Backyard Farmer
by Tami Meader
Gardening truly is a journey of discoveries. My name is Tami, and in addition to being a Board member of Friends of the Farms, I like to plant veggies and preserve what is left from the abundance.
There are many different approaches to veggie gardening, mine is do a little research on the specific plant then grow it from seed and wait to see what happens. Each year I learn a little more. Another approach is to go to one of our local garden stores and buy “veggie starts”… that works too!
I plant from seed whenever possible because I feel I have the most control over the end product. Is it GMO free? Organic? Was it exposed to synthetic pesticides or fungicides? I ask these questions about every product I use; seeds, soil, fertilizer, and even my pest management practices.
Some people say they have a black thumb and don’t garden, but I wonder if it has more to do with what your specific planting situation is? Growing garden vegetables is not a slam dunk: soil type & ph, sunlight and water are important factors. If you’re going to invest in growing your own produce, focus on putting the right plant in the right place, at the right time. You may find your “black” thumb is garden dirt and a green thumb is underneath! The Maritime Northwest Garden Guild by Seattle Tilth is a great resource everyone should have in their garden library, it tells you what to plant monthly here in our maritime climate along with other growing tips. I know both our garden nurseries on the island carry the publication.
I want to share what we can PLANT NOW in our garden spaces. Last month I planted indoors: cucumbers, tomatoes and I took a shot at peppers from seed. Yesterday I transplanted the survivors into 4 inch pots, they are now in a warm cozy window sill with a heat mat underneath because these are not plants that are climatized to our maritime climate. It’s best to put these plants in the ground around June depending on your microclimate on the island.
Now that it’s May we can start planting big time outside. The seeds I plan on planting this month are carrots (the nantes and bolero varieties do the best for me), beets, lettuce, radishes, spinach,
brussels sprouts and scarlet runner beans. Funny thing about scarlet runners beans; many people plant them for the flower not the bean. I LOVE the bean much more than bush or pole beans and the flower is a big pollinator attractant. If the scarlet runner bean is picked young and tender it is amazingly flavorful and can be steamed or sautéed. Then later in the season I let them go to seed where they become a beautiful blackish-purple and pink dried bean for winter soups… I digressed, it’s still a good time to plant potatoes, my husband planted ours in early April but they can still go in the ground now and honestly we just got our peas planted! It’s never too late to try.
You can plant cabbage starts now. I cheated and bought some starts myself; they love this weather we’ve had the last few weeks so they are looking good. Our local garden stores and some CSA’s carry many varieties of organic veggie starts you can easily drop in the ground after hardening off. I haven’t mentioned slugs yet and will briefly now. They love this warm rainy weather. Tender seedlings beware!
I started this segment mentioning discoveries. Last fall a friend gave me some winter veggie starts she had grown from seed, which I planted and promptly forgot. Imagine our surprise when we looked in the spring garden and found this! I’ve never grown cauliflower before let alone a winter garden. With this discovery, I plan on trying my own hand at planting a winter garden full of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and of course more carrots… but that is something to think about later. Right now, it’s spring planting for summer eating!
Happy gardening!
