Green thumb

Don't look now, but the Wittmanns are going green. Well, sort of greenish, anyway. For some inexplicable reason, I've had an incredible urge to grow things this spring. I think it started when I aerated the yard and put some grass seed down. After that I re-potted a couple of plants (with mixed results, I should add), decided to grow a garden, and even kicked around the idea of building a window garden in our dining room so we can have fresh "greens" for dinner all winter long.

I think maybe it goes back to some sort of subconscious connection with my childhood, where I vaguely remember my dad dragging me out to the garden to help pick tomatoes, or weeds, or whatever. Now that I've got my own little helper in tow, I kind of like the idea of dragging him out there to participate in all the micro-agricultural fun.

There also seems to be something deeply therapeutic about growing plants. Sure, there's always something you can do to help them along (watering, weeding, etc.), but there's no way to rush them. The tomatoes will be ready when they're ready. Deal with it. When everything else in our lives continues to gain speed, this stubborn refusal to be rushed is kind of refreshing.

So, now I have a 6'x12' garden behind my garage. I turned it all over with a shovel, and then ran a small tiller through it to get it broken up nice and fine (or sliced up, which is more accurate when referring to the clay content of the soil back there). So far all I have planted are a couple of tomato plants, but we're planning on growing peppers, carrots, and cucumbers from seeds.

We've also been saving leftover fruits, vegetables, peels, egg shells, and coffee grounds to mix into the garden somewhere along the way. Once I start mowing our lawn, I plan on bagging the grass and using it as mulch around the various botanical exhibits in the garden. I've even got a nifty little rain collection system built (more on that later) so I can conserve water this summer and still keep the garden a-growin'.

Now, don't go and tell Al Gore about his latest convert just yet. I'm still not buying into the whole anthropocentric global warming hoopla, and all the asinine (and dangerous) solutions being proposed by our environmental high priests. Still, it does make sense to me to conserve wherever possible, to reuse whatever we can, and to even produce some of our own food along the way. I think the key is to remember that we serve the Creator, not the creation, and that He put it here for our use. If you keep those things in their right places, I think you're doing OK. Once those get flipped, you're bound to end up somewhere a little screwy.