Out of the basement, into the light
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- June 4, 2020
- 771
I have been told a true gardener always plants from seeds. Really? I thought nurseries were the birth place for plants. A nursery shows you what a seed will look like once it grows up. That way you know what you are getting.
As a child I loved my gardens and planted them with whatever seeds I could come by. Sometimes I had radishes, sometimes daises. I really didn’t care as long as something green followed a seed being put in the ground.
Once, with no place to have a garden outside, I decided to turn our basement into a garden plot. It looked rather odd. None of the plants that grew there were green. Actually they had no color, but grow they did. My family was shocked, and my grandmother declared my thumb green. That worried me for years, afraid my thumb would actually turn green, but it never did.
Our house really enjoyed that basement garden and all the activity it generated. Up to that point, that basement housed the washer, dryer, furnace and hot-water heater. It was a concrete domain, not particularly well lit and awfully lonesome. My garden changed all that, and soon that cold, dull basement became a popular place for us kids to hang out. We even found an old card table that we propped up and used for games.
In the winter it wasn’t a very comfortable place to spend time, but it was all ours. Our parents thought we were all nuts, but we loved having our own space.
Having a bit more sense as an adult, I haven't attempted another basement garden. Now our cold-sensitive plants spend winters inside in front of the windows. They get enough light, so they stay green, and our house keeps them warm and safe from the ice and snow.
Come spring, house and plants must part, but no one goes far. Our place keeps her gardens close. So on this bright, sunny day, all indoor plants have moved outside where they are reproducing with happy abandon. If this reproduction continues at this rate, we may have to utilize our basement this winter.