Gardening

My Dad had an amazing green thumb! He planted fruit trees, vegetables and flowers (peonies were his favorite!) in our backyard and even did all of the landscaping himself. I remember a time when this lady was in our front yard with scissors clipping our roses! My Dad told her she couldn't do that and she said, "Well why do you plant such beautiful flowers if others can't enjoy them?" Really lady? Get a life! My Dad was nice enough to let her take the flowers she clipped but told her she wasn't allowed to do it again.

In the last few months, I've tried to buy produce that is "closer to the source" whenever I could. It tends to be cheaper, fresher and more nutritious because it doesn't have to travel as far and has the added benefit of helping to support the local farmers. And ok, a tiny part of me likes to go to farmer's markets because there's usually a petting zoo.

I've been toying with the idea of growing my own herbs to use for cooking but unlike my Dad, I tend to kill all plants that I take home with me. Whenever a recipe calls for fresh herbs, I usually end up using a small handful and the rest goes bad before I can finish it. It would be so great to go out to the garden, pick a few basil leaves or sprigs of rosemary (just like Ina does on her show Barefoot Contessa), and allow the plant to grow until the next recipe calls for it. And what's "closer to the source" than your own backyard? But as I mentioned, plants come home with me to die so it was always just an idea until...

I saw the amazing vegetable and herb containers that my housemate Will made from scratch!

The containers are so well crafted that I thought he bought them! Job well done and just the inspiration I needed to get the garden going.

However, I haven't the slightest clue how to start a garden and I really wished I could ask my Dad for gardening advice but since he's no longer with us, the next best source is the nursery down the street.

Evergreen Nursery is amazing! They have everything! To be quite honest, I was so overwhelmed when I got there but a nice gentleman helped me. I told him I wanted nice hearty plants that don't die. He looked at me and said, "Well, we've got some low maintenance ones here but you'll still need to pay them some attention to ensure they live, but of course you already know that." I said, "Of course I know that!" but thought, "By pay attention I hope he means EAT."

He choose a nice assortment of little herbs and vegetables that would fit and live happily in the containers together and also sent me home with a lot of stinky fertilizer!

Later that evening, all of the little plants were in their new homes. I took pictures of them this morning and I'm going to track their progress on this blog. So if you don't see another post about this, do not ask me how the vegetables and herbs are doing, they are in their final resting places thankyouverymuch!

 Spinach & Bibb Lettuce

Tomato vine & more Bibb Lettuce

Garlic Chives

Rosemary

Sweet Basil

Found this picture of my Dad with his peonies