A Mommy Story

Did you see the story about Michelle Obama planting vegetable garden on the White House grounds this week? It’s the first time they’ve had a garden since the Roosevelt victory garden, and they plan to use the food they grow in the White House kitchens, donating any extra to a nearby soup kitchen.

With the recession hitting everyone hard, it only makes sense to start growing some of our own food. We have a large backyard, Aaron and I are both home all the time (thanks, unemployment), and with trying to lose weight and shape up, we’re all eating more vegetables and fruits. It makes sense that a garden will save us money, while also teaching Cordy and Mira about the process of growing plants and reducing our carbon footprint, even if only slightly.

I know what you might be thinking – Christina is the least likely person to keep a plant alive – and you’re right. I did a great job at killing my pepper plants last summer. I’m still amazed society has let me keep pets and have children. But I’ve been practicing! I bought this little strawberry pot at Target in February, and look! They’re still alive!

It also helps that my mom, aunts and grandmother are champion gardeners. Not sure how I missed that segment of DNA, but even the talentless can be taught, right?

So the plan is to have an 8’x8′ garden. I can’t have corn, because that’s too tall for growing in our planned neighborhood. If the HOA won’t allow 6′ fences, I doubt they’ll allow 6′ corn stalks. But I do want to plant lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, sweet peppers, broccoli, carrots and zucchini. OK, it’s a little ambitious, but I tend to go all-in on a new project.

My mom grows a ton of tomatoes each year, so I can get those from her. I don’t like tomatoes on their own, but I wouldn’t mind trying to make my own pasta sauce this year. (Who the hell is typing this? Have I been possessed by Martha-freakin’-Stewart?)

If we’re lucky, and believe me, it’ll take a lot of luck, we’ll cut our grocery bill. Our house will be a little greener for it as well – the garden will produce oxygen (remember photosynthesis in 3rd grade science?) and we’ll make fewer trips to the grocery, using less gas.

I can’t wait to get started, although I am a little nervous. To all the green-thumb garden wizards out there – have any advice for a novice gardener?

Parent Bloggers and SC Johnson (makers of Nature’s Source cleaners) want to know how you’re living more naturally now. Visit the blog blast and see how other bloggers are greening up their homes, too.