I challenge you to grow some...

[rketterman]

...food. 

 

What are you talking about?

Simple.  We as a race have become so dependent on big brother to give us what we need that we've forgotten how to take care of ourselves!  I think it's high time that the people become more self sufficient and less reliant on Big Business to supply our food.  I think it's great that you can go to the market and buy tomatoes out of season but honestly have you ever had a tomato straight from your own garden?  So much sweeter, juicier, and wonderful!

 

So what are you actually saying?

I challenge each and every member of the Rebellion to grow at least 1 type of food for yourself in the next year.  I don't care if its a single cherry tomato plant in a bucket on your balcony in your apartment (which by the way is exactly how I started out) or if it's a cow on your 400 acre farm.  JUST GROW SOMETHING!

 

Why would I do that?

Well aside from becoming less dependent on the supermarkets of the world you might be surprised to find that it is a great way to relieve stress.  It is for me anyway.  After a stressful day at work I can unwind by going on my back porch and watering my plants, pruning them, and taking care of them.  I get outside, even if it's just for a few minutes a day.  Oh, and it's cheaper!

 

But I don't know where to start!

There's this great site called Google...check it out.  Anything you want to know can be found by searching.  But just in case here are a few great resources:

 

Gardeners Supply Company  order anything you may need to get started

 

Kitchen Garden Planner  same site as above but they offer a great planner for square foot gardening...speaking of which

 

Square Foot Gardening a nice site to get you some basic info about the concept

 

And for those of you with a brown thumb there is always:

 

Aerogarden my wife and I both have one of these babies. Hers is for flowers mine is for whatever.  I've grown cherry tomatoes, green beans, various salad greens, and herbs in this sucker.  I LOVE it.  It tells you when to add water and when to feed.  The lights are automatic and it's an amazing addition to our home.

 

So why now?  It's still winter here.

 

You, sir or madam, are correct.  For the northern hemisphere it is winter but in the southern it is summer...and for them it may be a little late for this.  But here is why I issue a challenge now.  Gardening takes planning.  Do you already know what you want to grow?  Do you have the resources in your home?  Or do you need to think about it?  How about purchasing supplies?  I challenge you now so that you may have time to plan.  Find out what you want.  Research.  Buy what you need.  After all spring isn't that far off.

 

So your point is...

Grow something.  Relieve some stress.  Enjoy the outdoors (even if just for a moment).  Learn to be less dependent on "the man."  We are the Rebellion and as such I expect great things!  Why eat GMO foods when we can grow our own heirloom veggies?  Why eat tomatoes that have been sprayed so they turn red when they can ripen on the vine?  Why risk e. coli on our spinach when we can know what we've put into the soil ourselves?  We are the Rebellion and we can do this!

 

Who's with me?

 

[illc]

I like it.  I'm with you.  This will be an interesting challenge as I am often not at home and as such have little control over home-y things, especially during the Canadian outdoor growing season.  Perhaps it's contrary to the spirit of your challenge but I may (depending on the buy-in of my housemates) donate our garden space to this organization/initiative: http://cultivatetoronto.com/join-the-harvest/share-your-yard/ ... urban agriculture meets community shared agriculture meets volunteer opportunities for youth!  Pretty cool as far as I see it.

[rketterman]

I'll have to check that out a little more.  I like what I saw though.  I'm glad to have you as a part of this.

[Xepher]

I love this idea.

 

I'm going to echo rketterman, it's ludicrously easy yet immensely satisfying to grow some of your own food.

 

Growing some herbs is a great place to start, as they're easy to grow and taste so much nicer than dried supermarket herbs. Often used herbs such as Basil, Thyme, Sage, Parsley and Rosmary can all be planted indoors all year round. All you need is some sort of container and somewhere that gets plenty of light such as a windowsill.  A quick guide on containers and good herbs to plant indoors can be found here; http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/ht/window_herbs.htm.

[I am Eve]

I'm in. 

Every summer I grow radishes, carrots, beetroot, ruccola and lettuce in my garden. 

I sow in May and cover up and 1 week later I see the first green traces, it's great!

[Georges]

Guessing by the "sorry for the inconvenience - there's been a drought" signs in the grocery store, it's a good year to grow your own greens!  So many of them love the early-season cold, some will produce for the whole summer, and the last time I looked, even Romaine had doubled or tripled in price because of the supply issues...

[Arawlins]

I'm in as well. I just need to figure out what I am going to plant.

 

I have blueberries, raspberries and strawberries planted. Beyond keeping those maintained, I am not sure what will be on my list.

