70/90, in bloom

A week after planting my kitchen window garden, my thumb is feeling a little greener. This summer should include a bouquet of my own flowers, an Italian pasta salad seasoned with my own basil and a nice chip dip with fresh chive.

After only a few days, a zinnia was breaking its way into the world. The black seed casing clung to the green stem as it leaned toward the 6 a.m. sunlight. I was afraid it would never fall off, that it would weigh down the skinny seedling. Then two more buds popped up and the seed casings started flaking off.

Then eight–yes, eight– little basil stems with their first two leaves broke through the soil. I worry that they'll get overcrowded, or worse, that their roots will be too weak and they'll crumble when I transplant them. I just hope they make it to the transplanting stage. Three more weeks and I'm home.

I got worried when nothing else was blooming. And then today there was another breakthrough: five blades of chive and a Marigold are working their way toward the Sun. I immediately call Joe when I find the green specks, like our dog was having puppies.

My confidence is increasing, and I'm giving credit to my new gardening approach. The watering is a bit ritualistic. I refuse to give any living thing Muncie tap water, so each morning the little pots get two teaspoons of Brita water. Other than that, I don't poke or prod or stir or add more water. I let nature do its work.

Unlike before, when I tried to get conditions just perfect, just the right dampness at all times, I'm trying to stay out of the way. If plants can manage to grow in the "wild," with (and thanks to) animals stomping all over them, bugs swarming them at times and the unpredictable rain patterns, then surely these pampered pots can make it on two teaspoons of water and a thin layer of undisturbed soil.

No complaints so far with this method. It still isn't quite a One Straw Revolution amount of laissez-faire, but it's making my job really easy... though I do look forward to seeing their overnight growth and checking the soil when I get home from class.

I've started gathering my gardening knowledge in only a week. My mom teased me for picking two stinky flowers, and I wasn't sure why. Apparently, she said, Zinnia and Marigold work as a natural critter deterrent. Bunnies and the like think they are something awful, and the odor keeps them out of the flowerbeds, which is why they've stayed so popular over the years.

These tips are going to really come in handy when Joe and I put our organic gardening plan into practice.