I have opened a Yahoo Message Board for the use of the Belmont Vistory Garden members.
The link is:
Belmont Victory Gardens Message Board.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/belmont_victory_gardens/
You will need to sign up as a member to use this board. Lets see if this is a useful format.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for doing this. However, it's come much too late for me. It was 35 years ago that I, as a recent college graduate, newlywed, and new Belmont resident began gardening at the Belmont Victory Garden.
It was there that I grew my first giant zucchini! It was there that I learned how much I love plants, and there that made the decision to become a botanist (but, alas, not a gardener).
Now I live on Long Island, where I have a small garden and teach botany classes at the New York Botanical Garden. I'm conducting research on Salvia hispanica (chia), and maintain a blog at www.chiativity.org
I've been following your blog this season, and it's bringing back floods of memories.
Thanks so much, and keep up the good work.
HI Margaret, Thanks for the great note! I wonder what the Gardens were like 35 years ago. I bet the weeds were just as fierce and the vegetables grew just as fast. Sounds like your zucchinis did.
ReplyDeleteMy husband says I'm the last person on earth who has never heard of chia. He says they even sell pets at CVS. I enjoyed looking at your site and learning about it.
Do I have this right:
You eat only the seeds.
They are very healthy.
You put the seeds on the pets and they grow.
What I can't figure out is if you eat the pets, or are they only decorative?
Thanks again!
The "pets" are made of terra cotta - you fill them with water which seems through to feed the seeds on the outside. I've never heard you could eat the seeds, I thought they were just an 80s gag gift for people at xmas time when you didn't know what to get someone you didn't know very well. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sorry, I didn't ever get back to see your response to my post.
ReplyDeleteYes, you eat the chia seeds, pretty much like you eat flax seeds: In small quantities, added to oatmeal or smoothies or whatever.
OR you can grow the sprouts on the terra cotta figurines (or on a paper towel). The only thing you can't do, is grow them for seed north of the tropics. They need a longer growing season.
P.S. I'll see if I have any photos of the old Belmont Victory Garden.
P.P.S. I'm still very much enjoying your blog. Especially the post about the "failures." I tend to take my failures too seriously, and you have given me new confidence that comes with the permission to be less than perfect.
Thanks!!