[silverpeacock]

I have 2 rosemary plants, an oregano plant, and a parsley plant, and I'm trying to sprout some lychee and avocado seeds (that probably won't sprout ever, but it is worth playing)

[rketterman]

AWESOME! So glad to have you all on board for this idea.  I've been watching some documentaries and TED talks about food. Growing up my family always had a garden of some sort going and I truly miss it.  After watching Jamie Oliver's TED talk about the Food Revolution I decided it was time to do something about it myself. 

 

I've always had luck with tomatoes and some herbs.  Last summer I had some peppers, green beans, and cucumbers (which didn't yield enough to do anything with) and I really enjoyed it.  I'm hoping to get a head start on things this year. 

 

I've never had any luck with rosemary, thought it is my favorite herb.  Any tips to give?

[Raincloak]

hahaha.  Have you ever read "The $64 Tomato"?  Growing veggies is not always as easy as it looks...

 

... but then again, sometimes it is.  Lettuce and salad greens are especially good because they sprout quick and it doesn't get fresher than "picked 10 minutes ago." 

 

I only have room for potted herbs (the culinary kind) in my 140-sqf room, since I don't have any outdoor plots and there's a 2-year wait list for urban garden patches.  But I like to visit my mother and nibble on her garden.  Growing food = good thing.  Too bad she insists on raising all these squashes no one wants to eat, instead of letting me just eat the squash blossoms.

 

Rosemary is SUPER easy, just take a cutting, stick it in a jar of water for a couple weeks, then when it starts to root, plant it.  It'll grow.  Best to keep it in a pot until it finds its feet.  Once you put it outside, it will try to take over the yard, but it smells great and bees love it (and you can use the twigs for barbecue skewers).

[Starstuff]

I'd love to grow some of my own food, but I've got such a black thumb that I've killed two rosemary plants.

[Raincloak]

Starstuff, the trick might be to water LESS. I have slain many a plant by overwatering, it's easy to do, and rosemary is native to a climate with warm dry summers. Water only every ten days or when the soil is quite dry, and make sure to use good soil with adequate drainage. Make sure it's getting enough light.

In general, if a plant droops and turns yellow, it's too wet. If it's brittle or brownish, it's too dry. Stick your finger in the dirt (hur hur hur) to find out if it's still moist, and when in doubt, wait a day or two.

[Fonzico]

All I have at the moment is a basil plant and some parsley (and a history of plant-killing ) but I am going to keep trying to expand! If we can't get into a place with a yard for this summer (something we are actively trying to do) I am going to get a community garden plot and do my best

 

If nothing else, I am determined to have a cherry tomato plant! Freshly picked, they are like candies...

 

I wholeheartedly agree with your philosophy. A long term goal of mine is to become more self-sufficient, a little more each year. I have a lot to learn though!

[CandyGram4Mongo]

With you 100%.  I've helped a few friends and family members get really psyched about growing their own stuff with crazy veggies from http://www.rareseeds.com .  It takes the same amount of time and effort, but you get really exciting and impressive stuff in the end like purple carrots, rainbow chard, or enough cilantro to get you an entire summer's worth of salsa out of a $5.00 seed packet.  Not to mention:  Tilling = Cardio / Diggin & Raking = Shoulders / Weeding = Something that makes your hip flexors feel like they're trying to tunnel out of your body the next morning.  Plus, if you play your cards right, you get about $200 worth of veggies for like $15 in seeds.

[rketterman]

I'd love to grow some of my own food, but I've got such a black thumb that I've killed two rosemary plants.

Honestly check out the aerogardens.  They work great.  I used to have a brown thumb and couldn't keep anything alive.  I tried a single tomato plant then invested in an aerogarden and I love it.  It's practically fool proof.  It may be right up your alley.

[NicoleCanoes]

I killed all the herbs I tried growing last year. The high heat in the sun, going to a conference, going to visit my family for a week, too much water, not enough water...

Hopefully my new roommate can help me out. She actually has live plants in her room and her parents grow roses and have a garden. I have a feeling she might have some knowledge.

[Anduril]

Been growing stuff for years ... so happy you posted this challenge! I don't want to push or seem spammy but this is the focus of my business so I get really excited if anyone wants to grow their own food ... if you like you can visit my site http://www.edible-landscape-design.com and see what I work on all day.

[Starstuff]

Starstuff, the trick might be to water LESS. I have slain many a plant by overwatering, it's easy to do, and rosemary is native to a climate with warm dry summers. Water only every ten days or when the soil is quite dry, and make sure to use good soil with adequate drainage. Make sure it's getting enough light.

