Don't bother looking it up - Veg-Out 2010 only exists in my mind, and well, now this little blog post. Veg-Out 2010 is what happens when I'll be in a meeting, or on a conference call and look out the window to the many inches of snow, and my mind starts to wander to warmer times full of tomatoes, raspberries, Green beans and cucumbers.
About this time every year, I look at the little garden in the back yard, all covered in snow, and start considering what to grow during our itsy-bitsy growing season. I typically plant seedlings on Memorial Day ( call it June 1st) and the last harvest is somewhere in mid-September (because even though there may still be stuff waiting to be picked, the cool fall nights turn the tomatoes less than sweet and the basil gets a little wonky).
That means I have 90 days at the most to plant, carefully feed and water, tie up, trim up and dotingly watch the literal fruits of my labor make their way into my kitchen. That is, unless it's little food like raspberries, or grape tomatoes, or something else that may get popped in the mouth of the picker... the true joy of growing your own hangs in that very moment - that one second time frame from stem to palette.
see - you witnessed Veg-Out right there - I get very distracted when talking about my kitchen garden this time of year!
So, what to plant? Do I try new kinds of tomatoes, spend $5 on a plant that might not work? Do I send away now for heirloom seeds for lettuce that the bunnies will most likely get? There is a tricky balance between novelty and productivity in my garden that pushes me to the same crops every year. I won't plant things like corn, watermelon or even pumpkins because produce/square foot ratio is not high enough. Not when I can buy 12 ears of really awesome sweetcorn at the height of the season for $2.00. I'd use my whole garden to get that many ears!
So - any of you who garden, challenge me to do something different. If you want to know what I typically grow, visit my post from last year!
Girl Scout Cookies
2 years ago
Well damn, the only thing I don't see on that list is Broccoli.
ReplyDeleteThis will be our second year of the garden and I can't wait, we take our learnings from last year forward to this years garden!
Hah! Broccoli! I think I picked up some sad, but very mature broccoli plants at home depot last year and threw them in... and they produced plenty! The best part is when I neglect them in the late summer and they go to seed - when I throw them into the compost bin at that point- the next spring - I have self seeded brocolli plants... sometimes I just leave them in there and harvest from the pile!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to hear about your garden this year!