Planting Time, Fun Time

I did nothing productive in the garden all weekend and was feeling uninspired, like it was just another errand, when I pulled up to OSH this morning. Then I caught sight of their garden displays and my blood started pumping. I got my

No wheelbarrow? Just grab one of the many dilapidated big wheels lying around.

baby in the cart and started piling stuff in, remembering about halfway through my un-funded shopping spree that oh yeah, I came with a list. $28  later I had a good start on my garden plan and a full slate for the afternoon.

When the kindergartener came home, I reviewed with him his mini-plan and let him pick out his marigold colors. After last year when not a single marigold seed I planted from an entire pack - and not from the dollar store, thank you very much! - sprouted, I'm taking no chances and bought a multicolor six-pack to guard the tomatoes. I verified at checkout that they still give a lifetime guarantee on plants. You might end up being sorry about that, OSH, by the time my family has a chance to kill all these.

Spring is Put Your Child to Work Season

Onto the hard work. I still have some lettuce, onions, and cilantro in the ground that I didn't feel ready to yank, although I did clear out some miniscule beets (terrible disappointment this past season), satellite cilantro, and radishes. Otherwise, I spread out some of the organic soil enrichment compound I bought today. Last year's manure worked fine except it wasn't organic and it reeked, so I thought I'd try something different. This may also be the sign of the real gardener - fixing what isn't broken in hopes of breaking it in a different way. Anyway... so I have more of a growing patch by patch thing going on since I'm leaving some areas alone that are currently planted. It also breaks up the work, and I'll take any excuse for that.

Then I had my son come and supervise/participate in the digging of holes in his area - as much as he likes digging in dirt, his holes are never deep enough. Plus he's kind of fastidious and doesn't like to get his hands dirty in dirt (boogies, melted crayons, and picking out interesting things from the trash can are no problem though). He got Sungold cherry tomatoes, as close to a sure thing as I could provide him, two marigolds, and Drunken Woman lettuce start. On a whim, we also threw in Cinderella's Coach pumpkin seeds since I had such success with it last year. He got bored and wandered off to decorate some craft sticks with planting labels.

Elsewhere, I planted the purple cherry from Flora Grubb with its guardian marigold, a basic zucchini, and another round of pumpkin seeds in the ground. I bought a Genovese basil at OSH and repotted it. Literally as I was in the middle of that, I noticed that my small pot in which I planted basil seeds months ago has begun sprouting. How about that. Pesto for Everyone!!! Ha, I say that now, as if nothing could ever happen between now and Pesto Time.

This gives a good sense of the scale of the cilantro. As my son said, "IT'S OUT OF CONTROL."

I still have much more to buy on my list, so I'll be hitting up my local independent nurseries by the weekend. I also need to figure out where I'm putting all these seeds, including the flowers (ugh) my daughter made me buy today because they were PINK (double ugh), and I need to consult with Mr. Undergardener about what he's willing to squeeze into his turf, the front yard. Spring planting season is busy but, dare I say, exciting.

Nursery Review: Flora Grubb Gardens

Many years ago I used to listen to KFOG religiously on my morning and evening commutes, and Flora Grubb used to do an occasional gardening interview with the morning show. This was when I was an apartment dweller and not the slightest bit interested in gardening, but she always sounded like a genuine, nice person. Nowadays, as the avid Sunset reader I am, I knew about Flora Grubb Gardens, her nursery in San Francisco, but had never been... until today.

It turns out that it is your gorgeous succulents-and-pots HQ. A very small - I'm sure they refer to it as "well-curated" - edibles section would not have tempted me by myself, but my kid made me buy a lettuce and a tomato start. I couldn't find an employee to ask if the tomato was good for my climate. There is one playhouse for kids (probably for sale, happily I did not notice a price on it), and lots of opportunities for them to break something expensive. Although if you have more of a looky-loo in tow, there's lots of funky displays for them to gawk at.

The bathroom was spacious and clean, no changing table but a long counter that could fit the bill in an emergency (and when is it ever anything else when you need a changing table?). The Ritual Coffee bar was jammed.

I'm glad I scratched my FGG itch, but it's not going to be worth a second special trip. In the neighborhood, SCRAP definitely is worth as many trips as I can squeeze in. Then maybe a stop by FGG for the bathroom?