In general, if a plant droops and turns yellow, it's too wet. If it's brittle or brownish, it's too dry. Stick your finger in the dirt (hur hur hur) to find out if it's still moist, and when in doubt, wait a day or two.

 

Thank you! You're the first person I've ever mentioned this to who has offered suggestions rather than just looking aghast and saying "How? How did you even do that?" Perhaps I'll try my hand with another rosemary plant if I can find a place to put it at my current apartment.

[rketterman]

I'm going to try my hand with creating some container gardens.  Last summer I had a bunch of buckets and random containers for random plants.  I'm planning an earthbox style garden this year.  I'll be sure to post any and all instructions as I go for future references for people. I've bought my seeds (mostly organic and heirlooms) I just need to start them at the appropriate times.  I would also like to see people utilizing a garden journal of some sort (just a personal preference) but I'll take it one step at a time.

 

Fonzico-I would love to become more self sufficient and have got a few books on the topic to do some research for when I can do it...someday.

 

Anduril-I don't feel like you're being spammy at all.  You are a knowledgeable addition to the cause!  

 

I'm so glad that people are actually interested in this.  I can't wait to get started!

[Nuala]

I'm in! Up until now I have killed everything I tried to grow :x But I have some hope that my sage is not totally dead.. yet. I have just set up some pot on my kitchen's window. It's one month too early to plant anything but I'll try sage (need to move the hopfully still alive one), rosemary, thyme and still have 2 pots that may welcome ... strawberry? Mint? I dunno :x

 

[edit]Ok, here is my future garden.

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/108480292517047016938/albums/5842951357287358817?authkey=CNOUp7afyLXl2wE

 

The sage doens't looks very good, but I don't really know how it's supposed to look like in winter. I'm not sure when I should prune it, I need to investigate a little more. This window is sunny in the afternoon/evening. Actually that's the only sunny window of all my appartment, it's really dark :/ It may actually be a little too sunny for mint actually.

[Anduril]

Sage always looks like that in winter, especially if it's been below freezing for a while. Mine looks like that too right now. Once it warms up it should do better. Also, if it hasn't rained in a while you might water it a bit. All the Mediterranean herbs are drought resistant but they need water once in a while to keep looking perky.

[Vian]

I'm with you too! We grew tomatoes last year, but most of them ended up rotting on the vine at the first frost because the plant produced like 40 fruits and we couldn't eat them all and didn't bother to try canning them or anything. 

 

This year, I'm going to get like 6 tomato plants and I'm going to make ketchup, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and just plain tomatoes and can them all to use during the off season. I don't really care for raw tomatoes, so it's perfect.

 

We also have a few raised beds and I'm going to give growing cucumbers, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, and possibly some lettuce again this year.

 

We also already have an entire flower bed dedicated to garlic and herbs. We have sage, oregano, thyme and chives growing in it and this year I'll be adding rosemary.

[Rob__]

This year, I'm going to get like 6 tomato plants and I'm going to make ketchup, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and just plain tomatoes and can them all to use during the off season. I don't really care for raw tomatoes, so it's perfect.

 

We do a lot of those with our garden tomatoes. The plain tomatoes especially come in extremely handy cause you can do all the things with them afterwards instead of just one or two of the things!

 

I could totally be down for an herbaceous windowbox. There's plenty of space outside for a full on garden, but then I'd be encroaching on my dad's territory. It's his after work leisure time activity...

[BeautifulBeast]

I'm going to!! I have the perfect space for a decent sized garden and I have it all planned out whats going to happen back there!! Just have to wait for the ground to not be frozen so we can till it up and then I will be building raised beds and laying down mulch and planting things I am sooooo excited! I have been waiting for the day when I was able to have a garden and keep up with it but my kids were too young before. It's very difficult to tend a decent sized garden while you're screaming at a 2 year old to not run out in the road >.< Buuuuut both kids are old enough now that they can listen and entertain themselves outside while I weed/plant/enjoy my garden so I'm going for it! Even have plans of putting in a small pond to attract some froggies for some natural bug killing action!! Yay!!!!

Oh! and I'm tearing out two old, dead trees and replacing them with fruit bearing ones! Ah! Is it spring yet?!  

[rketterman]

depending on how the next few weeks go I may not be able to grow everything I've wanted to.  I will, however, grow anything and everything I can. I have big plans for a small area garden this year but it may not happen if some other changes occur.  It's up in the air right now.  I have time to figure out whats going on so hopefully things will go well.