It's not easy getting the greens

Ok I am not going to lie - I think that is a genius title......  :)

We are in our 3rd season as Urban Gardeners and this years version of the Veggie Garden got off to an early and optimistic start........ we had recently read Barbara Kingsolver's book (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) and there was a chapter in which she waxed lyrical about seed catalogues and about using heritage seeds.  So we boldly decided to eschew the all-too-easy seedling route and actually plant seed.  The All Knowing Dude at Westcoast Seeds in Ladner schooled Allan and the kids on all things seed and they came home with a plentiful supply of seed for us and for our fellow gardeners (we have 4 other families close by who are also growing veggies and we had a communal planning meeting early in the Spring and shared  resources and ideas).

Before we planted we were in Powell's Books in Portland and found this book called The Urban Homestead that showed, among other things, how to grow potatoes in tire tubes.  So on the last weekend of Spring Break we started our Veggie Garden 2011.

And then it rained....................

And rained........



And rained.......

While we contemplated building an Ark we also watched the veggie garden in vain hope of seeing little green shoots of.....anything.....

Finally we saw some signs of life in the outside bed (peas, snap peas, lettuce and beets) and in the incubators inside....... but even we, novice gardeners knew we were in trouble...... our dreams of bountiful heritage crops were fading fast.   I did feel somewhat less of a failure when I read this in the local paper this weekend..... and more determined than ever to grow rather than pay for our veggies.  I must say our potatoes are growing like crazy..... in their cozy tubes of rubber......

BUT we needed an intervention.

So this weekend I went on a quest for healthy, well-started veggie plants.  Although their heritage may not be as legendary as we may have hoped , at least they were grown here on a local farm and weather-willing could grow in our garden and feed us!

So with seedlings in hand my Garden Gnomes got to work and I was delighted to have the bed look productive.  We even got one day of good sun in before the return to the grey and the rain but I feel certain it cannot last much longer - sun will prevail!

 And veggies will grow.......