The Mid-May Garden: Salad Days of Spring

We finally got to enjoy some nice weather this week, at least nice by garden standards since it has been warm but also rainy. My cucumbers are growing by the minute, there's a baby lemon squash on one of my plants, and I have several cherry tomatoes ripening on the kitchen windowsill to keep the rodents from beating me to them. The heady harvest days of summer are still ahead, though, and it will be a few more weeks before I have big baskets of produce to share with my friends. Right now we're in the salad days of spring, with smaller, cooler weather crops producing perfect ingredients for tasty salads.

We have eaten an amazing amount of homegrown lettuce this year, partly because I planted more of it and started it earlier and partly because the pandemic means we're going to the store much less and really want that freshness in our diet. I think the Little Gem has turned out to be the family favorite; it has the romaine crunchiness and structure and has grown really well. Usually we eat a mix of all three varieties, but with the weather turning warmer now I'm trying to use up the more sensitive types and keep the Little Gem going longer because it's supposed to be the most heat tolerant.

 In the first weeks we had to supplement our salads with lots of canned or store bought toppings, but now we have our own produce! My runty carrots might not be good for much, but they are big enough for salads and also have tasty greens that can be added for more carrot flavor. My store bought Husky Cherry Red tomatoes are also producing a small but steady stream of fruit, which is great because it's going to take a lot longer for my seed grown heirloom varieties to do much. This cold spring was tough on baby tomato plants! The other exciting addition now is fresh green peas. My vines have been growing like champs; they're about six feet tall and loaded with pods. I have two types of peas this year, but I can't really tell the different between them. We eat them raw in our salads, but in a few days I should have enough to cook and serve with dinner. It would help if we stopped eating them in the salads, of course, but they're just too tempting.

 I've also found a great homemade salad dressing that uses my herbs. This herbed honey mustard dressing is simple to make, keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks, and uses whatever combination of herbs you have growing. I'm using sweet basil and thyme in the current batch, and it makes a fabulous finishing touch for our garden salads. If you're growing shallots you can certainly add them, but I am making this recipe without them and don't miss them.

Here's a summary of what's yielding in the garden as of May 19:

Green peas
Husky Cherry Red tomatoes
Little finger and Parisienne carrots
Lettuces (Little Gem, Salad Bowl, Merveille des Quatre Saisons)
Herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, mint, rosemary)

Newbie Gardener: You CAN Grow Mint!

I planted this pot of mint last spring.

If you've never successfully kept plants alive, starting a garden of any size can be a daunting prospect. This spring lots of people are turning to vegetable gardening to cope with anxiety and provide a stable food source for their families in wildly uncertain times, but for the absolute newbie or apartment dweller those rows of tomatoes and massive mounds of squash can be a non-starter. Where to begin if you want to grow SOMETHING but don't know anything about gardening?

I've got one word for you: MINT.

If you have a semi-sunny space for a pot anywhere then you can grow mint. Mint is so hard to kill it basically functions as a weed. Once you start a pot of mint you will have plenty of it for as long as you want. The one thing you must know up front is that you should never, ever plant it in a bed because then you will have beds of mint forever, and the mint will spread and take over until you have mountains of the stuff. PLANT THE MINT IN A POT!!!

Aside from being impossible to kill, mint is super handy in the kitchen. You can use it in tea, alcoholic beverages, salads, meat dishes, and even desserts. The more you harvest the more it will grow, so feel free to use it liberally once your pot of mint gets established. There are quite a few kinds of mint if you have specific uses in mind, but a generic mint is tasty and versatile.

Put the pot of mint in a sunny spot, water it every now and then, and watch it grow like crazy. It doesn't need fancy soil conditions, fertilizer, or any special treatment. Pests mostly leave it alone and will have a hard time making a dent in it even if they do pay a visit.

My pot of mint from last year wintered over, died back in the cold weather, and is now bursting with new growth. My front beds, unfortunately, are also full of mint because the previous owner naively planted it there, and I will be pulling mint out of those beds until I'm old and gray.

