How Does Your Garden Grow? - Off to a good start

How Does Your

Garden Grow?

We have a tie!

Though it was a close race, Mr. Brian Wilson and Mrs. Kelly Schmidt came in first and are the proud winners of $4.50 each. I can only assume that this one of the highest honors that either has received and I'm proud to be a part of their success. Both saw sprouts pop up right away last Thursday. Brian put his seedling container at the base of a large potted plant near his desk which gets sunshine through a nearby window. He gave the container about an inch of "baby bathwater warm" water and left it to do its thing. "My advice is to grow indoor plants from seeds indoors and recognize that they will very likely die when you take them outside," said Brian. Logical. Though I was out sick during most of the vegetable action, my sources tell me that Brian's statement may be in response to Todd Lundy's method which involved setting his seedlings outside to be pummeled by the wind. Todd's were the only competition seedlings that didn't sprout likely due to his unconventional and somewhat aggressive approach. Kelly channeled her inner student. "I thought back (way back) to my days in elementary school when we planted a bean seed in a milk carton," she said. "The teacher had us wrap the seed in a wet paper towel for a day or two prior to planting it. Using my elementary knowledge, I made sure the lettuce seeds stayed plenty moist (similar to the paper towels)." Kelly watered her lettuce, named Milo, daily. "I was surprised that they sprouted so quickly and was even more surprised to see how much they have grown over the last few days. Last summer, I grew a container of flowers outside from seeds so I felt confident going into the competition that I could achieve success," Kelly said. Fear not, Kelly and Brian don't have plans to retire and live off their winnings just yet. "I will be putting it toward buying a cherry tomato plant that I plan to call Rupert and put in a pot on my desk this spring," Brian said. Kelly is also reinvesting her money by using it to purchase more seeds.

Everyone else saw results using a multitude of methods. Some used direct sunlight and others took advantage of the office fluorescents. Kris O'Leary had two plants and gave one water and one alcohol with the boozy plant finding inspiration and popping up shortly after Brian and Kelly's victory. I'm still struggling to come up with a politically correct assessment of Kris' strategy. The lettuce seemed happiest either in the warm office, uncovered and under a fluorescent light or in a window, or in the chilly breezeway covered in plastic. The seedlings left uncovered in the breezeway didn't come up at all and it likely got a bit cold for them without being tucked in. I put plastic over those to see if they'll change their minds. The lettuce that was covered up in the dark closet did sprout about as much as the others, but only in one container out of three. I moved the other two inside the office and uncovered them. In other news, we've added a rather pathetic-looking bell pepper sprout to our collection which now makes four. Considering I didn't think I was going to have any, I'd say we're doing pretty well. We also have tomatoes starting to sprout, but again, inconsistently. There hasn't been any action with the sprouts serving their time in the dark closet so I put them in the window of the breezeway, still covered in plastic. I have one naked container sprouting in the breezeway and another set starting to come up inside the office with other trays giving me nothing. To summarize, neither the tomatoes nor I have any clue what the heck they're doing.

I don't know if we're going to be able to make strawberry fruit pizza anytime soon. None of my strawberry trays have started sprouting regardless of the location, and the tray I had covered is actually starting to mold so I pulled the plastic off that one. I'm not going to stress yet; my bell peppers have taught me that I need to stop underestimating myself and practice being patient. I had to go out and get a new bag of soil which I did at Tractor Supply. I decided to try something different and got a bag of GroundWork Garden Soil for $10.54. This week's project was planting our sparkler white tip radishes. Their packet said they wanted to be planted a quarter of an inch deep and one half to one inch apart. We should expect to see them germinate in about 10 days, but I'm not going to hold my breath. They like to be kept in the sun so I put half of the seeds in the window inside the office and the other half in plastic out in the breezeway. I decided not to punish any with the closet. For now. The more I keep at it, the more I find myself dreaming. My longterm goals haven't ever included a big garden because it's never been something that I really enjoy, but now that I'm gaining a bit of confidence I'm not as scared of the commitment as I used to be and I can see myself gardening every year. I'm fortunate to have a big yard and I lay awake at 4 a.m. this morning thinking about what it would look like with tall fences and raised beds. I imagined a sweet little garden gate and fruit trees lined up in neat rows. I pictured wire trellises covered in vines heavy with tomatoes and cucumbers just waiting for me to pick them. Trust me when I say that these are statements I never thought I would utter. It's funny how your perspective can change when you keep an open mind.

Mandee Ellis is a reporter at The Star News. Contact her at Mandee@centralwinews.com.