The BiG Story

How Does
Your Garden Grow?

Bringing a little bit of spring, and Jewish history, into your home.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

or most children, gardening is
a world of won-
- ,
der. Boys and girls
are amazed that they
can take a dry seed,
put it in soil, add water
and a few days later,
like magic, a plant
sprouts and grows.
Many children
become like little par-
ents, watching over the
tender young plants and nurturing
them until they grow into strong

and fruitful adults.
It's always fun to go to the store

and pick out interesting things to
grow from among the almost end-
less variety of colorful seed pack-
ets. But this time of year you won't
see any seeds for sale.
You can, however, find
plenty of appealing
plants to grow right in
your own kitchen.
Call it after-eating
gardening. Many of
the fruits and vegeta-
bles in your refrigerator
contain viable seeds
that children can plant
.
The
flora that sprout from
indoors
the seeds generally won't produce
the fruit or vegetable they came
from originally, but with the right

.

care they will grow into a source
of fun and fascination for little gar-

deners.
Aside from the produce in your
kitchen, the only thing you will
have to buy is potting soil. It is
available in bags of various sizes
year-round in nurseries, home cen-
ters and stores with gardening
departments. For containers you
can use just about anything. Clean
cottage-cheese; sour-cream or
yogurt containers are ideal. Poke a
hole in the bottom for drainage
and place them on the lids to hold
the overflow of water.
Try not to cut or nick the seeds as
you remove them from the produce.
Let them dry on a piece of paper

towel for a day or two, then plant.
It was only a few weeks ago that
we read in the Torah how God
placed Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. In fact, the Torah
is full of references to gardening
and plants of all kinds.
Here are three fruits mentioned
in the Torah that you can find in
most produce markets this time of
year: pomegranate (Numbers
20:5); grape (Genesis 40:9,
Numbers 20:5); date
(Deuteronomy 8:8). (Because most
dates are either pasteurized or
treated with sulfur dioxide to
guard against spoilage, the seeds
may not sprout, in which case
look for fresh dates.)

12/26

1997

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