There has never been a better time to start growing something, especially a practical kitchen staple that you can use lots of different ways. You can get small pots of mint at nurseries, home improvement stores, and even grocery stores (our local Publix always carries small kitchen herbs in pots). Call and ask about delivery or curbside pickup if you need to avoid any risk of contact.

2020 Garden Update: March 29

Thyme, thyme, thyme!

You might think I would have more time to post with COVID-19 keeping everyone at home right now, but planting season in garden waits for nothing. I've been outside every day planting, potting, and tending the flowers, herbs, and vegetables. It feels really good to have something productive to do and something to look forward to each morning.

We called ahead at our local garden center last week to make sure they were open and able to maintain good social distancing measures before we made a trip over there to stock up on plants. With a dozen greenhouses and lots of outdoor paths we had no trouble keeping our distance from other patrons, and we tried to make sure that we bought everything we'll want for quite some time to come. I'm glad that we could support our independent nursery in spite of everything going on. Normally I would be in there constantly this time of year! We bought thyme, basil, a cucumber start, a gorgeous fern for the porch, a succulent pot, and quite a few plants for the flower beds.

Cucumber seedlings Take 2.

Back at the house things are really growing and settling into spring. The Lady Banks rose produced its first blooms, a great sign after the stress of moving it in the fall. The green peas are shooting up, the lettuce is going gang busters, and the tomato plants are all thriving so far. The squash and zucchini are doing well, too, and the pollinator beds are full of tiny sprouts. I started several new cucumber pots after the disappointment with my first round; this time I started some of the tried and true Salad Slicer seeds as well as the fancy ones I got from Baker Creek. I hope I will have better luck with them this time, but I also have the Lemon Cucumber start from the nursery as a backup. I might be drowning in cucumbers in a couple of weeks, but I'm sure I can find homes for them!

Our gladiolus order from Holland Bulb Farms also arrived last week, so we now have 70 glads planted in the front and back beds. I can't wait to see how the flower beds look this summer; we've got daylilies, lilies, glads, and liatris ready to take over from the daffodils and tulips. The shade beds are also filling in nicely, with the astilbe doing especially well and the hostas and ferns coming along, too. Eventually I should dig the monkey grass out of those beds, but I wanted to make sure other plants would actually grow there first.

Lettuce, green peas, and squash.

One of the challenges this year is a robust slug population. I never had any trouble with slugs at the old house, but a nightly slug hunt has become part of my routine lately. I use a cup of soapy water and a flashlight to hunt them on the raised beds and pots. They almost devoured my original basil plants before I figured out what was happening, but now I move the basil out of slug reach each night, and the plants are recovering.

Many of my intended garden projects will have to wait for summer or next spring, but even in the midst of the pandemic there is plenty to do right now. I started gardening as a response to anxiety, and I'm really glad to have this outlet now as we cope with such a massive crisis. I hope you are also keeping busy and managing to get some fresh air while staying safe!

Starting Your Kitchen Garden While Social Distancing

With the pandemic keeping everyone at home this spring, you might be looking for something productive and stress reducing to do, either by yourself or with the kids. This might be the perfect time to start that kitchen garden you've always talked about wanting, but you might not know where to begin. Since I'm still relatively new to gardening myself, I know how important it is to have plants that won't die, will grow quickly, and will tolerate mistakes or weather changes. Of course, the pandemic complicates shopping right now, but if you have a sunny patio, balcony, or a backyard of any size you CAN start your kitchen garden while social distancing!

Baby lettuce growing in a pot.

First off, home improvement stores are essential businesses because you still have to fix broken toilets and replace fridges, so your local Lowe's or Home Depot is still open. Garden centers are usually not crowded on weekdays or evenings, so time a trip accordingly if you're going to shop. Make sure you get everything you want in ONE trip. You'll need soil (either potting or garden), containers if you're using them, seeds or starter plants (try a mix), some feed/fertilizer, and a hose or watering can if you don't have them already. Leave the kids at home for this part, practice good hygiene while you're out, and wash your hands often. Independent garden centers might also be open in your area, depending on your location, and the ones where I live are now offering curbside delivery and phone ordering, so try those if you want to support local businesses and minimize contact. Don't forget to buy stakes if you are going to grow climbing plants!

