Garden -- Veggies

Veggies were the real reason I started my garden.

When I was a teen we lived on a farm.  Dad leased out most of the land but we opened up a quarter acre near the house and raised veggies.

I never liked asparagus or beets until I got to taste them fresh from the ground with all the sugar still there.  As veggies age they dry and the sugar converts to starch.

I buy only self-pollinated vegetables.  Organic is a whole other thing and I don't got there but you can.  This avoids GMOs.  You have to re-buy those every year.

You also have to re-buy if you buy garden store hybrids.  They don't breed or else they don't breed true.

Meanwhile, I have a mustard green patch that has been going for 5 years because I let the mustard go to seed the first year.  I have celery root that went to seed and I expect to have new celery root in that spot.  I've had tomatoes drop fruit which puts up a new plant the next year, although I don't promote that because of the disease thing.

There is more than one reliable seedsman out there selling open-pollinated seeds.  My favorite is www.heirloomseeds.com.  Another is J.L.Hudson.   Another is Renee's Garden.

You can plant leafy greens, carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, green peas and snow peas early.  In a normal year I can do it 1 March.

You have to wait to plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, beans, corn, cucumbers and melon.  In a normal year I can do it 1 May.

You can also have an autumn garden by planting more early vegetables before 15 August.

Make sure to put down your two inches deep compost every time you plant and you won't have any fertility problems.  If you want to use manure, use it as a deep dressing and make sure it's fully composted when you buy it, but DON'T use it for tomatoes.

I'm totally spoiled now.  It's just not spring until I can go out and pull some greens for lunch, or a pan of pod peas.  Summer means pulling a cherry tomato at dawn while I fill the birdbath, or getting the latest zucchini.   And I won't make pesto unless I can pick the basil out of the yard and get it mixed up within 10 minutes.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved