Introduction

For as long as I can remember, my family had a garden, and I grew up in a small town. From the age of five until I moved away to college I helped care for the family garden - raised beds, fruit trees, and raspberry bushes. My favorite food came straight from the garden, and my first two jobs were working on a farm.

When I got to college and moved into a very small apartment, I resigned myself to not having any plants for a while. But that didn't work. My second semester I received one of those flower pot kits, and realized I needed to help things grow. That's when I first became interested in growing food from scraps. At first, all I had was a bunch of green onions in water. After they died, I had moved to a larger apartment and began exploring: I planted lettuce and a couple avocado seeds. I never got the lettuce to survive, but one of my avocado seeds was growing really well, until I couldn't find someone to take care of it when I went home for the summer and it got thrown away.

I came back and started my garden even more enthusiastically. I planted a couple avocados, four orange seeds, and two bunches of green onion in the first month. The green onion lasted a while, but one of the avocado seeds and two of the orange seeds never sprouted. I have also tried planting lettuce every time I get a head, but still haven't had any luck.

I bought some potting soil at Maceys and plant my seeds in small yogurt containers, moving them to cottage cheese and large yogurt containers as they grow. I kept them outside during the summer but bring everything in during the winter, because I am in Utah and it gets really cold.