My husband is finally getting just a little bit more into organic gardening. I think it’s more out of despair for how poorly our garden did last year than anything else, but it’s still a start!

He has started putting our veggie and fruit scraps into the blender with water to make some quick compost. I’ve been telling him for a while that a little bit of composting might be possible, even if a full compost heap would be tough here at this house we’re renting, as it doesn’t have a good place for one.

This last growing season was terrible for us. We garden partially for the food but also because the kids love helping out. It’s not easy… he built large containers that he put in the part of the yard our landlords covered in wood chips so that we could somehow have a garden. But he got the soil mix wrong or something, and that combined with a major heat wave really kept the garden from thriving.

He came to the realization that we needed to do something to improve our soil before the next growing season. Living in Southern California as we do, there’s plenty of growing time most years.

Last year he insisted on putting chemical fertilizers in the garden and making sure I knew to keep the kids away, as the type he used looked more or less like candy (Nerds, for the curious). When you’re trying to encourage your kids to be interested in the garden, then say “but don’t touch that” it gets a little tricky.

I love using products that I don’t have to worry so much about my children with. That they’re better for the environment is another big plus. I’m going to keep up this fight so that my husband improves from how he was taught to care for a garden. ‘Cause he comes from highly conservative Republican, “global warming is a myth,” “****** environmentalists” (you can fill in that blank) parents, and it’s a challenge to get past that sometimes.

I think I can do it.

Technorati Tags: organic gardening, compost, quick composting, garden