Found Food

I've been gardening at my current location for five years.  Since I started gardening roughly twenty years ago, I've tried any number of fruits and vegetables.  The outcome has been mixed, especially any fruit or vegetable that I start from seed.  And when I say mixed - I mean it's usually been a disaster.

My first spring here, I tried growing strawberries from seed.  I was a sucker for a small tin container with potting soil and strawberry seeds, which by the way are nearly microscopic.  I bought it!  I previously tried strawberries at the old house that were already started and only needed to be transplanted.  By the time we moved I would eat a couple dozen strawberries while I watered the other beds.  However, I often shared the berries with birds who could not resist the small rubies.  Those strawberries were packets of tangy sugar!  But I digress

If my memory serves me correctly, I seeded that small tin container outside on a windy day in March. Once seeded and watered I placed the tin container on a rack in the front, south-facing sunroom (results were similar to my last post - the great fluctuations of temperature baked the poor little things before they had a chance).

Despite the failure, their progeny remain.  In the photo between the dandelions are strawberry flowers!  These are from the seeds that were taken by the wind.  I won't mow the little patch and will have to be careful not to walk over them as I do other chores.  The flowers serve as a memory of an experiment not quite right, but the hope the tiniest seeds may germinate into finding the unexpected.

Yesterday I cut greens outside for the first time.  My yard is littered with dandelions and since I don't use pesticides I can eat the greens.  They're strong and bitter but are nicely offset by apples and/or raisins.  Before our complex food chain, I can see how excited people would have been to eat these greens, since they grow before everything else.

These are photos of my garage greens.  

While it's clear that there are dandelions growing in the gap between the driveway and the concrete for the garage, there are also smaller yellow flowers in the top photo.  Those are arugula plants flowering on their way to seed.

Much like strawberries, I've started arugula either to grow beneath the garage grow lights or in small pots to be transplanted.  A bit of wind and a few errant seeds and you have salad!  Arugula has slowly populated other parts of the lawn as well.  The dried stems in the lower photo are last winter's arugula plants.  The seed pods have broken and seeds are being spread by the wind, birds, or under foot.

I like the idea of having food everywhere on the property.  It gives me pleasure to see tufts of arugula by the mailbox or the walkway.   I'm not averse to tear a few leaves on the spot for a peppery, nutty flavored little snack!

Not having kids running around, grass seems like a waste of space - a lot of energy that nets little results.   The strawberries and greens are a small to realizing my dream of one day having a completely edible yard!  Neighbors - you've been warned.