Urban Edibles Part 3

So once spring rolls around again and you get the itch to dig, you can buy seedlings at any home-improvement store or garden center starting in about April. But beware! If you want to be a true Green Tween, find out where and how the plants are raised. Many small, local greenhouses grow their plants nearby. Taking it a step further, if you look for heirloom seedlings, you will be helping to save a variety of plant that may be hundreds of years old! (An heirloom plant is one that has been grown for generations and generations, and is not being mass-propagated anymore.)

Ask someone before you buy; if the salesperson can’t tell you where the plants were grown, maybe you could try a smaller, independent store. The closer to home your plants are grown, the more environmentally responsible you will be.

So now that you’ve brought home your adorable little seedlings, what about the dirt? Raised beds have an added bonus if the dirt in your yard is bad. Ask your parents about this. If they’ve ever tried to grow ANYTHING, they will know. Your dirt may be rich and dark, dry and sandy, or heavy and full of clay. Raised beds allow you to decide on the kind of dirt that will make your plants happy. You are the master of the raised bed universe. Cool, yes?

We use a mixture of topsoil, store-bought organic compost, and chicken poop mixed with wood shavings. The plants LOVE this. We just pile it into the beds and stir it all together with a shovel. We have also used a process called permaculture, where we in the fall we create layers of cardboard, vegetable waste, grass clippings, pine needles, etcetera, until we have created a sort of raised bed lasagna. Through the winter, under several feet of snow, all the layers decompose and add their nutrients to the earth. 

Check out SproutRobot for a handy tool to tell you when to plant what in your area. This super-cool website provides easy raised bed plans and ideas for Tweens to make WITH THEIR ADULTS.