Growing up on 30 acres in southwest Michigan, gardening was (and still is) a way of life. Thinking of my mother’s green beans and peaches ‘n cream sweet corn still make my nose twitch and mouth water. Not that I didn’t scream and moan every time I was forced to weed the multi-acre garden plot. (Not to mention the herb beds, perennial gardens, and endless annual plots.)
Years later, I found myself jonesing for fresh, home-grown, love-labored produce. The only catch? My yard is non-existent. It’s a narrow sunless alleyway leading to the street (see: Sladder) with just enough room for a bicycle and a garbage can.
That’s when the little blue deck was born.
I’m not a trained gardener, but it’s in the genes. I’ve been growing and learning, succeeding and failing for over 10 years. Container gardening (heck, I’ll even grandly say what I do is small-scale urban farming) isn’t easy, but I dare say the challenges make it all the more rewarding.
I hope you’ll join me.
2 responses so far ↓
Mary // June 30, 2009 at 6:08 pm |
Help…I am growing chard in containers and am not sure how to harvest it. I have cut off some of the leaves for salad, but am not sure how long before the chard is ready.
plantsondeck // July 1, 2009 at 10:28 am |
Mary,
As far as I’m concerned, it’s really a matter of taste. You’re absolutely right — the immature leaves are terrific in green salads, we do it all the time. For a chard dish, though, I tend to harvest the greens when they’re a little smaller than what most would consider fully mature. It’s just a little more tender that way. Here’s a link to a smitten kitchen photo — http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/tell-me-more-tell-me-more — You can see by the weathered ends that this probably isn’t the freshest bunch. For comparison, I pick mine a little earlier than this; my stalks tend to be a little shorter and a little less rhubarb-sized but the leaves are still quite full and tasty. Cut the outer, larger stalks. The smaller inner stalks will quickly grow to maturity. Enjoy!