Tip of the Day - Join the Victory Garden Drive
Posted on March 12, 2008 by
Last year, I wrote about Victory Gardens, and this year I am working hard to plan mine. I’ve dabbled in container gardening and done a little planting here and there, but nothing on the scale I’m planning this year. I’m excited, but nervous about starting a “real” garden. I don’t have the best track record with plants.
I was thrilled to see the FoodShed Planet Victory Garden Drive website. It was the boost I needed to say, “I can do this.” And I hope it’s a good boost for you too.
Pattie Baker from FoodShed Planet has the goal of inspiring the creation of 2 million organic backyard (or front yard) gardens in 2008.
“The FoodShed Planet Victory Garden Drive is an easy way to start gardening. Simply go to www.victorygardendrive.blogspot.com and add your name after you plant your first seed. It’s as simple as that. It costs nothing. You don’t need to provide photos or updates. Just toss your gardening hat in the ring and join hands and hoes with other concerned citizens around the world who are taking this positive step as well. If you are already a gardener, be a “Companion Planter” and encourage a new gardener through advice, seedlings and other get-started help.
For gardening advice and other support, links on the FoodShed Planet Victory Garden site take you to the USDA Master Gardener site, the National 4-H, Kitchen Gardeners International, and more resources.”
Eating local and reducing your food miles is a great way to shrink your carbon footprint, and it doesn’t get much more local than your own yard (or patio, or fire escape, or balcony, or porch, or windowsill). So plan your garden and add your name to the list.
Good luck with the garden. You mentioned in a comment on my blog about growing cucumbers in containers. I would love to do that but thought since they usually grow vine-style along the ground it couldn’t work. What kind did you grow? Did you do it tomato style? I would love the details. Hopefully I will be able to convince my building to use the little area outside- but it is only like 10×10….and I would have to grow something that would give a little love to everyone in the building who was interested. Basil, parsley, oregano…etc. might be a good first year crop.
Thanks! I think the cukes I grew were Liberty cucumbers. I used a bamboo teepee style trellis for them and grew them in a half whiskey barrel. I got into trouble when I didn’t have the heart to thin out the seedlings. They did great producing cukes for awhile, but then got over crowded. Had I thinned things out to one plant, I think I would have gotten a better harvest.
But if you’re looking for plants that will produce a lot to pass around, cherry tomatoes are good, as are smaller peppers, like a banana pepper plant, herbs are definitely good (I’ve had great luck with oregano — it’s so good fresh and really hearty, and rosemary) and snap peas or beans are always fun. You can plant herbs around the edges of the containers you use for veggies too to save space.
And the thing I love about container gardening is that weeds aren’t as much of a problem.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/container/container.html. This is a great container gardening resource.
Lots of garden blogging on my site. Also, check out my sidebar. There aren’t a ton of links there but there are a bunch, all which pertain to gardening. That is, there’s lots of advice and questioning/answering going on.
That’s awesome! Thank you for commenting about it!