Category: Outdoors

Start with an outline and some compost

This is a good time to make plans. If you are willing to spend just 15 minutes a day, every day, from spring to fall you can create an edible showcase for beauty: the splendid look of ripe red tomatoes, multi-colored Swiss chard or glossy green peppers. It’s not nearly as difficult as you think. And unlike maintaining a lawn, you get to eat the results of your labor. Here’s what you need to do:

To grow good vegetables you need sunshine, at least 6 hours a day and preferably more. For most people, the sunniest part of the yard is in the middle of the lawn. A well-maintained vegetable garden can be as gorgeous as a flower garden. And if you like flowers, you can plant some of those in your vegetable garden, too.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew — or weed. A nice lawn garden can be just 10 feet across and 12 feet long. Properly maintained, it will provide you with fresh veggies much of the summer.

Using string and stakes, define the borders of the garden and pry out the sod after cutting it into 1-foot squares with an edging tool or a spade. Use the sod to start a compost pile.

Start early enough in the season — say the first of May — so you can work just 15 or 20 minutes a day for a week or more to get all the grass out. That way you get in the habit of spending time in the garden, but don’t develop blisters or an aching back. Gardening should be fun, not hard work. Still, it can give you a workout without going to the gym.

Your lawn garden will have two raised beds separated by a walkway. Once you have removed the sod, you can just mound up the soil to form beds about 30 inches wide with a walkway up the middle and a 6-inch space between the lawn and the beds all the way around the garden. To do this, (after removing the sod) loosen the soil with a garden fork, shake out the soil and then rake the soil from the perimeter and the walkway onto the beds.

Then spread out five bags of composted cow manure on each bed (each bag is usually labeled 30 quarts), and work it into the loose soil with your garden fork or favorite hand tool.

Alternatively, you can build wood-sided beds using ordinary 6- or 8-inch-wide planks. For more years of service, 2-inch-thick lumber is even better. Gardener’s Supply (www.gardeners.com) sells a variety of brackets for building raised beds, and I suppose others do, too.

If you build wood-sided beds you will have to buy more filler than if using mounded beds. Most garden centers sell topsoil and compost by the tractor scoop, which is usually two thirds of a cubic yard of material. They’ll dump right into the back of your pickup truck, or even deliver (for a price). I recommend a mix of topsoil and compost, a 50-50 mix.

If you make wood-sided beds you can place them right on the lawn without removing the sod, which saves a lot of labor. Just scalp the grass with the lawnmower and put a thick layer of newspapers over the lawn, then fill the box. Long carrots might hit the bottom the first year, but most other plants won’t be bothered.

What to plant? Make a list of the veggies you like best and that taste best freshly picked. If you plant tomatoes, dedicate at least 24 inches of a row to each plant. And buy those wire cages for your tomatoes, so they won’t flop over and shade out your carrots or broccoli nearby.

I like to plant lettuce seedlings all around the tomatoes at the beginning of the season while the tomatoes are still small. By the time the plants get big, the lettuce will have been harvested and eaten. Run your rows north-south, and plant tomatoes (or any tall plants) on the north end of the garden so they will shade other plants less. Buy some bagged organic fertilizer and stir some in at planting time.

Oh, and about those weeds: The easiest way to prevent a problem is to mulch. Put down six sheets of newspaper and cover it with straw, mulch hay or last fall’s leaves. This will keep the soil dark, turning off the switch that weed seeds have to tell them when to germinate. Mulch also holds in the moisture during dry times. But when a few weeds do turn up — and they will — be sure to pull them before they get big and make more seeds. That’s preventive maintenance.

Gardening is said to be a middle-aged sport. After all, what parent of three toddlers has time to weed? But if you wish to reduce your food costs and feed your family well, a garden is great. And done this way, you can maintain it in 15 minutes a day. I promise. Just keep at it daily, and you’ll be surprised and delighted at how good your garden looks, and how much food you can grow — right in the middle of the lawn!

Featured photo: Adding composted manure enriches the soil. Courtesy photo.

