Farmer Em, part 2

[emeraldsedai]

Just about a month ago, I overcame a significant prejudice* and dipped my toe into the uncharted waters of urban farmingWell, the Yukon gold potatoes that I chopped into chunks and buried in a container on April 13 have sprouted and, as of Wednesday, sent six or seven tiny glossy green leaves up into the sunshine

Comments

[str8ontilmornin]

Nice! Will you be attending any farmers' markets with your wares?

[emeraldsedai]

Hee! More like with my wallet in the foreseeable future.

[constance_b]

Next year, prize leeks and an unhealthy interest in manure.

[emeraldsedai]

Hee! I came thisclose to buying some leek starts at the nursery yesterday. I love leeks.

As to manure...yeah, that's probably on the horizon.

I meant to comment on your family photos the other day. The one you've made your icon from is haunting, mythic, and beautiful. Was it really not photoshopped? It's an amazing shot.

[roxymissrose]

because it's fun!!!!

[emeraldsedai]

I'm finding out that it really is.

Mind you, just popping a few little things into the ground is one thing. Weeding and staking and hand watering--bending down, in other words, with my not-so-great knees--is another.

But still. There's something about the prospect of food growing out of the ground that's just really, really basic and satisfying.

[roseambr]

Yay on the potatoes showing their lovely heads! I knew once you saw those little baby's poking out of the soil you would get excited about food gardening. It's a whole new aspect of gardening that we have not really explored before. And, yep, next year you will find it expanding a little more. Who knows after that?

Yumm on the onion choice! I love the idea of growing the food we consume. 1) we know what it grew in and how it grew, 2) we don't have to travel anywhere to get them other than our little yards, and 3) We know that they are chemical free and healthy! What better reasons are there?

I know you have kept up on the revamping of my vegetable garden. I'm really contemplating removing a flower bed I have down there and making it more vegetables next year. I would love to try the potatoes and onions down there as well as some other root vegetables that I have stayed away from in the past. So I will be watching your success with envious eyes this season!

[emeraldsedai]

I think we're all going to be happy we can grow some of our own food in the days to come. I'm feeling quite positive about plans for next season, after venturing into the waters gently this year.

The thing about onions is that each plant basically only yields one onion, so of course they take up quite a bit of space. I'm not sure if you can grow beans or something on top of where the onions are growing underground. I know you can grow beans on top of potatoes--in fact, they're supposed to be a good pairing, where the potato pests are repelled by the beans, and the bean pests are repelled by the spuds.

The "locavore" movement (eating locally) challenges people to live for a month on food from a 100 mile radius of where they live. Think of getting a lot of our food from a radius of 100 FEET! It's kind of cool.

[roseambr]

Oh! And next year I want to do asparagus! My neighbor grows it and it sounds easy and wodnerful!

[emeraldsedai]

Oh, you're gonna get through a whole bottle of vincotto in a season!