelion, plant sale, planting, Rodale Institute, spring