Where Do I Begin?

This week I bought three bulbs of organic garlic from my local supermarket.

I can see you shaking your heads and looking puzzled: "Isn't this supposed to be a blog about growing your own? Why just last week, didn't she swear off supermarkets forever? Is she back in the grip of Satan again? Did I miss the memo?"

Yes. Yes. No. And... er.. no.

Between then and now you would have found me prone under a full hundred-weight of seed catalogues. I hadn't slept in about three days. My family lodged a missing person's complaint. Somewhere underneath all those full colour, glossy pages of dreams, you'd have heard me muttering "hollyhocks" and "carrots" over again and making little spring frog noises.

The planning stage had begun.

Now, the important thing to remember here is that I know absolutely nothing at all about gardening; I once accidentally set fire to a pot plant. That's been the extent of my relationship with what I like to call "the green things". As a vegan - someone most people assume lives on moonbeams and bark - you'd think I'd be more in tune with flora and whatnot.

I'm not.

And now I'm wading through catalogue after catalogue of seeds, and looking at every website I can find trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be putting out there. I guessed I had to start somewhere. The exciting thing about garlic is that each clove makes a new bulb - you pop it in the soil, look after it, and a new bulb sprouts up in its place. There's no pesky germination under a dome, no hardening in or planting off, or whatever the terminology is (I still don't know it), and yet something happens at the end of it all.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-Tzu

I was given the best piece of advice on gardening recently by the wonderfully enthusiastic Paul Richens of Blue Dome Synergies in the UK; grow what you like to eat. There's no sense in sweating over a patch of lettuce if you can't stand the stuff. With that in mind, I looked at the seed catalogues again and circled everything I liked the look of; carrots, courgettes and soy beans, basil, thyme and oregano, nasturtiums, violets and lavender. And a few more besides.

I must and shall have this plant

Now, I'm aware that every gardening site is currently screaming that it's February and everything has to be sown NOW. I'm also aware that I don't know how much weight my balcony can take, or what containers I can grow things in - more about that next week, as I aim to use as much recycled material as possible in my urban jungle.

Right now, I have three bulbs of garlic and a sense of purpose - it's a start.

Here are some websites that I've found especially useful this week:

• Life on the Balcony is a wonderful resource for the Sky Gardeners among us
• You Grow Girl is run with joy and enthusiasm and is full of information
• My Folia is a social networking site for gardeners with a buddy system, forums and a way to follow the progress of your garden with other gardeners around the world

Comments

[jonbohn]

you can do the same thing with scallions, too

[K]

I'd like to add to that advice; plant what you like to eat BUT CANNOT BUY! Modern agriculture is all about getting the produce to the market looking good. In order to do this, taste and nutrition are thrown by the wayside. The undisputed king of home gardeners is the tomato. Once you've eaten a fresh tomato from your plant, you'll wonder WTF they are doing selling those green monkey turds at the supermarket. Really. However, you need a lot of sun and warm weather, otherwise it's an uphill battle. Things like carrots are good but you need a fairly large hunk of ground that's not clay to do it in. If you must grow vegetables, consider the dwarf varieties of whatever you want. They can be made to work fairly well in pots. What you'll discover is that you can grow anything in a small space, but the harvest will be so small as to make it more of an amusement than a means to dent your food bill.

So what's a city dweller to do? Easy. You've already got the idea, grow fresh herbs. Last year I did five varieties of basil, and again once you try it you'll wonder about that sawdust that McCormick pushes. You can grow enough on your balcony to keep you in pesto for quite a while. Ditto oregano. Fresh parsley is also a good choice. Forget what you remember from eating out, it's delicious in a lot of dishes and easy to grow. Rosemary is terrific and the shrubs ( it's an evergreen ) can grow to the size of a hedge. Also, don't forget thyme, there are _many_ varieties and it grows fairly quickly. Tarragon is another essential herb, it just doesn't can't fast enough for my appetite.

Here's another bit of advice. If you're new to this, consider buying plants rather than seed for the first year. It's not hard to start a seed, but you need to know what the plant likes to get it to grow, and a small plant is a good way to determine where to put them and what it takes to get them thriving. If you are successful, they will eventually go to seed, and there are your seed for the next years planting. Some plants, like the rosemary, tarragon and oregano, are perennial, so once you get them situated and watered you're set.

Good luck! I urge everyone to take a swing at this; if you're any good at it and you can cook your friends and lovers will be knocked out by the results.

[GeorgyGirl]

Jonbohn - how does it work with the scallions? Which part do you plant? love to know more. :)

K - thank you for such a wonderful reply! :) I've been looking into plants that are designed for containers - certain types of carrots, for example, that have a round rather than long root. Also, I'm hoping to make the balcony the starting point - my learning ground if you like - and supplement this with other areas, such as communal farms. It's something I'll be talking about in the coming weeks. Small plants is definitely something I'll look into.

Everyone who has posted a comment so far - I really appreciate the feedback and the advice and the exchange of ideas. I totally anticipated my blog posts as being the start of a wider discussion, and I'm really happy that they are shaping up that way. Really look foward to hearing from people in the coming weeks. Thanks everyone!

[Nancy]

I agree with the herb-growing; it's really easy, especially for first-time growers and doesn't take up a lot of space. Mint (literally) grows like a weed and does well in pots (I actually keep mine in pots even though I have an herb garden in the yard because it spreads and takes over everything). You can even take cuttings of basil, stick them in water and they'll grow in the kitchen. You can plan ahead to use your space wisely. Early on, I'll throw arugula seeds straight in the ground, which grow quickly and are gone by the beginning of the summer, then I'll plant my pepper seedlings in the same place after starting them indoors.