Gardening with Chicagoist - Planting Edition

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jun 16, 2010 4:00PM

Last month, I bought a garden plot at the Peterson Victory Garden Project. It's been amazing to watch the project get underway. Less than a month ago, the space at the corner of Peterson and Campbell was a vacant lot, filled with concrete, irregular gravel and standing water. But after tons of work, gravel, mulch and sweat, the garden is looking beautiful. Over a hundred raised beds have been built and filled with soil, and planting has begun in earnest.

Because of the weather, it wasn't possible to start planting until late last week. I managed to get into my plot on Sunday and start our planting. I'm using a square-foot method for our small plot and, unlike most of my garden neighbors, I'm starting from seeds rather than seedlings. This comes from a combination of frugality and stubbornness - I want to see if I can actually make something sprout.

My vegetable selection is designed with this in mind, including only things that can go from seed to plant in the remaining months of the summer. Beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce and small bush beans are currently in the ground. I'll update when something sprouts.

As a complete novice - never gardened anything outside of a houseplant - I welcome suggestions, tips and comments. Please feel free to drop me a line.