If you have been around awhile you will know that I am, or used to be back in the day when I lived in a place which allowed for it to a larger extent, a not so secret gardener.
I’m always thrilled when spring arrives and I can think, even if fleetingly, about planting something. I will have the opportunity to do a lot more planting this summer than I have had in some years so that is kind of exciting.
Yea I’m kind of lame that way.
A friend of mine bought me some seeds in NJ last week — the price of seeds is astronomical in the city so that is not an option — and I have some germination going on as we speak.
I found two blogs about gardening which I thought I’d share with you.
The Inadvertent Gardener and Urban Cultivation.
There is nothing like growing your own.


Oooh… you would get along famously with Loverboy then… he is a fabulus gardener. Our garden is all filled with fruit trees and in spring time he would get the vegetable patch started and so we would be up to our ears in green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and even watermelons! Oh, and composting was a big thing with us too. Fun times FO SHO! ;)
I miss you my friend and have been squished by Spain but hope to be back soon… but a hop into your world is always in order! Hope all is well with you. Besos…
It always tastes better out of the garden. And it’s not just the dirt.
I’m a botanist. But I’m a terrible gardener. Soil was so poor in the place we had in New Zealand, we couldn’t even grow tomatoes. We were thrilled to have a grapefruit tree in the yard — until we realized that the fruit it managed to produce were about the size of a quarter, and they were all rind. My poor daughter tried to grow a sunflower in our New England miserable excuse for soil. It grew to six inches and had a flower smaller than a dandelion.
May you have better luck.
Ahhh, the not so secret gardener.
I seem to recall tomatoes and peppers.
After four years it will be nice to get back to it, enjoy.
Nice to see you came out of the gardening shed.
I can never look down on you, Cooper, but surely not as a garden geek. I’ve told four people about the arrival of my first artichoke of the season Saturday and I usually only talk to one or two per week. Some of my tomatoes and peppers have their first blooms, too. See what you started? Someone shoot me.
“There is nothing like growing your own.” She said with a straight face.
Bwahahahahaaaa! So it is a Scorpio thing hermanito! Thou hast outted thine self! WOOH!
Laugh all you want, hermanita! If it weren’t for my garden I would nothing but red meat.
I’m trying to make sense of Doug’s comments and uh…love him anyway
I used to have a city garden but somehow lost my green thumb. now I don’t even try to grow basil
Mizzy B: I’m not a fabulous gardener but maybe one day.…
I am pretty kick-ass at tomatoes and peppers and if given the time and space snow pea’s.
Your lover-boy seems to have many talents. Can I get me one of those?
Damn that Spain for squishing you. I await your return and miss you.
Dan: It does, pick eat and run I say.
OC: You would be a botanist.…..;)
Maryland was a good place to grow things, I grew a few things last year in the city…nothing huge but I did grow tomatoes in a pot which traveled with me when I left.
This year I am starting a few seedlings which I’ll take back to Maryland with me.
You could always try growing nail polish. ;)
I promise that is the last reference to nail polish I will ever make. ;)
john: Can’t stay in the shed forever.
Doug: That’s because you haven’t seen my rubber clogs.
Gardening just brings out the chatter bug in us all. ;)
I don’t know if I could grow artichokes. I guess they do grow in Maryland but I am sort of impatient and having to wait a year before they actually bear anything bothers me… same with asparagus. Maybe when I settle somewhere for good, in like fifty years, I’ll try the more difficult stuff.
You should get an award because I hear they are hard to grow. Could you post pictures?
dane: You should go back to your robots.
mizzy b: ;0
Pia: Was it supposed to make sense?
I’m not very good at herbs. I do better with large produce and flowers.
the DIY aspect is certainly something I can see. Don’t think I have the patience for it, though. Not the right kind of patience at least. What are you growing?
My father is a tomato junkie.
Did you know that song is a war protest song not a gardening song?
I didn’t and felt a fool. Had to look it up.
I was thinking “how cutesy, she posted a song about flowers”.….….….…..
got it.
don’t tell me your asleep it is not even two in the morning.
Ha! The last time I used my farming/agricultural skills for anything productive, I created an amazing herb spread in a vacant flower bed at my parents’ house. The nice thing about California, of course, is the extremely long growing season for most things and, using indegenious sustainable plants, one can create a low maintenance garden.
Sadly, it went the way of the dinosaurs. Parents tilled it all up when they added the addition onto their house two years ago…
Gardening is a nice, relaxing activity. I do miss farming some days (mainly driving a tractor, baling hay), but, lol, that was child labor :)
We try to do tomatoes every year. This year we’re trying snow peas, green beans, broccoli and zucchini.
Lettuce gets destroyed here, by the deer or rabbits.
We had our first compost pile last year.
Lots of flowers too.
A gardening song?
G that is funny.
Esoteric Wombat: Many things when I get to Maryland, but here I seeded tomatoes and a few different flowers and some herbs.
G: ha ha .….…..DUH. If you find a gardening song let me know.
Jason: I think you would be a great planter of things. ;)
It is relaxing and for some reason it is satisfying to see things grow and realize you had a part in that.
I will be one of those rickety old women who putters in the garden while her grandchildren frolic in the sun. Eventually.
I did fail at Orchids, I love them and would like to figure them out.
I’m not much for tractors though, I broke a rib a couple years back falling off a four wheeler so I stay away from machinery.
Jacob: I can see you with a compost pile. Good luck this year. Yeah I’m going to seed a large cutting flower garden at my old home, where my brother is moving back to this summer as he starts his Washington job, hope it t urns out well. We will have to compare.
I am overly proud that one of the 4 climbing rose bushes I planted at my parents’ house is still alive, even after 2 replantings and about 7 years.
Hey there thanks for noticing Urban Cultivation — to grow your own food even if it is simply a token gesture is a great way to get in touch with your humanity. It’s a very primal thing and can be surprisingly rewarding. The best thing and this is the point I try and illustrate is that no matter where you are you can grow something even if it is parsley plant in a pot at the window.
You’ll have to send me some photos of how your growing goes and if you want any ideas please don’t hesitate to drop me a line!
Coyote: coffee grounds for the roses — please take care of lone bush.
I really don’t know if that works. I was told that by someone.
I don’t do roses although growing yellow roses would be nice.
I want to perfect the orchid — one day.
Lee: I will drop you a line and send photos. I have the potential to grow a lot really — it will be time dependent. I am a vegetarian so having raw peppers and even zucchini and tomatoes to pig out on is a nice thing.
You will find your perfect orchid. And keep in mind, this rose bush is growing in Nebraska … where the soil is so fertile, stuff grows that wasn’t even planted.
Having a best friend whose business is actually gardening and landscaping makes me realize I have no business anywhere near plant life.
Nor outdoors for that matter.
I know how busy you are right now. I didn’t realize how much I counted on your daily posts. I’m hooked, Cooper, hooked.
coyote: I would not have guessed that Nebraska had any kind of decent soil. Are you being sarcastic?
mojo: I am not in the least surprised at this one mojo.
pia: OMG, was I posting daily?? I really have to stop that.
What is wrong with red meat?
Unflavored columbian coffee grinds are excellent for roses.
Finding the perfect orchid is like finding the perfect woman.
Sunflowers most certainly grow in Maine. Just add a South Harpswell porgie to the pile, pilgrim. The stinkers arrive every August.
No, I was being drunk. Sorry about that.