When I was very small, I was a treasure-hunter. We'd go to various soccer and hockey games for my brother, and I would spend the time looking under the bleachers for sparkly charms that had fallen off of jewelry, pretty bits of paper and, once, what I thought were diamonds until they cut my fingers.
In the midst of job-hunting and grad-school-advisor-hunting (maybe they don't know how to use phones?) I went treasure hunting for strawberries with my little friends, my neighbor's 4- and 6-year-old kids. (
IMPORTANT NOTE: let it be known that I don't babysit, because my little friends are not babies. We just play together for a while when mommy needs a break) I haven't picked strawberries in a long time. It was great fun finding the red gems under the bright green leaves, bending upside-down to see if there were any hiding. My friends and I spent several hours hunting for shiny, fat, juicy rubies. They fairly had to drag us out of the field because we kept spotting another perfect berry.
By the end of it, our hands were all stained pink, and some of us (not me!) had streaks of pink across their faces as well. Particularly in the area of the mouth...
And perhaps in search of industry, I have undertaken to plant a real garden. It started innocently enough, with a few bulbs. Then a couple of herbs. And then we thought...wouldn't it be nice to grow our own tomatoes? And then I read
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and we went to load up with starts for dill, cilantro, peppermint, edamame, two kinds of basil, two kinds of tomatoes, and seeds for zucchini, lettuce, and swiss chard. If you read it, you'll understand.
Lots of plants in combination with having only a "garden" and not a garden, necessitates lots of containers. This comes with the benefit of controlling the soil it grows in (none of that clay/sand/gravel nonsense), and being able to move the containers if necessary. And for some things, like mint, it keeps the roots under control.
Since it's pretty hard to get excited about those ugly plastic planters they have at most stores (the nice ones being too expensive, obviously) I went to the
Rebuilding Center in Portland with an eye for big containers which might be modified to hold plants. I found a drawer sans handles and bought a couple to put on each side (all the better to carry it, my dear). I then taught myself to use a power drill (this sounds stupid, because really there's only one button and a switch to push, but I thought I was very clever to use a power tool without breaking anything/myself) and drilled a few holes in the bottom for drainage.
total cost of container = 5 bucks.
Introducing Lettuce, Bright-Lights Chard, and Edamame. Behold me booty!