Get your tickets now

The spring flower shows are always a contrast to the cold, icy days of winter. Bright flowers, garden paraphernalia and numerous workshops make these events fun, for both beginner and expert. Here are this year’s offerings.

The first show of the season is a specialty show: orchids. The New Hampshire Orchid Society is holding its annual get-together Friday, Feb. 10, to Sunday, Feb. 12, at the Courtyard Marriott in Nashua. This is the show for orchid lovers. There will be vendors of orchids from Ecuador, Taiwan and the U.S. Members of the Society will bring their orchids to compete and to strut their stuff. Admission is just $10, or $8 for seniors.

Next up is the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show Feb. 23 to Feb. 26. This is a mammoth show with more than 3 acres of displays. As always, it is being held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Tickets are $20 at the door, or $17 in advance. Kids 5 to 12 are $5.

One of the greatest things about this show is the educational seminars. Here are a few workshops that interest me: “Good Bug, Bad Bug, Benign Bug.” This is great for anyone who tends to squish any bug in the garden even though most are not a problem. I assume there will be slides of insects we should recognize but probably don’t. Then there is one on organic lawn care, and another called “Shady Characters.” I know garden writer Ellen Ecker Ogden of Vermont will do a nice slide presentation and talk about kitchen garden design and how to make your veggies look artful. She always does.

One of my favorite shows is always the Vermont Flower Show. It will take place this year March 3 to March 5 at the Champlain Valley Expo Center in Essex Junction, Vermont. The theme this year is “Out of Hibernation! Spring Comes to the 100-Acre Wood,”a tribute to Winnie-the-Pooh.

The main garden display is always a collaborative effort by members of the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association. For three and a half days members of VNLA will work together to create a 15,000-square-foot display using their own and donated materials. Other shows tend to have displays by professionals that are competing with each other, but not in Vermont — they work together.

There will be more than 100 vendors and 35 workshops to attend over the three days of the event. In the past I have purchased seeds, seed potatoes, bulbs, books and garden tools. Tickets are $25, or $20 for seniors. Kids are $7.

The Vermont show is a child-friendly event with a craft room open all day. Go online to see the schedule of events for kids — there will be a magician, marionettes and music. Be sure to attend this year — it only occurs every other year.

A bit farther afield there is the Philadelphia Flower Show. Last year they held it outdoors in May due to Covid concerns, but this year they are back inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philly March 4 to March 12. According to their publicity, “The PHS Philadelphia Flower Show is both the nation’s largest and the world’s longest-running horticultural event, featuring stunning displays by premier floral and landscape designers from around the globe. Started in 1829 by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Show introduces diverse and sustainable plant varieties and garden and design concepts. In addition to acres of garden displays, the Flower Show hosts esteemed competitions in horticulture and artistic floral arranging, gardening presentations and demonstrations, and special events.”

I’ve been to the Philly show a couple of times and I am always amazed by the sheer size and diversity of the displays, vendors and workshops. It is best to go mid-week when crowds are smaller, and take two days, if you can, to see it all. Tickets are $43.50 for adults and $20 for kids.

A show I have yet to attend is the Capital Region Flower and Garden Show in Troy, New York, which will be held again this year at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy from March 24 to March 26. According to their website, there will be 160 vendors and exhibitors and eight to 10 workshops each day.

Then in May there is the New Hampshire Farm, Garden and Forest Expo being held this year at the Deerfield Fairgrounds on May 5 and May 6. It is now in its 40th year and is the least commercial of all the shows. It is focused on sharing information.

Finally May 23 to May 27 there is the Chelsea Flower Show of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in London, England. I’ve been, and it was well worth the trip. It’s held outdoors and is truly wonderful.

If you plan to go to Chelsea, join the RHS to get better access times and pricing. Members get a discount of over $10 per day, but prices still range from $89 to $46 depending on the day of the week. British women tend to dress up for this show and wear big colorful hats. The first two days are for members only, so it should be a bit less crowded.

