SPRING HELP — GROW YOUR VEGGIES
Ah, Spring, a time for things to live anew, a time of new possibilities, new ideas.
We certainly do need something new, with the OLD government idea of tariffs that are going to make us all poorer. And is that agreeable to you, higher prices on almost everything, including at least part of our food?
There “is” something we can do.
We can be creative and start a little garden of our own NOW, in the house or apartment. (See https://gardenbetty.com/the-no-brainer-guide-to-starting-seeds-indoors/ ) And see also garden kits you can buy for $35 at wayfair.com.
It takes a little time and planning — also watering the starter plant enough (just– but not TOO much or too LITTLE).
Of course, a lot of us wait till late April or May for the little plants that have already been started at Lowe’s or Walmart, or your local garden center. And even before THAT, before you put these plants in the ground, you need to dig in the ground/garden plot/pot in a few places and take that to the nearest Cooperative Extension Office to learn the right soil nutrients for your veggies, with a different sample if you want to plant fruit: Find Your State’s Extension Office | List of all 50 Extension services
Yeah, growing your own stuff, especially free of pesticides, is healthy, the tomatoes on the vine tasting a lot sweeter than what you get in the supermarket, zucchini so much bigger than in the store. I don’t live in a spot with loads of sun, so I’ve never tried planting low to the ground strawberries or started blueberry bushes. I
I also wish I could plant butterfly weed, for, you know, the butterflies to feed off. But they “do” like our taturine aster plant, which gets bigger and bigger (!) every year. The flowers look like tiny light purple petalled daisies, and they start blooming in mid to late September. They provide a “last hurrah” of nutrients for Monarch and other butterflies, bees, and some flies, on their way to migrate south or lay eggs and/or go underground to hibernate, which I understand at least “some” bee species do.
But now the bugs are waking up and soon we’ll be swatting them away. Climate change will make things warmer faster, so maybe you should be planting seeds/starter plants right now! (And oh, the next newsletter will have some economical recipes too, okay?)
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