Tag: Garden

This Is Why I Have A Garden

Last summer and again this year I’ve worked my mini-garden on the south side of the Hartford Courant building. I grow a lot of different crops and flowers. They’re nice, but only one plant counts for me.

I love tomatoes!

cherry tomatoes

Right after I started working at FoxCT I made a suggestion to my boss. Wouldn’t a gardening segment be nice?

For many people gardening is a summertime passion. It’s often passed down from generation-to-generation. There’s a lot of interest, but it’s good TV in the abstract.

She said yes!

Last summer and again this year I’ve worked my mini-garden on the south side of the Hartford Courant building. I grow a lot of different crops and flowers. They’re nice, but only one plant counts for me.

I love tomatoes!

My tomatoes are always over-planted! This year my guardian angels, Marlene and Sarah from the UCONN Master Gardener program, implored me to rip out half my tomato plants to give everything a little more room to thrive.

It was like asking a parent to choose a favorite child! I didn’t want to do it. I’m not enough of an optimist to cut back.

As it turns out Marlene and Sarah were right. The tomatoes are growing now as if they’re nuclear powered! I will have more tomatoes than even I can devour.

Tonight I went to fetch my first picking. Not much yet. There was just enough to fill a pint container (after I’d munched the overflow) with pretty cherry tomatoes.

I walked the tomatoes around the newsroom offering them up as if they were some sort of hors d’oeuvres. They were still warm from the Sun and very sweet. The response was positive.

That’s the payoff. Nothing else really counts. Tomatoes are first, everything else is a distant second.

I’m Not The Only One Working In My Garden

While getting ready for my garden segment tonight I noticed this friend flitting from zinia-to-zinia. This was taken with my cellphone (Samsung Galaxy S2) using its macro focus feature. I was way too close for comfort. The bee didn’t seem to care.

bee on zinia

While getting ready for my garden segment tonight I noticed this friend flitting from zinnia-to-zinnia. This was taken with my cellphone (Samsung Galaxy S2) using its macro focus feature. I was way too close for comfort. The bee didn’t seem to care.

It’s The Little Things

I spent most of the on-the-air segment down on my hands and knees digging in the dirt (and horse manure). I sweated like a pig!

A little bit of this heat goes a long way. Here it is 8:30 and I’m pooped! Anyone nearby have a couch? I was out in my garden at work picking veggies in the sun. It was enough to set me back on my butt.

I’ve admitted this before, but I’ll say it again. I’m not a very knowledgeable gardener. There are loads of people who know more than I do.

I’m willing to do the research when necessary. That’s why I was prepared to talk about soil moisture today.

The good news is once planted gardens nearly grow themselves! Add water. Pull weeds. Voila! Veggies! I pulled a large basket’s worth this evening from my little plot and there’s plenty of growing season left.

I spent most of the on-the-air segment down on my hands and knees digging in the dirt (and horse manure). I sweated like a pig!

I am privileged to have access to the shower down near the presses where the Hartford Courant is printed. We’ve got towels. The water pressure is high. Trust me, I take advantage.

I’m going to try and stay awake until the news ends at 11:35 and then the drive home… but I’m making no promises.

In A Suit And Tie In The Garden

No matter what you do weeds are the crop that thrives most. They are drought resistant, mold resistant, pest resistant. They’ll grow through concrete given half the chance.

What a dork. I was just out in the garden in a suit, tie and dress shoes! Obviously I have a screw loose because as long as I was there I pulled some weeds!

No matter what you do weeds are the crop that thrives most. They are drought resistant, mold resistant, pest resistant. They’ll grow through concrete given half the chance.

Hopefully my lettuce hangs around until Thursday, because it’s ready for picking. Everything else is still coming up and looking healthy.

The tomato plants are getting taller and starting to set fruit.

Geez – that last sentence reads like a parent talking about a child.

I’m thrilled. So far so good. It’s doing all it’s supposed to do and making me smile every time I get my hands dirty in that horse manure infused soil.

Weeds In My Garden

pulled a few and said I’d need to pull more which elicited this (hopefully tongue-in-cheek) response from a former co-worker.

I was down in the garden for our 4:00 O’clock news this afternoon. It was soggy!

Though we usually do the garden segment live, today it was recorded (I’d say taped, but we don’t use tape anymore). That gave us a backstop in case equipment became balky in another deluge. In the ‘biz’ what we did is called a “look live.”

There are weeds growing in my garden. Damn you weeds!

I pulled a few and said I’d need to pull more which elicited this (hopefully tongue-in-cheek) response from a former co-worker.

“I’m going to have to do a lot more weeding.”

What a bunch of horseshit.

There’s no escaping! You can leave a job, but you can’t leave your friends.

The Gardener Returns

I’ll make it sound like I’m trying to help people at home grow things better. In reality I’ll be asking questions to keep me from looking like a fool!

Years ago I tended to a garden atop Channel 8’s building. If you remember those segments from “Geoff’s Garden” you’re showing your age!

It was a cool franchise, but rooftop gardening is very difficult. The garden was built in a box and dried very quickly. It needed water every day… and when I was gone those who were supposed to water forgot. I quickly learned about blossom end rot!

I had a garden at home too, but as Stef grew older and the Internet became more compelling I lost interest.

Now I’m planting a garden again at work in a beautiful spot on the south side of the Courant building. It gets 100% sun!

Bernie Gullotta who manages our building did the grunt work removing a patch of perfectly good grass and adding soil and weed guard. Robert Treat Farm in Milford will provide plants from their nursery and support in having what we need to grow food and flowers. If I take credit later please remind me of this.

We’ll be running segments from the garden on FoxCT every Thursday at 4:00 PM through the summer, but tomorrow’s planting day and I couldn’t be more excited. My boss has suggested (as only a boss can) there by flowers in the mix with the veggies I crave. Done!

I grew up in an apartment. I am not a gardening expert, but I will bring gardening experts in. I’ll make it sound like I’m trying to help people at home grow things better. In reality I’ll be asking questions to keep me from looking like a fool!