Gardening

I am starting a garden in my apartment! The goal of this experiment is to see was is possible with limited space and access to the outdoors. I want to grow as much of my own food as possible and see what an ambitious apartment dweller is capable of. I think I'm channeling my grandmother who passed away this past December. She was an avid gardener and until January, I've had no interest what so ever in gardening.

I've had my eye on the Aerogarden for a while because of my propensity to buy expensive fresh herbs only to throw the wilted rotted remains in the garbage after just one recipe. But the Aerogarden is expensive and I've heard bad things about the sound of the pump. Not to mention the energy it uses! What kind of environmentalist would I be growing my own herbs using electricity when the sun provides all the energy my plants will ever need?

I started about three weeks ago with a selection of herb seeds - basil, chives, parsley - and two packets of flower seeds - petunias and sweet peas. In little plastic contraptions call "mini greenhouses" I started the seedlings. They germinated quickly and I found that watching their changes from day to day was absolutely enthralling. When the sweet peas and basil began to push against the top of the greenhouse I transplanted the seedlings. All are doing well except for the petunias, which while they seem ok, are still quite small. The Sweet peas are HUGE!

I've since planted peppers, tomatoes, rosemary, and coriander. These are starting to germinate also. The tomatoes have been transplanted as have the rosemary seedlings. The coriander seems to grow very slowly, however it's roots go very deep - I thinned a few seedlings that looked crowed and discovered thick roots holding the little plants in place.

Addicted to this new gardening thing, I ordered more seeds from Amazon.com. Carrots, mini Eggplant, container lettuce, arugula, strawberry, cucumber and oddly a mini olive tree. The olive tree is a bit of a whim and I don't expect much from it and the carrots will be a challenge. They are baby carrots but I will still need to find a very deep pot for them and I still don't know if they will survive inside. The other vegetables are all selected for indoor container gardens.

Thinning is my biggest challenge so far. Having expectantly watched each tiny plant poke it's little head above the soil I feel so ruthless ripping it out of it's bed to make room for it's big brothers. But this must be done or the plants will suffer and not bear fruit, or strangle each other. I bought Organic Fertilizer Spikes, as these were the only organic plant food offers at Home Depot and while they are not specified for indoor container use they are specifically for vegetables. This is another experiment. I could very well kill my little crop with improper feeding, but it also, just might work.

I look forward expectantly toward harvest time when I will have herbs, fruits and vegetables to cook with!