Garden
Horticulture is the credential, not a mood board.
Century College, White Bear Lake: VT Greenhouse Specialist (756 hours, 90.75 credits, Oct 2012) and VT Grounds and Turf Specialist (592 hours, 69.84 credits, Jan 2013). Industrial greenhouse. House manager. Then a cutting garden that feeds the atelier.
Dried bouquet
The training
Greenhouse production, grounds, and turf. Hundreds of hours, not a weekend class. Dahlias and zinnias in the row, herbs at the door, a crate when the week is heavy. The plant comes first. The vase is what is left over.
The same hands as the kitchen
Culinary certification at Forest Park, July 2013. Plating and wrapping are the same patience. Herbs hang in the doorway because they belong in the pot and on the plate.
Five frames
Written down in October. Each frame is a 2×4 with a plywood bottom. Pepper, lettuce, watermelon, squash, corn. The small planter is one foot. Watermelon shares the melon frame with pumpkin. Corn keeps carrot and bean. These frames stay in the ground. They are not a kit.
Pepper
4 ft × 3 ft × 2 ft
Lettuce and spinach
6 ft × 3 ft × 1.5 ft
Melon and pumpkin
6 ft × 4 ft × 2 ft
Squash
4 ft × 3 ft × 2 ft
Corn, carrot, bean
6 ft × 2 ft × 2 ft
What the packets say
Read off the seed packets in the October notes. This is a garden list, not a shop list. Mint stays in a pot.
Herbs
- Basil, Dark Opal Purple
- Basil, Sweet Italian
- Basil, sweet
- Cilantro
- Chamomile
- Chives
- Cumin
- Dill, Long Island Mammoth
- Dill, a second variety
- Lavender, Munstead
- Lavender, English
- Lemon balm
- Peppermint
- Rosemary
- Sage, broad leaf
- Thyme, common
Kitchen garden
- Bean, Blue Lake
- Cantaloupe, Hales Best Jumbo
- Cantaloupe, Hearts of Gold
- Cucumber, Straight Eight
- Cucumber, National Pickling
- Cucumber, a long type
- Lettuce, Parris Island Cos
- Lettuce, Salad Bowl
- Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson
- Lettuce, Grand Rapids
- Onion, White Lisbon bunching
- Onion, Evergreen bunching
- Pepper, California Wonder
- Pepper, a second sweet type
- Okra, Clemson Spineless
- Sweet corn, variety not readable
From seed to the table
October starts with water. The mint pot sits apart so it does not take the bed. What is cut that morning is what can be wrapped that afternoon. If it is not in the hand, it is not for sale.
Fall row
The fall page in the same notes. Seed, a pot, or a bed. Not a bundle you can add to a cart.
- Chrysanthemum, aster, sedum
- Ornamental kale, celosia, cosmos
- Pumpkin, squash, kale, Brussels sprouts
- Mint, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary. Bay in a pot, pruned. Cilantro bolts in heat. Lavender about 12 to 18 inches apart. Rosemary about 18. Mint stays in its own pot.