An Experiment

Yesterday Summer and I purchased several plants at Southside Community Land Trust's annual plant sale. This was not our first time making such a purchase, though we've never had much luck before. This year, however, will be different. This time, we have a plan.

These plants are vegetables, specifically collard greens, spinach, arugula, eggplant, cucumber, jalapeño, and three varieties of tomatoes. Here they are:

The nature of the experiment is as follows. All of the plants will reside in containers, specifically sub-irrigated planters. To be even more specific, these ones:

Some plants will remain indoors, namely sungold cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, collards, spinach, and arugula. Some will remain outdoors, namely sungold cherry tomatoes, pear tomatoes, collards, spinach, arugula, eggplant, cucumber, and jalapeño. All have been planted in the same organic potting mix, hopefully to be supplemented by home-made compost but otherwise to be supplemented by a fish-based plant food.

We have three goals: first, to gain some idea what we're doing eventually; second, to compare the indoor versus outdoor growing condition; and third, to produce some tasty food. I'm particularly keen on item three.

Why are we doing this? I for one have always been a sucker for trends. Especially when those trends involve supporting an organization worth supporting, increasing urban plant life, improving my understanding of where food comes from, and giving myself access to the freshest ingredients possible. Hopefully this experiment will spawn more thoughts on these and other as-yet-unforeseen topics. And delicious meals.

So, the plants have been planted and taken their appointed places. Here they are. Updates to follow.

The outdoor group:

The indoor group: