Loving an Idea Vs. Loving the Idea
I have loved the thought of growing food for a long time.
I have romantic visions and memories of a massive garden as a child. My parents even grew corn when we lived in the country. I remember planting tiny seeds through suburban rows after we moved closer to the city. It all seemed to easy when someone else did it.
I have tried different rounds of growing since moving to the city – most ended up with a premature demise of the flavor of the day. Forgetting to water was the most common culprit though the odd experiment failed due to lack of sun or raccoons deciding I had built them a salad bar. Other than sprouts, I`ve been struggling to find any success in our urban `farming`adventures (I was also comforted that I really had no other choice since our backyard is actually completely covered in cement being that we share it with a coffee shop).
This year has been different. We`ve still failed way more than we`ve succeeded; some ambitious early seeding was lost almost in entirety and I have managed to grow 2 beans (not plants, beans). But a drastic change occurred about 2 weeks ago. I suddenly began to enjoy pruning and staking and watering. Not just the idea of these things but the actual task.
Since my enjoyment has gone up, my small gardens have also began to flourish (including the fore mentioned monster crop of beans). We have oregano, parsley, 2 types of basil, some late cucumbers are coming along and all 8 different heirloom tomatoes are coming to the party. We`ve also learned a lot about the extreme heat of our fire escape, relative shade of our back yard and the fact that my parking spot gets way less direct sunlight than I assumed.
Regardless of our success, it’s the routine that’s becoming fun. It’s a whole lot less romance and a whole lot more committment than I thought but it really is fantastic, although we had our first salad featuring our own tomatoes last night to top it off. Perhaps there is some romance in here yet…
Comments
If you have any means of rigging up some sort of irrigation system, I highly suggest it. Even if it’s just using old two liter bottles filled with water and stuck into your pots.
When I container gardened, I shared your frustration and difficulty in keeping the plants sufficiently watered (and in Texas Summers here). I tried all sorts of pots and soils as well to try to help me reach the correct water level. It was hard!
Now, we have a raised garden in our backyard that’s irrigated. My husband rigged up an irrigation system (he just bought parts online for about $100 before they were as readily available as they are now) and hooked it into our sprinkler system. It irrigates our 10′x20′ garden quite well. He’s also used the same parts for 5+ years and only had to replace a few things, so it’s been worth it.
I hear you though on the burnout (and the romance when it works). Gardening is a constant battle! But there is true glory when you serve someone your homegrown fare and they are astonished that you really did grow it. Have fun with it!
I’ve never been able to deal with not having something edible growing. When living in a situation like yours I discovered that besides growing in pots I could grow in bags of soil. Lay them flat, cut off the rectangle top, poke holes in the bottom for drainage, and plant with lettuces, radishes, tiny carrots, beets, scallions, all kinds of things that don’t need big, deep root room. In the winter I grow mixed lettuce and herbs in pots under goose neck desk lamps with gro lights.
[...] neighbour Joel at Wellpreserved.ca wrote a great post called “Loving an Idea vs. Loving the Idea” about his challenges “getting into” urban [...]