Spring/Early Summer

While I was waiting to finish construction of The Pantry Garden, I was thinking about how pollination helps create better gardens. While there are some random “volunteer” perennials along the fence on the side of my garden & in the back of the property, I thought it might great to plant other flowers to attract bees, butterflies, etc. for pollination to help increase yield from the garden. And besides, it will make the garden more attractive. But since I only plant vegetables from seeds (aka The Victory & Pantry Gardens), I thought that I should only plant flowers from seed, get seeds from my friends, and split existing perennials.

I bought some seeds & my friend gave me a pack - check out Audrey Hepburn’s quote - love it! Another friend gave me zinnia seeds that she collected from last year. While I was visiting my friends in Chicago, one of my gardening buddies split & gave me some Black Eyed Susans that I had split and given her from my garden years ago. I love how they came full-circle.

Last year I posted about how I start vegetables from seed, transplant & harden them outside. I also posted how I use my compost while planting them. I started hardening my kohlrabi & beets. I usually plant the beets about a month before the rest of the vegetables. Because of the garden construction delays, they became leggy, but I knew they would be OK. And yes, I still had 4 crates of tomatoes to harden later because they are planted in warmer weather.

Can I say a little more about compost? Disclaimer: any reference to books, blogs, YouTubers, etc. are just my recommendations (like I would tell friends). I am in no way compensated by them, nor do I monetize this blog. Last year I saw the film The Need to GROW produced by Food Revolution at The Freeland Film Festival (an international not for profit group) annually held in Green Lake. It really sparked my interest. Check it out. In the online How To Compost video, I learned some cool new things that I wanted to share. The perfect ratio for making compost is 1 part green (food scraps) to 2 parts brown (things once alive ie. leaves). The green is nitrogen and the brown is carbon. Then you layer it to get it mingling from the get-go. This is just a guideline, however, because different “ingredients” have different amounts of these nutrients. Because there are different types of microorganisms in compost and as they increase their efficiency this way, different bacteria are involved. Turning the compost actually helps the microorganisms find the right kind of stuff to eat & digest making the compost. Interesting!

Back to the current states of my gardens.

BEETS:

I planted my beet seedlings & spring onion sets in The Victory Garden in early May. I also planted beet seeds so that I would have 2 pickings. The other day I picked a few and by the end of July I will have picked them all. The spring onions are basically scallions. Usually I just use chives, so these will be a treat! My Gardening Partner in Chicago decided to start beets from seed inside too. When I visited her, she graciously gave me some. Yes, I “found” some room in The Pantry Garden for them - always room for more from friends. And this year I am going to start wilting the beet leaves like spinach - my Victory Gardening Partner convinced me to try it.

STRAWBERRIES:

Remember how my Victory Garden partners said I should rototill the asparagus & strawberries? But the week before, I saw her weeding them. There were a lot of weeds. As a surprise, I weeded & divided and replanted them in both gardens. You aren’t supposed to pick them until the 2nd year, but I transplanted them literally 10 minutes after the I split them. After a brief consultation, we decided to eat the strawberries when they are ready. Everyday we pick a big bowl. They are sun-kissed delicious!

TOMATOES:

I planted them in The Pantry Garden the weekend before Memorial Day. It was a bit of a gamble because sometimes the night temperatures dip in the low 50s in Wisconsin. But I had a lot of other things to plant now that I have two gardens, my daughter was graduating from college out of state, my kitchen was being gutted, and I didn’t want to be a slave to my gardens. If they didn’t make it, I still had a lot of extras. The tomatoes thrived & I was thrilled. You know how much I love everything about tomatoes from eating them raw to using as an ingredient to canning. I am doing some different things planting & maintaining my tomatoes this year. But I am going to write about this in my next blog post - so stay tuned. I know you will enjoy reading all about it!

EGGPLANT:

I always purchase my seeds online from Burpees and use them for 2 or 3 years. Because I didn’t plan on planting eggplant last year, I bought a pack at the grocery store and only 3 germinated! So I had to buy another pack. And of course they all sprouted, so now I have 18 eggplants. I tried to give some to my friends but nobody wanted to grow them because of flea beetles. So yes, like every good Italian, we will be making a lot of eggplant! I have to admit that I make a wonderful eggplant parmesan. My mother though, makes absolutely fabulous fried eggplant! When my mom visits in early August, she is going to make LOTS (at least I hope she will)!

Eggplant LOVE & NEED warm temperatures & sunshine. They should be planted only when the soil temperature is over 55 degrees. Yes, I bought a soil thermometer. So I planted them the 1st week of June. Usually it isn’t until the 2nd or 3rd week of June, but we had been having a heat wave. Two weeks later, “you betcha” the flea beetles came. In the picture you can see the beetle chomping on the leaf! But this year we caught them early & my gardening partner immediately sprayed them with Sevin.

