Just in case you've been hiding under a rock somewhere, and haven't heard the news, we did it! The Obamas are actually installing a Victory Garden at the White House! But, it ain't over yet. As my friend Pamela Price stated over at Red, White & Grew, we've won the battle, but not the war. To that end, Pamela is forming a registry of bloggers who grow food (though you don't have to be a garden-blogger, per se). She wants it to be a welcome wagon of sorts, for people who are brand new to victory gardening - people like me. If you have gardening knowledge to share, please sign up, and if you need information, this is the place to go!
I have years of experience with gardening in general, and even went back to school for a horticulture degree, but when it comes to growing food, I'm a babe in the woods. I started off slowly, tucking in a few herbs here and there, because I was tired of spending a couple of bucks at the grocery store every time a recipe called for a tablespoon of parsley. In Dallas I had a pretty good patch of lettuces planted in a whisky barrel, until a mama rabbit decided to build her nest right in the big fat middle of it, and proceeded to fill it with babies. I also had a great patch of asparagus going. Unfortunately, you aren't supposed to harvest any spears during the first couple of years, and just when I was about to get my first real crop we got transferred, and I had to walk away from it!
Now we live on the side of a solid limestone hill that is overrun with deer, and we have no fences. So far I have some Romano beans growing on a trellis right up next to the house, lots of rosemary, a couple of tomato plants growing upside down in Topsy Turvy planters, a hanging basket full of strawberries, and two beautiful raised beds that my husband gave me for Christmas, but which are sitting empty and idle, until we figure out how to keep the deer away from them. Thank heavens I've got The Bountiful Sprout, to fill in the gaps!
By the way, don't forget to leave a comment or send me an email by Friday morning, if you wish to be included in this month's prize drawing. Include a suggestion for our good-living library, and you will be entered twice!
P.S. Many thanks to eattheview.org for the above image.
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2 comments:
I've always been a huge fan of growing your own produce, though I lack the means to do so on my current property in any meaningful capacity. My grandparents in Coronado used to have tomato plants in their back yard. If I was visiting them, for lunch most days I would just pluck one off the vine and eat it. Those were about the juiciest, most flavorful tomatoes I've ever had.
On the White House victory garden, will the First Family tend to it personally, or will a team of groundskeepers see to its care?
It's going to be an educational garden, and they've got some school children involved, as well as the First Family, but I'm sure there will be some staff involved as well!
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