In my first decade out of college, I had a job that allowed me to dine out on a corporate budget quite often. It was a difficult lifestyle, but it enabled me to broaden my palate and gradually get to know my way around the standard menus across many different types of ethnic cuisines. I appreciated having dinner prepared for me each night, getting to know the restaurant landscape of cities of all sizes, and I definitely didn’t mind not having to do the dishes afterwards….
At the time, I didn’t really know how to cook much of anything, but I sure got an education on what I liked to eat and quickly learned that making healthy food choices made a big difference in my health. It’s well known that dining out frequently can do a number on your health due to the portion sizes and richness of foods available at your fingertips. Given this, coupled with the awareness that my job was very sedentary, I vowed first of all, to enjoy my food, while choosing healthy options when possible, and I recognized I should also work on increasing my physical activity.
My love of farm-to-table restaurants grew, because no matter where I was in my travels, I could always count on finding a main course with a lean protein like chicken or salmon, with a fancy side salad of seasonal vegetables. Restaurants that focus on fresh food, also tend to have the best selection of wine, and I never wonder whether or not I ought to skip desert, because there’s usually an menu option that incorporates fresh fruits.
Fast forward, and while I do not travel for work any longer, thankfully I married someone who enjoys dining out as much as me. When we bought our first home together, we were excited that we were able to find a property with many gardens, and we anticipated making our own farm-to-table creations. Up until then, our “gardening experience” was limited to enjoying the bounty of our weekly CSA share delivery.
We didn’t know where to begin, but a friend recommended Michael Pollan’s book, Second Nature. Many of the lessons in the book foreshadowed our experience over the past eight years as gardeners and stewards of the land, including the frustrations of dealing with pests and weeds. We revisit the book often. I recommend the Audible version because he reads the book himself, and he has a great voice. In fact, I feel like we’re friends now, since he’s so generously shared his wisdom with me.
After many trials and tribulations, we now have a thriving fruit orchard, a few raised vegetable beds, and some perennial gardens. Every year in March, the Territorial Seed Company catalog arrives in the mail, which is our cue to start planning out and planting seedlings for our summer garden. All summer long, we enjoy harvesting fresh produce, which has been amazing and makes the effort worthwhile. There’s nothing that compares to the freshness, and it’s so fun to get to know the distinct taste of each variety.
I’ve created a very simple step-by-step guide in case you’re interested in planting a garden for the first time or perhaps evolving your current process. For supplies, you’ll need:
- Germination mat
- Seed starting system
- Humidity dome (allows it to grow taller than the dome provided)
- Coconut husk seed starter
- Potting Soil
You can decide what types of seeds you want to plant, but if you’re curious what’s in our garden, here’s what we planted, and how many slots in the tray we allocated to each type of plant (there are 32 slots in the seed starting system we use):
Tomatoes
- San Marzano (4)
- Manitoba (2)
- Momotaru (2)
- Costoluto Genoese Heirloom (2)
Eggplants
Peppers
Cumbers
Melons
My husband’s family is from Japan, so you’ll notice that some of our seeds are from a Japanese Seed Company. We usually plant our seeds in mid-late March, and have waited until early-mid April, so there’s still time to begin. If you’re not up for starting from seeds, you can still join in on the fun by purchasing plants in May. Either approach works just as well, but if you would like to have some consistency in the types of seeds you plant and get to know specific varieties, planting is the way to go.
OK, are you ready for the steps?
- Set up the self-watering seed tray, and add potting soil in the bottom half of the tray.
- Add coconut husk on the top layer.
- Read each seed packet and plant seeds at the appropriate depth.
- Plant two seeds per slot (this ensures you don’t waste a spot with a dud, and you just snip one when it gets larger). Be sure to make a grid on paper to label where you put each plant so you can identify them once they sprout. Take a photo so you don’t risk losing it.
- Add water to the tray and water the top, gently without disturbing the seeds.
- Place on germination mat, with humidity dome next to a window and watch them grow.
- Rotate periodically, as the seedling will grow towards the sun/window.
- Check the soil to ensure the coconut husk doesn’t dry out.
- Read the seed packet and transfer outdoors according to your zone. Be sure to harden the plants appropriately.
- Be sure to protect plants from hungry animals. This takes practice!
In addition, we plant certain plants outside when it’s warmer directly in the soil, like onions, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, kale, arugula and herbs.
In closing, here is something to consider: “What’s your favorite tomato?” Famed chef, Alice Waters from Chez Panisse’s likes to ask people this question. Her answer is very specific “a dry-farmed Early Girl grown at Green and Red Vineyard, on the east side of California’s Pope Valley, in the heat of August.” I just read her book, “You Are What You Eat,” and I was pleased I know without any doubt my answer to that question: “the Momotaru tomato from Kitazawa Seed Company, started from seed, and grown in my backyard, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise.” Momo means “peach” in Japanese, and they are very large round tomatoes that are actually pink!
Alice argues that many people may not think they even like tomatoes because they’ve been accustomed to genetically modified versions that can grow year round and don’t really have much flavor.
The Momotaru tomato is included in my list above, with the link to the seeds. I hope you have a chance to try it sometime and also can figure out your personal answer to that question. We have used the same seed packs for a number of years now. We store them carefully in our refrigerator, and they keep for a very long time. Most years, we don’t have to buy any seeds at all. Perhaps some fresh soil and coconut husk. It’s super simple, and very rewarding. OK, now, go get busy! You can do it.
