Room to Grow

My dad taught me the pleasure of watching something grow that you had put in the ground when I was about 10 years old.  Since then, there have been few years when I haven’t at least grown some tomatoes, beans and squash.  Last year my wife and I sold the suburban home where we raised our boys to young adulthood, and bought the remnant of a dairy farm which had operated until the early 1980s.  Beating back 20 years of brush and briars has been a challenge, but I now have the space to grow more than we can eat, can, freeze, and give away.

I’d like to share some of my toils, successes and failures, and maybe learn a few things from other gardeners, like how to deal with tomato blossom end rot, and what to do with all that squash and zucchini that seems to show up in July.

Change of Season is in the Air 8.25.11

Just three weeks ago, it seemed like we were living
off the fat of the land.  Plenty of tomatoes, green beans, squash, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, and watermelon for
dessert.  There was enough to eat from the garden every day, give away some to friends and neighbors, and put a few things up for the winter.  On a broiling hot Sunday afternoon, we had folks over for a low county boil with fresh corn and potatoes, and shrimp caught last fall on the edge of the Charleston harbor. 

Then the heat and dry weather finally took their toll, and the garden started looking sad. The one bright spot was the crowder peas, which came in late, but have been a big hit.  Boil them for about 20 minutes with a little butter and a vegetable bullion cube.  Delicious. If you think you don’t like “field peas,” try some fresh ones this way. 

I did CPR on the tomatoes—culling out the worst looking plants; stripping the vines of fruit on some; watering and applying fungicide for blight on others.  We’ve managed to pick enough tomatoes to eat, and the vines seem to be rallying.  However, we have gotten a little less picky about size, and are now grateful for anything that is fresh and ripe.  Still beats anything we’ll see this winter. 

We’ve got some fall garden going, which seems appropriate while waking up to temperatures in the low 50s for the last several days.  Acorn squash plants are up and doing well.  Some lettuce and sweet peas are up, but it has been too dry for them to get going.  Last weekend, I sowed some turnips, kale, and collards. 

This can’t be!

It is only mid-July, so how can it feel like the summer is getting away from us?  Maybe it is because I spent much of June in court, and it feels like the weeds and blight almost overtook us.  The good news is we have enjoyed piles of beans and squash, the onions haven’t been half bad, the potatoes have been tasty despite the blight doing a number on the Yukon Golds, and we just started eating fresh corn this week.  The copper fungicide seems to have done its magic on the Tomatoes, which are looking nice and plump if still green.  A doctor/naturalist friend tells me that the copper is a pretty benign fungicide, but if anyone has ideas about something more natural which is effective, I am all ears.   Recipe tip:  one of our staff advises that wax beans cooked with fresh mint are very tasty.

 

Things are happening 4.30.11

 

Well, the potatoes I put in the ground in mid-March have finally reared their heads.  They sure didn’t do much until the weather warmed up.  Mostly, I worried for a month about whether they had rotted.  About the same can be said for the onion sets and cabbage plants I put out.  They held their own, but did nothing to get excited about. Next year, I think I’ll hold off until April.  

Last weekend, it really felt like late spring, so I put in 3 rows of sweet corn and some green beans, and wax beans.  I should say “we” as I had help from my friend Bob, who is going to do some co-gardening with me this summer.  We put in some early corn, some of the old reliable Silver Queen, and some Candy Corn, which sounds a little, well, corny, but is actually quite good. 

Fearing a late frost, I had decided to wait another week or so to buy tomato plants, but that was before my wife and I spotted some beauties at the City Market Saturday morning.  This is held in the parking lot beside the City  of Asheville Public Works building on Charlotte Street, and is a great place to get local plants, produce, not to mention some breakfast, if you haven’t been.   I bought some beautiful Cherokee Purples, and German Striped Tomatoes from some nice ladies fromMarion—I forgot to get the name of their greenhouse.  We’ll let them harden for a week or so before we put them in the ground.

Breaking Ground

BREAKING GROUND   3.21.11

Two weekends ago, it was so warm and nice that I couldn’t keep myself from plowing up part of my garden spot.  The ground was still a little wet, so I had some hard clods to work on when I tilled it the next week, but it was nice to get going.  Last weekend I put in some potatoes and onion sets.  I haven’t grown potatoes since high school, so we’ll see how it goes.  I put in Red Russets and Yukon Golds, and plan to use the time tested hill-it-as-you-go method.  Despite the recent warm spell, it still seems a little early, so I am prepared to replant if need be.  Think I’ll let my cabbage seedlings harden a little bit more before I set them out, and probably will wait another week or so to plant the sweet peas a friend gave me yesterday.