Basic Supply List:

* Soil (potting or garden or both depending on your plans)
* Containers (pots, a raised bed frame, grow bags, or whatever you want to use)
* Seeds or starter plants (seeds are cheaper but take longer)
* Feed/fertilizer (especially if you're planting in regular yard dirt!)
*Watering system (a watering can, a long hose, or even a soaker hose if you're getting serious)
*Stakes for climbing vine type plants
*If you don't have them - a shovel, a spade or two, gloves, other tools depending on your plans

Squash is fast and prolific!

The other big question for a new gardener is what to grow. You might be tempted in the current crisis to go full apocalypse homestead, but practically speaking you should keep things simple. Start with a couple of easy vegetables and a few hardy flowers to cheer you up as we all get through the next few months. Remember to grow vegetables your family will actually eat! For kids and anxious adults, the faster growing plants will provide maximum interest and comfort.

Basic Vegetables (buy as seeds or starter plants):

* Tomatoes - the top home veggie. If you haven't grown them before try a cherry or grape variety for larger yields and less disappointment when you lose a few fruits to critters. Remember to bury starter plants up to the first set of leaves!

*Squash and Zucchini - they grow fast and produce A LOT. Give them room to spread or train them to grow vertically on a cage. These are great for kids to grow and - hopefully - eat!

* Cucumbers - I had wilting issues with the heirloom varieties I started from seed this year, so go with disease resistant seeds or buy a starter plant. Give them support to grow vertically.

*Beans/Peas - These are fast growers and great for cooler climates where spring is slower to arrive, but if you live in a hot region go with cow peas like black eyes or purple hulls. They LOVE the heat. Remember that they will need stakes or other support!

*Lettuce - A cool weather plant, but great for containers, especially if you want to grow baby lettuce as a "cut and come again" crop. Start from seed and sow a container or a few rows; if you space out starting them you'll have a longer harvest.

*Radishes - My family won't eat them, but if yours will then radishes are super fast growers and small enough for patio and balcony containers gardens.

Daylilies ordered online from Oakes.

Basic Herbs (buy as small starter plants):

*Mint - you can't kill it! Don't plant it in the ground; put it in a container, or it will take over your yard forever. You can even buy live mint at the grocery store and plant that.

*Basil - you can also get it at the grocery store in small pots. Basil is great for pasta dishes and easy to care for in containers.

*Rosemary - The scent is wonderful, and it's also super easy to care for, so splurge on a rosemary plant even if you won't use it for cooking a lot.

Basic Flowers (buy as seeds or small starters):

*Sunflowers - These are GREAT for kids! Regular ones will get huge, so buy dwarf varieties if you have a small space. There are many different types to choose from.

*Marigolds - Also really easy to grow from seed, but you can get multi packs of small ones at garden centers very cheaply. They have a great scent and deter many pests in the vegetable garden. Regular varieties can get quite big and busy, so look for dwarf types if you want smaller plants.

*Daylilies - You cannot kill them. Plant them in sunny spots in the yard, in containers, wherever. Look for cheap rebloomers like Stella D'Oro or Happy Returns for maximum enjoyment.

*Wildflower mixes - If you want to attract pollinators to brighten your home isolation, try scattering a wildflower mix in a sunny spot. The flowers will help bring bees and other helpful insects to the garden so that your vegetables get pollinated. Some flowers in the mix will grow better than others, but that's OK.

Remember that you can also buy seeds and other garden supplies online from a wide variety of providers. I use Oakes Daylilies, Baker Creek Seeds, and Holland Bulb Farms, but be aware that some seed companies like Baker Creek might be currently overwhelmed by orders.