Well, the plants are making pretty good progress. I’ve just now figured out everything that the birds have taken out, so a second round of seeds will be planted this weekend (along with the garden box construction). Not much to update about, but here’s a picture:

I noticed the other day that my bean plants have practically exploded out of the ground. I though I would set up my camera to make a stop-motion film, and maybe capture some interesting growth. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. You can, however, see the plants tracking the sun.

Well, once again, I have seedlings. This time, they’re out on the balcony, so they’re getting plenty of sunlight. The Lettuce and Basil have sprouted up first, and aside from any bird casualties (I’ll know what didn’t survive in a couple more days, I imagine), everything else is close behind. I plan on building garden boxes the weekend after next. The boxes will be a modification of the design I used last year. They will be 4 feet by 4 feet, and tiered so all plants receive roughly equal amounts of sun (so the plants in the front don’t obscure the plants in the back). Everything will also be completely modular, so I can add or remove parts at will, and so (most importantly!) I am able to move the garden boxes in my car. Here is a rough sketch:

Last year, I followed Mel Bartholomew’s “Square Foot Gardening” to the letter.  This year, I won’t be.  I like the advantages provided by the special soil mix, as well as the ease of accessing a 4′x4′ garden “frame.”  I don’t like the limitation of planting only in square numbers, however.

I’ll also have a separate 1′x4′ box for my peppers and a separate 1′x2′ box for my beans, which I’ll allow to climb a trellis of bamboo and twine.

Here are pictures of the lettuce sprouts:

This space is not only about Geeky Gardening, but Geeky sustainable living. I wouldn’t be trying to maintain a Garden in the middle of a city if I didn’t think it would contribute some good back into the world (and my stomach). So, I’ll try and use this site to promote the values I think necessarily contribute to Geeky Gardening, and Geeky sustainability: Local Living, a Sense of Place, A sense of Morality, and a willingness to change and learn.

I’ve been reading voraciously the past month. One book titled The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, another titled In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, a Third Farewell, My Subaru, and now I’m reading the Essays of Wendell Berry, a Henry County, Kentucky Agrarian, Intellectual, Author, Poet and Farmer. I’ve taken these readings to heart, and I’m trying to make some actual changes for the better in my life. I’m shopping at Farmers Markets, and working on my garden. I’m also making a concerted effort to patronize local business, and avoid the industrialized eating world.

Pollan makes the dangers of the industrial food chain all too obvious in his books, Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Not only has the industrial food chain sacrificed any meaning and morality attached to the plants and animals we exploit for calories, but it has so perverted these living organisms (in so many senses of the word) that the food is less nutritious and increasingly unhealthy.

Doug Fine takes the lessons taught by Pollan, and applies them in Farewell, My Subaru. This book, while light on substance, is a pretty good look at ways the average American can take steps to reduce his or her dependence on imported, hybridized, and perverted foodstuffs, and help the environment and the pocketbook at the same time. He provides sources for much of what he does, so further reading is near to hand.

The days of $2 a gallon gas are gone forever. The days of $3 a gallon gas are probably gone forever. Soon, we’ll look at $4 a gallon with memories of fondness. As energy costs continue to skyrocket, the need to live locally will increase exponentially. Already, Americans are hurting because of the increased costs associated with getting to work, getting to the grocery, and navigating the sprawl that is suburbia in general. The costs associated with transporting goods across the country have barely begun to affect the price of foodstuffs and other goods. Soon, Joe and Jane Soccermom are going to notice their grocery bills going up, while their paychecks are unlikely to get any bigger.

The solution? Local living. It costs a lot less to transport a carrot from Henry county, Kentucky into Louisville, Kentucky than it does to transport the same carrot from Chile. Additionally, because the farms of Henry county haven’t been exploited by profiteering corporations for decades, the Henry county carrot is probably more nutritious and tastier. Right now, this carrot is slightly more expensive than the imported carrot, simply due to issues of supply and demand. Soon, we’ll see that relationship change.

The Essays of Wendell Berry couldn’t do more to drive this point home. I disagree with Berry in his religious views, as well as his unfailing optimism for humanity. I don’t disagree with his assesment of the situation. He sees our eroding sense of place as the cause of most of our current problems. We continue to trust profit-minded governments and corporations with our priceless natural resources. We sit idly by as mining corporations destroy forests and ruin water sources. Because we have no connection to the land that is being destroyed, we say nothing.

Essentially, Berry argues that it is not enough to simple “be the change [we] want to see in the world,” but we must carry on by accepting the responsibility for the consequences of that change. We must seek not only to maximize the good we do in the world, but also minimize the bad. This is how we must save the world from our self. This is how we must recreate our ties to the land.

So, it is with that in mind that I go about gardening, and patronizing local stores, and visiting farmer’s markets. I find myself increasingly wishing that I had some land, to better utilize the resources at my disposal. As of now, I find plenty of sense of place here in my Old Louisville apartment, and with any luck, I’ll be able to supplement my eating quite handily with the fruits and veggies of my own labors.

Well, my last Garden was something of a bust. Around the middle of March, our lease ended, so I was forced to move everything. Evidently, during the cold moving process, and the subsequent lower light, all of my previous seedlings died. In the mean time, I’ve learned some lessons, and I’m ready to get started again. This time, on my little balcony in Old Louisville.

The planting plan is much the same as before, supplemented with some Beans this time around.

Unfortunately, I’ve already had a few setbacks:

Evidently the Birds thought that the beans were as good an idea as I did.

On the bright side, my lettuce is already sprouting, which is very exciting. The nearby farmers markets don’t yet have any spring greens that look like they’re worth buying. I’m afriad that it will heat up soon, though, and I’ll lose the lettuce. As soon as it nears maturity, I’ll have to transplant it into a container that gets a lot of shade.

Fortunately, It’s been a mild spring so far. I don’t feel really bad about delaying my planting as far as I have, since anything I planted probably would have died with the precarious weather up to this point. Subtle Change. .

Well, there’s about a foot of snow on the ground here in Louisville, but Thursday I managed to get out and buy some seed trays and get my seeds planted. This year, everything I’m planting came from The Thyme Garden in Oregon.

This year, I’ll be planting Chamomile (Roman and German), Sage, Hananero Peppers, Anaheim Peppers and Cayenne Peppers, Thyme, English Lavendar, Peppermint, Spearmint, Cilantro, Cinnamon Basil, Lemon Basil, Genovese Basil, Anise, Oregano, and Lettuce.

I’ve probably started a few of these a little bit early, but it’s not a huge deal. As long as we don’t get a major frost after Derby Day, we should be good.

Since I’m going to be moving into an apartment, the garden boxes I built last year will be useless to me. Fortunately, I have a nice south-facing balcony which should get a decent amount of sun. I’ll have to build new boxes, and figure out some way to position them, but we’ll worry about that after I move in.

This year’s gardening approach will be a little bit different than last years. Stay tuned.