KOLRABI:

My kohlrabi are growing fabulously. Last year a critter somehow got into The Victory Garden & chomped them; only 1 survived. So I only planted them in The Pantry Garden this year.

PEPPERS:

Last year the peppers in the garden were a dismal failure. I didn’t realize that peppers required fertile, well drained soil. Some of the soil in The Victory Garden had been depleted of some nutrients because the garden was in existence for over 20 years. While I had applied Miracle Grow every month and used compost as a top dressing every month, my pepper flowers never produced peppers. This year we applied fertilizer as well as composted leaves when we rototilled, but it will probably take a couple growing seasons before peppers will abundantly produce in The Victory Garden. So I planted them only in The Pantry Garden. Because I didn’t plan on growing peppers last year (just like eggplants), I purchased seeds from the grocery store. I was sad they didn’t germinate so I had to buy some more. I found a lot of red pepper & jalapeno seeds, but green peppers were nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere & I didn’t have time to wait to order them from Burpees. Apparently everyone is expanding their gardens because of the pandemic just like last year! So I am growing 3 different varieties of red peppers & jalapenos. My daughter loves red peppers and eats them raw. I guess I will be making stuffed RED peppers this year. Yes, I am hopeful they will grow!

DIRECTLY SOWING PEAPODS, BEANS, KALE:

I never grew any of these from seed before, but because I have an extra garden, I have more space to experiment in The Victory Garden. I am pleased to report that I have had great success! And it wasn’t hard to do. The hardest part was keeping the soil always moist until the seedlings are a few inches tall - and weeding them from time to time. I left space between the rows & put semi-decomposed leaves (from my leaf compost) on the rows for weed control and to make picking them easier. While I am more of a “go with the flow” kind of gardener & never really measure things out, I decided to do it “the right way according to packaged directions”.

PEAPODS:

One of my neighbor’s children asked if she could help. How could I say no? She was so cute using the tape measure, placing the seed in the exact spot, and saying the magic words, “Goodnight. See you soon!” And then we placed glass magic fairy rocks by the rows (the fairies had apparently left them from last year). It really warmed my heart because it reminded me of how my daughters used to help me. My oldest daughter just graduated from college & she is an AVID gardener. Her boyfriend gave her a self-contained grow light system and she grows basil & lettuce. When she moved, her seedlings were some of her most precious possessions & had to be moved with extreme care. My other daughter likes to help me plan my garden, water & pick the vegetables. She was sad that we couldn’t grow watermelon in The Victory Garden because they require ALOT of water or else they are mealey. NOBODY likes mealey watermelon! Maybe next year I will grow them in The Pantry Garden since I have a well. I am already thinking about next year. I just can’t help it!

KALE:

Instead of starting kale from seed like I usually do, I decided to sow the seeds directly in the garden. My grow time would be longer, but I decided to try. It really did take about 20 days to germinate just like the package said. So while I had to be continually patient, they did grow and so I think I will always directly sow them from now on.

BEANS:

I never wanted to grow beans before because they have to be grown on poles for sturdy support & that just seemed like a lot of work. I never realized that there are bush bean varieties and they don’t need that type of care. I found an heirloom variety called Triomphe de Farcy which are french beans with slender pods. They grow upright which will be perfect for my gardening style. They are starting to flower (aren’t they pretty?) so I am already looking forward to sauteing them with garlic and using in stir fries - fingers crossed!

CUCUMBERS:

One of my neighbors always starts them from seed. My daughter is the only one who likes cucumbers. I do, however, love pickles so I graciously accepted four of her seedlings. My friend makes pickles in a crock, so I thought I would try to do the same. Despite all the TLC I gave them, they shriveled up & died. Next year I will do some research on growing them, and I will try again. AND I will ask my neighbor for her secret the next time I see her!

ZUCCHINI:

One of my new friends, who has a large garden, had an extra plant. I have never grown them before because they take up so much space, but because of my cucumber mishap, I had room to try. Hopefully I will be able to make a lot of chocolate chip zucchini bread. Everything is better with chocolate chips! I might even try making zucchini potato pancakes from my Amish friend’s recipe.

As always, I hope you are enjoying this glorious weather with your family & friends and doing some of what you love — including gardening and sharing your labors of love. I want to share with you some of my favorite gardening quotes. “Never underestimate the the healing power of a quiet moment in the garden.” - Nature Hills Nursery. “Growing your own food is like printing your own money” - Ron Finley. “Gardening is the purest of human pleasures.” - Francis Bacon.

As the pandemic ends, I hope you visit some mom & pop establishments because many of them are still struggling. I hope you are spending less time watching TV and being on the computer because you should be outside again & seeing people that you love IN PERSON. I have been going to the movies again & totally love it. Lastly, please pray for peace in these unfortunate turbulent times.

Thanks for reading & I hope to see you all in person soon and also hear about your garden adventures. Because “there are no gardening mistakes, only experiments”. - Janet Kilburn Phillips.