Hi Hoe, Hi Hoe, a Gardening We Will Go!

Let me start off by clearly stating my disclaimer: I am by no means a Master Gardener! Take any advice I give you with a grain of salt and check it with someone who might actually have some education in this area. In my former life (college) I once kept a very lovely Easter Lilly alive for quiet sometime, until joining the Army and taking it home to live with my mother, who promptly killed it. So my brown thumb might run in my family. In many states calling myself a gardener may actually be a crime, but in the state of Ohio I am attempting to subvert the law anyhow by growing what I can on my little plot of heaven. It’s my attempt to buck the mega-food system even if it’s only seasonally, and doesn’t produce the full array of produce I’ll need to take us through winter.

Like a lot of people in my neighborhood I have space that is meant for actual landscaping, but unlike many of them I got fed up with spending adsorbent amounts of money on plants that didn’t produce anything for me other than more work! Working full time meant I didn’t exactly find spending my weekends pruning my flowers as relaxing and fulfilling as one might expect. Combine that with the fact that I have already stated that my family is one of the cheapest you will meet, I mean frugal (I have got to get that down!!) I decided anything I spent my hard earned money on and took the energy to plop in the ground must yield me an ROI (return on investment) In fact my new obsession with the ROI factor has lead me to believe that I may start a sorority for frugal grown up’s and those will be our Greek Letters! If you stop by the ROI house don’t expect wild parties, but do expect to be put to work and asked about your future investments and if they are yielding you the proper returns. So, back to my new obsession with my “Field of Dreams”. I took careful review of what had died over this last year’s rather difficult and hard winter. Quiet a few things had sauntered off this mortal coil, so my husband and I had a decent amount of yard “deconstruction” to do in the first place. This left me with a nice bit of space and no regrets on ripping anything out that didn’t have to be. My only fear was how badly the neighbor’s might take my new “landscaping” efforts!

I researched all the organic gardening sites which suggest copious amounts of fertilizer, all of course organic. I then priced out “organic” fertilizer. Now when something says “organic” on it…be weary…very, very weary. I’m still trying to find the definition that correctly defines “Organic” as “Something that uses methods utilized for centuries, but will cost you an arm and a leg…and maybe your first born, because you live in the 21st century!” Well, just by luck I happened upon a woman near my house with a sign in her front yard that answered my gardening dreams….”Free Manure”. I wondered how this lovely woman had read my mind and how could she possibly have known me so well to understand my most favorite thing in the world, “Free Shit!” My husband had roto-tilled the patches where I was going to plant, and now this angel was going to just give away precious manure, for which I had seen priced at the outrageous amount of $8.00 per square yard. I had been cringing of the thought of having to actually purchase “poop”. My farm roots just didn’t allow me to contemplate the thought of spending $8 bucks on crap….quiet literally. I was allowed to take as much as I wanted, and took the liberty in doing so and with a wheel barrel at a time I took full advantage of the 15 year old horse manure she offered. Along with the compost I keep from my family’s own kitchen scraps, I mixed the two together and had a magical soil mix ready for my crops.

We held a family meeting to decide what crops we wanted to grow. Only one rule to the process: We will only plant what we will eat! No crazy items that no one actually eats, because I know if we did that, then that crop will take off and sit around forever! My husband quickly chose corn, eggplant, okra, peppers and tomatoes. Our son followed with requests for carrots and sugar snap peas. I picked brussel sprouts, zucchini, yellow squash, onions, green beans, cherry tomatoes, collards and herbs. We had more on our list, but with the space we have we had to ration our wants with our space.

Space being an issue I looked up some really neat tricks that Urban Homesteaders use to take full advantage of their limited space. I found a great idea with plants that need trellising and took advantage of my front porch by grabbing two long planters from my not-so –local hardware store (it was BEFORE this challenge)! Then I placed them to the side of my porch and used sheet metal screws to screw into the “ceiling” of my porch. From there I drilled holes in the side of the containers and ran jute rope from them up to the screws in the ceiling. Once I had established the up and down pattern (aprox 12 of them lengthwise, spacing of 6 inches in between each rope) I went across the pattern the same way. Every 6 inches from ceiling to the containers, creating my own rope trellis. (See Picture on Right). Another great idea I snagged from the Urban Homesteaders was the “Green Bean Tee-Pee”. Using only bamboo sticks, also found at the hardware store, along with the same jute rope I created the Tee-Pee for the pole beans to grow up. I placed my Tee-Pee over an old tree stump that we have not been able to ground out of its place behind the hostas at the corner of our front yard. You can also see the Tee-Pee in a photo on the right.

I took a lot of care to be mindful of the space we have and consulted several people at my local gardening center “Bloomin’ Acres” here in Hudson as they have always been such a helpful bunch that I will never shop for my garden supplies anywhere else. I’ve been other places in the past, but none as helpful and knowledgeable as those at Bloomin’ Acres! They are the ones who give me such great hints as always throw a little bone meal in with your tomatoes when you plant. Another great source I have is our family’s good friend Kevin Horchy, who is lovingly referred to as our Horchycultorlist. Kevin has many years of experience in gardening, vermaculture (the practice of using worms to compost) and just all around green ideas that help keep a garden on the right track. I have to say that I am no master gardener, but learning to get back to the heart of growing my own food no matter the spatial issues surrounding me has made a huge difference in how my family looks at the food chain. My son has been heard saying “This gardening stuff is amazing mom!” I tell you that only because a year or so ago this child thought all things green were kryptonite and certainly not to be eaten! Now when I ask him to go pick the peas before they get too tough, I’ve caught him from my kitchen window “sneaking” a fresh sugar snap pea straight off the vine….what mother couldn’t feel her heart swell with pride a such a site!