By: Bob Howard, Mobile County Master Gardener
The Mobile County Master Gardener Association will be holding our Spring Festival on Saturday, March 29 on the lower lawn of the Mobile Botanical Gardens. This is a new location for us that offers the beautiful backdrop of MBG which will also be open for visitors.
We will offer a variety of over 3,000 vegetable and herb transplants for sale to Mobile’s home gardeners for $3 each, and there will be several speakers providing solid research and experience as well as hints and tips for success in the garden. Several vendors are lined up to help you with your gardening needs, and when you get hungry, there will be a food truck with a variety of tasty meals.
Our theme this year could be “Chasing the Sun” to shine on pots of herbs on the kitchen windowsill, to larger pots of tomatoes and peppers on a sunny porch or patio, to even larger growing containers like raised beds filled with squash and cucumbers.
We all know that our vegetable plants love the sun: it’s essential that the plant receives 6 to 8 hours of sunlight every day to produce the vegetables we want to serve at our table, but you do not need a large garden plot to make that happen.
Herbs can thrive in a pot on the sunny kitchen windowsill, where it is also handy for breaking off a sprig to throw into the pot on the stove. Convenient! They also offer a splash of vibrant green and their fresh aroma to the kitchen.
Your porch may capture enough light if it is south-facing. If not, your patio may offer a sunny location to grow your crop. This setting is also appropriate since your vegetables will also have foliage and flowers that are pleasant to the eye.
You can also use a raised bed if you have one, OR any flower bed around your house or yard. While not necessarily conventional, there are some gardeners who use their flower beds to place a few vegetables in pots or in the ground. Generally, the location is already prepped for horticultural plants for display, and they will likely enjoy the requisite sun exposure. The vegetable transplants we offer will provide foliage and color to complement any home flower garden.
The joy of gardening is finding that time and space in our current lifestyle to add the experience of growing something that is pretty and delicious. Medical professionals have known for some time that growing plants in the ground is therapy for the heart and soul. We city dwellers have become increasingly separated from the land; we have lost that connectivity with nature we need.
When I first became interested in gardening, I realized that it is a revival of my youth: I get to dig in the earth and get dirt under my fingernails. I get to explore and learn stuff. I get to chase bugs and use sharp tools. In short, I get to be a kid again. The surprising thing is that my grandkids think it is fun, too.
Gardening can be as big and as complex as you want, or it can be as simple and focused as a few plants in pots on the windowsill or on the porch or patio or flowerbed. You may grow enough for yourself with a little to share. Maybe you can just chase the sunbeams like you are a kid again.
Come visit us at our Spring Festival at the Mobile Botanical Gardens on March 29. You can buy some pretty plants and get some dirt under your fingernails and, you just might feel a little younger.
