Despite the snowflakes and freezing rain on the way into work this morning, thoughts of the little green sprouts in my dining room kept gardening on my mind.
Eating local and growing our own food is something our family is very invested in. Much as I love gardening, however, we’ve had mixed results over the years. Way back in student housing in southeast Michigan, we tried a community garden plot that yielded a few things before succumbing to soil disease two years in a row. In South Carolina, I waged the battle of the critters (from raccoons to bugs) in our backyard and eventually gave up. Back in Ann Arbor again, I had great success with herbs and got a bunch of tomatoes before six foot tall weeds peeking over the neighbor’s fence (and seeding my garden) finally did me in. When we moved to Minneapolis last year, I tried for an indoor garden in containers which produced tiny sprouts and not much else.
Being a determined sort of person (some might even say stubborn), I’m again setting out on a gardening journey. This time I’m trying the squarefoot gardening method, using three raised 4’ x 4’ beds in our front yard. I have a hydroponic gardening system where I’m starting my seeds. Encouragingly, out of 60 plugs planted with 3-year old heirloom seeds (cold hardy greens and herbs), all but a few have sprouted.
I will get some pics of the squarefoot boxes we built and update when everything goes in the ground!
