Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day always seems to signal the start of the summer season. I’m not sure why that is…the schools kids are not done – their summer will not really start for several more weeks. It’s a big beach weekend, traditionally, as if now that Memorial Day is here, you can go to the beach. I actually think any day at the beach is a good day, regardless of the time of year or weather. But whatever the reason, it does now officially feel like summer!


So, how did I celebrate Memorial Day in the garden? I planted corn. Seemed like a summer time vegetable. In my purchase of seeds for this year, I did have one, crazy, spontaneous, frivolous purchase. I bought a collection pack of what were called baby vegetables (hmmm, aren’t all vegetables babies at one time?). In this was a pack of seeds called baby corn. According to the package, these seeds will produce 4” to 5” ears if left until maturity, but they can be picked early to get those little edible corn cobs you can find at salad bars and in Chinese food. So, while this will not take the place of all the wonderful sweet corn I get from the farm stands in the summer, it seemed like it could be kind of fun. I also planted beans in with the corn. And once those all begin to sprout, I will plant my butternut squash.


Yes, you guessed it. This box is patterned after a Three Sister’s Garden. Of course, my corn will not grow as tall as standard corn, but it will still benefit from the nutrients that the beans will put into the soil. And my beans are bush beans…because that is what I had purchased before I got this idea…so they really don’t need any tall stalks on which to grow. In fact, I am hoping that the beans and the corn don’t all end up being the same size! And the squash? Well, that is intended to keep down the weeds, but I suspect that there is so much corn and beans in that one box, I may have to rethink the squash. Where I was so disciplined in my other boxes, planting only what was recommended for a Square Foot Garden, this box is a tribute to that unorganized, disheveled part of my personality.


Most of the seeds I had planted earlier have started to sprout. We had quite a bit of rain earlier – it is now official – this was the 4th wettest May ever. But this weekend has been beautiful, warm and sunny. I think these are perfect growing conditions for the garden. I still have one box that is in need of Mel’s mix and some plantings, but I finally feel as though the basic garden is planted. Let the growing season begin!!

A Shopping Trip

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day. It was such a nice day that an early morning trip to the farmers market turned into a trip to Home Depot, where we did not find any compost, followed by a trip to Southern States in Purcellville, where we found not only compost, but a tray of seedlings, and ended with a trip to the Kubota tractor store. The results of this excursion were basil, one jalapeno plant, 4 tomato plants, 6 mystery plants and the bug to buy a tractor.

Wait….mystery plants?? Well, they look like broccoli to me, but they were not marked. The sales clerk agreed with me that they looked like broccoli, although according to her, they could also be cauliflower. I like broccoli…I like cauliflower….and a little mystery in the garden could be fun. So I brought the plants home and planted them in the most recently prepared bed. What do you think they are?

A major step forward for me is the fact that there were only 4 tomato plants!! There is one Brandywine – my favorite – and one Mortgage Lifter. Also, one Roma tomato and one yellow tomato. And no cherry tomatoes at all!!!



Today was also moving day for the sage/mint monster. It was a pretty big job but the whole corner of the one box was dug up and moved to the box that is home for the thyme. Some of the mint went into the wheelbarrow to be dumped in the woods. It will undoubtedly grow there; earlier, when I was dumping some other weeds, I found a large patch of mint growing in the dark woods behind my house, where you wouldn't think a sun-loving plant could grow. I got this sudden mental image of, years from now, mint covering the entire 5 acres. Hmm, it will be mojito heaven!

Now, 3 of the square boxes and one rectangular box are prepped and planted. They will enjoy the rainy Sunday we are having today. The first to poke through is this radish...salad is on the way!

The old guy has been a constant gardening companion. Oh, and that tall grass in the background?? Yes, that is the front yard. That is what grass can look like when you hire someone to cut it - hense the trip to the tractor store. I think there is a Kubota B7610, with a 60-inch mower deck and a front end loader in my future!! Oh, the gardening possibilities that would open up!

A Late Start

I should be harvesting my spinach and lettuce and sugar snap peas now. There should be fresh radishes and beets from my own soil in my salad. I know this because when I go to the farmers market on Saturday mornings, those vegetables are waiting on the farmers tables for me. In the time that some grew the lettuces, and spinaches, and sugar snap peas I see, I managed to kill 2 trays of seedlings, and still nothing is growing in my garden. Sad…very, very sad. But not too late.

For Mother’s Day this year, during a weekend that I had to work, I got a very special gift. I got several hours of garden labor from my husband to get some of the beds ready for planting. We pulled up the weeds, moved all the dirt out of the smaller, square box into one of the larger, rectangular boxes, and filled the square box with Mel’s mix. Two boxes ready for planting!!

Then it started to rain!! And it rained and rained and rained. This is now the 5th rainiest May ever, and the first rainiest May in my lifetime. I had to wait for the rain to stop, but now, planted in at least one bed is lettuce, spinach, radishes, beets, carrots, kale and swiss chard. And, in the larger bed, sugar snap peas. I even got some cilantro started indoors. Hopefully, it is not going to prove to be too late.

The neglect certainly hasn’t hurt the thyme, it is bigger than ever. I suspect soon it will take over the entire box. Too bad the other kind of time isn't this easy to come by!

And the mint and the sage battle on…I always wonder who is going to win.

And so, the garden is finally started. And during this very busy month, during the peak stress times, the old man - below - and I walk out to the garden daily and wait for it to begin!