Getting into Gardening Season

When I first got a dog I didn't yet have a proper garden fence

I'm sure I was not alone in taking advantage of the beautiful weather Saturday morning to do a little garden prep work before the rain arrived. I was digging up one section of my yard with an eye towards expanding my green patch, and I found a few interesting things. In the past I've unearthed old seltzer bottles, glass marbles, bits of vintage bathroom tile, an assortment of animal bones, and even a metal mini-lipstick case that appeared to date from the 1920s. This time the soil yielded two old clay marbles and an Indian head penny from 1902. I've heard from other neighbors who've found some pretty interesting things over the years.

Two clay marbles and an Indian head penny

As part of my spring to-do list, I checked with Jenks Hardware (910 Bladensburg Road) and they are all stocked up on soil, mulch, garden tools, and whatever else one might need to get the yard up and running, including seeds and plants from Cultivate the City. Speaking of which, Cultivate will host more events and classes at Jenks this year. There's a class on growing your own oyster mushrooms this Thursday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The $20 fee includes a take-home kit participants put together and inoculate with Italian oyster mushroom grain spawn during the class. There's also Indoor & Container Gardening 101 this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. It covers gardening basics, as well as how to make "a sub-irrigated planter" that allows you can go on vacation without worrying that you'll come home to dead plants. That class is $10, or $20 if you also want to take home a root pouch with potting soil and an herb or succulent.

Herbs from Cultivate the City