The spring flower shows are fun — and we deserve that after a long New England winter.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Look for old favorites and new varieties

We gardeners love our home-grown vegetables. As John Denver sang long ago, “Only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” And why do they taste so good? We can grow tomatoes that don’t have to conform to commercial requirements of size, shape, color and transportability. Our soils generally are rich in compost or manure and host a wide range of minerals and microorganisms that enhance the flavors of our vegetables. And of course we eat them fresh from the garden.

We can taste five flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. These flavors were important to our evolution as they told early humans what was safe to eat and what to avoid. The fifth flavor was not named until the last century: Umami signals available protein in meat, eggs, milk and beans. It is not as easily described or identified as the other four, but it is sometimes described as the flavor of contentment.

So how can we recognize the complex flavors of a good stew, and aged cheese or a bowl of exquisite ice cream? Our noses can recognize many thousands of distinct scents, and our noses and tongues work together to create tastes. Good chefs recognize this, and many farmers do, too. I recently read a book that contains interviews with fine organic farmers who treasure their soil and what it imparts to the scents and flavors of the food they grow.

That book, by Michael Ableman, is Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. Ableman, an experienced author and organic farmer in British Columbia, spent three months traveling around the States in a 15-year-old VW van. He went with his 23-year-old son back in 2004. They camped out, ate local food and met with organic farmers, some of whom were growing food for the best restaurants in America.

There is much to love about this book: Ableman is a skilled writer and storyteller, he is a talented photographer, and he is adventurous and inquisitive. Not only that, he included recipes from many of the farmers, and they all sound delicious — and mostly vegetarian.

Each of these farmers he wrote about had a unique approach to farming. One let weeds grow rampant. Another had fields that were weed-free and managed with “precision, control, formal science and discovery.” But all ate their own food, fresh from the field — or in the field. And each interview gave me something to think about, and perhaps to apply to my garden.

One of the most startling interviews was with Bob Cannard in Sonoma, California. Raised on a farm, Bob went to agriculture school but dropped out and started his own farm. When starting out, Bob grappled with this question: Why are natural places naturally healthy, while the fields and orchards of commercial agriculture are a continual battleground with weeds, insects and diseases?

His approach to farming was to try to mimic nature — weeds and all. He believed that plants that struggle to survive would develop more complex flavors — a belief later adopted by some wine makers. He believed that a monoculture — acres of the same crop — encouraged insect pests to arrive and necessitate insecticides. He succeeded as a farmer, selling vegetables to Chez Panisse and other high-end restaurants in San Francisco.

I was fascinated to read the section on Strafford Organic Creamery in Vermont. Earl Ransom has a small herd of Guernsey cows and bottles their milk in glass bottles and makes fabulous ice cream, which I know and love. Ransom believes that he gets wonderful flavors by letting his cows graze in pastures with a variety of grasses, wildflowers and weeds. Diversity in the field creates better milk, and the fat in milk absorbs flavor.

The book provides the names of many varieties of vegetables that are exceptional. Organic farmers Gene and Eileen Thiel of Joseph, Oregon, specialized in potatoes and particularly like LaRatte, Yagana and Sante. Sante, he said, is like a Yukon Gold, but bigger. Yukon Gold also got high marks, as did Ranger Russets and Yellow Finn. They avoid losing his crop to blights, in part, by growing lots of different kinds of potatoes — as did the Incas, where potatoes came from. Of course there is no guarantee that a potato that does well in Oregon will do well for you.

Ableman, a farmer for decades, mentions some of his own favorite vegetable varieties. For sweet peppers he likes Ariane, Red Lipstick (I want to grow it, if just for that name) and Corno di Toro. Then there is the Charentais melon, about which he waxes poetic.

Of beans, varieties mentioned as excellent include Valentine and Sophia flageolet shell beans, Maine Yellow Eye, Vermont Cranberry and Red Streaked Borlotto. According to the book, thin-skinned dry beans are easier on the digestive system: “the skins harbor the chemistry that causes digestive problems.”

It’s time for all of us to be studying seed catalogs and seed websites to pick the vegetables we’ll grow this year. I’ll be referring to Ableman’s book for new varieties, but also going back to my old favorites.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.