Free Food

Every spring I am rewarded for my laziness. While many gardeners and farmers clean up their gardens before the first frost, I become my usual slothful self and decide that I would rather spend what little energy I have left freezing and canning my garden's bounty and skip clean up all together.

It pays off in the spring.

But you have to be patient and pay attention.

All too often in the early spring, I would be in such a hurry to get the garden clean and tilled and ready to plant that I would miss all the food just waiting for me.  I would plow it under before it even showed itself.

Every fall, that lettuce that you didn't take the time to uproot....it goes to seed.
Those cucumbers that you neglected after you had enough pickles made and stored....they went to seed.
That spinach that bolted and became too bitter to eat....it went to seed
That somewhat rotten onion that you didn't want - it sprouted again and is now beautiful
The garlic that you didn't pull....it's back and bigger than last year.
The parsnip you forgot to dig up - they are sweeter than ever now and ready to eat.
And so is that carrot!

And not only that, but Mother Nature is the best almanac for when to plant things you will ever find.  In general, when seeds are naturally sprouting outside in the cold spring, it means those seeds can handle it, so if you want to start neat and tidy rows of food, you probably can - even though the almanac and the seed packets may say otherwise.

There are all kinds of wives tales about "what is the best time to plant _____?"  For corn it is when oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear.  I don't know how many people have actually even seen a squirrel's ear?  I tend to just wait for the random forgotten ear of corn to suddenly sprout into action.  Even after a long, sub-zero winter, it will happen.

This is, of course, provided you use seeds that haven't been genetically modified to only sprout once.  Heirloom quality seeds or organic seeds cost more, but they will more than pay you back in their ability to produce fantastic quality foods with minimal work (or in this case, no work), year after year .







So, while other enterprising gardeners are busy cleaning, tilling and planting, I am busy harvesting the fresh spinach and lettuce from the garden - the first crop of greens so long awaited in the many months of cold.

 What we don't immediately harvest and eat, I transplant into more recognizable and organized rows.  The transplanting slows it down a bit and extends the season for a few more weeks.

So many times while gardening I have marveled at man's belief that we know what we are doing and are "in charge" of growing food.  While it is true that we are the caretakers of the produce, Mother Nature already has the system down and knows the perfect timing and temperature for it all.

Sprinting Into Spring

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go.  ~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

Spring is a crazy time.  It is like taking off from the starting blocks after the "spring" gun has been fired.  Nature has it down pat - knows the order of things that need to be done and does them well.  Myself....well, ...not so much.  I have to make myself a list of specific things that need to get done during my days off or I will simply stand around outside and marvel at all the amazing things that have popped up in the last four days.  That, or I get so overwhelmed that I start scampering around like a squirrel from project to project without ever really accomplishing anything at all.

Planting - that is the typical "to do" project at this point, especially for cool season crops - those that do best when the weather is cool and rainy, and lately, it has been very cool and rainy. 

Thus far I have managed to get the following planted in between rainy days:

• Peas - always the first in the ground as they will grow when it is miserably cold and rainy

  

  Peas

  .
• Spinach - I started this one really early mainly because I was curious as to whether or not my seeds would germinate - I am happy to say that they did.
• Lettuce - of course this gets planted about every 3 weeks so that we will have a constant supply of it during the summer.
• Carrots - again, one of many plantings
• Potatoes - most of them are planted, still waiting on a few to sprout before dropping them in the ground.
• Onions - they like the cold weather as well and I need them to be ready for making marinara as soon as the tomatoes are ready.
• Leeks - Potato soup wouldn't be the same without leeks
• Arugula - a friend of mine had too much planted so she handed some off to me
• Fennel - same friend planted too much fennel

  

  Fennel

  
• Broccoli - this I had planted in-doors weeks ago and it needed to go outside because it was becoming to "leggy" in the house
• Cabbage - also outgrowing its pots in the house. Needed room to grow.
• Corn - my 6-year-old corn fanatic helped me drop in the first round of corn
• Garlic - this has actually been planted since last November and has been growing since March, but for the sake of completeness I include it here.



Spinach



Making a list like this always makes me feel better on cold, rainy days such as this when I find myself pacing around the house thinking that I should be outside doing something - I can look at it and feel as though maybe I can take a little time off to enjoy a few of my other favorite things such as reading, writing and puttering in the flower garden. Planting, I always have to remind myself, is the easy part.  Planning where things will go, tilling up the soil, raking and planting is relatively straight forward and there will be a small lull in the action as everything germinates and takes hold, but then the weeding and mulching begins. 

So, crazy as it is, I am trying to enjoy this chaotic time of planning and planting because it really is one of the easier times during the course of the growing season.  Soon the days wills will stretch late into the evenings and my squirrel like scampering will become a daily activity as the weeds all outdo themselves to be the tallest and deepest rooted in the garden and threaten to bury my vegetables alive, and  then the crops of fruits and vegetables start rolling in and need to be jellied, pickled, frozen, dried, and canned.  There will come a time sometime in deep August where I will long for frost if only to catch my breath,  but for now I will sprint on and try to keep pace with Mother Nature if only for a while before she leaves me in the dust.