Gardens: Post one

Spring, Spring, Spring has sprung
Gone is the old tired year;
Last year's garden is done.

New, new, new the new year's here
Warm sunshine; time to prepare.
Catalogs, catalogs everywhere,
In my dreams fruits and veggies
grow and blossom from thin air.

Happiness, good times, love
abundance to share.

In listening a few years ago to the news coverage of an 'ice storm' in a neighboring state the person being interviewed stated: 'Well, you know what they say about this state...'if you don't like the weather now, just wait a few minutes and it will change'!

Now, I thought that was an Iowa saying, but apparently it works for several other places as well. It is true, this year has been an unusual year and it will be interesting to see how it plays out**********************

Even as a young child I loved farming with my Grandfather. No matter what the weather, or time of the year, I would cry to go with him as he went about his twenty acres. In the spring he was working the field preparing to plant his corn, oats, and hay crops. There was the cultivating of the corn in the spring, the cutting hay and oats, and then in the autumn, most years, he would pick corn by hand. I loved the horses, cows, dogs, and even the cats. When I was very young he still had a few pigs. However, as he got older he grew tired of the fool animals. They invariably knew when it was a most inconvenient time, they would 'burrow' out, and often times we would come home from somewhere to find that we had pigs on the loose. I never did miss the hogs...

One year when I was a pre-teen, I planted radishes, and indeed, they did come up even for me, an ungreen thumber. My Grandmother kept (very) free range chickens. Consequently, I planted my radishes inside a large roll of wire that stood up about three foot high. We didn't have many, but it fueled my dreams of 'someday'.

Well, my some day did come when a little over forty years ago my husband and I were married. And we have joyfully raised a garden ever since.

It was such a blessing that my husband wasn't a total novice as I was. Since so many young people my age were not interested in gardening I must have seemed an oddity to my in-laws. They must have wondered what kind of a person their son had married, but they did seem to enjoy instructing me in the art of growing a garden. My mother-in-law helped me learn the art of preserving our produce. Marie was always good to help where she could.

Through the years we have built upon our early foundation. Some things have changed as we have learned to combine the art of farming with the art of gardening. One thing that I have learned, and that was not by design, but by happenstance, the necessity of keeping good journals/records. I have for quite a number of years kept a journal, but...

It is not possible to remember everything ~just not possible. For instance, this last summer when we were able to harvest the first of our peaches. This was the very first harvest we had off of the tree we had planted ? (perhaps 2-3 years ago). Benjamin brought in the paltry few peaches we had left, between the 'fruit drop', the birds and insects, there weren't very many. There were so few, in fact, I had all but decided there wouldn't be any! Well, he brought them in, I washed and prepared them almost halfheartedly, then we ate them...

I have never had such wonderful peaches...Yes, Levi, I'm sure they rivaled the peaches you had that first year. I scrambled, frantic to find what variety they were, when we had planted them...anything I could find in my journal. Alas, after digging around I found an offhand reference to the variety, but never was quite sure what year. We sent to Gurney's catalog and ordered two more of those trees, but it would have saved time and been much better to have had accurate records.

So, records and journals are very important. In my journal I have what varieties I plant. Of course I have my stand by, solid varieties that I have depended upon for years. I began a number of years ago staying mainly with open pollinated varieties.

Science 101 here: Open pollinated is the old fashioned varieties that you can save the seed from, and use in your garden year after year. My main source of these varieties is Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. These dedicated people have been urging people for years to use these open pollinated varieties, and they have gone to extreme lengths to search out and save these varieties. They have a beautiful garden/orchard surrounded by the lush Iowa countryside. They are dedicated to organic, non-gmo varieties. This would be my only frustration with Seed Savers, and that is in my humble opinion at least, there is a 'charge' for everything they do. They have workshops (and I have no doubt they are excellent, but...they are expensive). There are also other activities, but they aren't cheap either, which is one reason I have never gone to any of them. In their defense I must also add, their work is so necessary and I'm sure it costs them much as well. Since I'm in my shoes and not in theirs...perhaps I don't understand.

Then there are hybrid varieties. These are a 'cross' of two or more varieties. Think back to Gregor Mendel and his experiments with cross pollination of peas (1865?). Now, you may be able to save seed from these plants, and some of them may grow. The problem is which parent plant will it resemble? A hybrid is mixed to bring the best qualities of the parent plants, however there are dominant AND recessive genes in the plants, and a body never knows exactly which one the next generation plants will draw from. In essence the plant you end up with could be 'the good, the bad, and/or the ugly'.

Several other catalog/seed companies I have come to enjoy are: Twilley Seed Company from Hodges, South Carolina. They are the only company to my knowledge that the more I order the more I save. They have vegetables and flowers, and a small bit of supplies. There is a lot of information contained in their catalog, and they designate whether it is hybrid or open pollinated, and so much more. They also have limited varieties of some organic seeds--which is another plus.

Johnny's Selected Seeds from Waterville, Maine, is another good source. Most of these catalogs have information as to how many seeds/plants it takes per row, and they often give a ball park figure on how much to expect from what you plant. Johnny's is very good in this area. I have found their quality is excellent.

In passing I would also mention Harris Seeds, Rochester, New York; Indiana Berry & Plant Co. from Plymouth, Indiana (for berries, and some plants); at one time we also Ordered from Parks Seeds, Greenwood, South Carolina, but my last catalog was 1998. Obviously it is not current. As best I can tell I believe these companies are independent and not affiliated with other companies. Gardens alive from Lawrenceburg, Indiana is a good place to find pest control items, although Johnny's also has items worth looking into. I generally check out Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co. from Greedale, Indiana because I have ordered something from Gurney's since time immemorial. They are a part of the conglomerate seed companies. Different names, but all owned by a 'parent' company. They usually have 'special' offers throughout the year, and I usually take advantage of those offers once or twice a year.

This is the first installment of Garden Notes. My Adorable Cousin...we all know who she is-smile, tells me I will have to live for a long time so she can get all of this information. Since I don't see that as God's necessity, I do want to share some of these things for those who would like to learn them.

For this time I would like to leave you, dear reader, with this scripture:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 12) I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

May God bless, and draw us each nearer to Him each day.