Too Early To Plant
Posted at 4:45 AM on March 10, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(40 Comments)
With a March snowstorm sweeping through Minnesota, clearly it is NOT time to plant your Credit Default Swap Victory Garden. Not yet. Even if we covered the whole thing with a T.A.R.P., there's no way the plants could survive.
But at a wintery moment like this, you are allowed to think about planting.
You may think about it a lot, if it gets you through the day.
Yesterday's medley of garden songs led Radio Heartland listener Jim McKenzie to a childhood recollection - a piece which can be found in a book called Staying Home: Reflections on Food, Farming, and Place (2004), published by Garden City Harvest, in Missoula, Montana.
"Biting into a juicy, ripe-to-near-bursting tomato once, I had one of the few, true epiphanies one might expect in a lifetime. I was fourteen or fifteen, crouched between two rows of dad's staked-up Ponderosas, and could not resist taking a bite out of one I had picked for our supper table. It was a hot, muggy, late August, southwestern Pennsylvania afternoon, and as I sank my teeth into that big tomato, its warm juices streaming over my fingers and palms, running down to my elbows, dripping off my chin, I remember feeling beyond all rational thought, our utter dependence on some mysterious combination of sun, soil, and water. The feeling of connection with these ineluctable processes suffused instantly and totally through my body.Something about that tomato's having been severed only a few seconds earlier from its separate life on the vine; about its still being as warm inside as the sun felt on the back of my neck and arms; about that tomato's warming my hand as I held it, my lips as I wrapped them around its red body, and, simultaneously, my tongue and cheeks, the roof of my mouth as I chewed into it, carried me more deeply into the inexplicable heart of being than any biology lesson or essay I would later encounter. Standing among my father's tomatoes, eating one of them, surrounded by that pungent, unmistakable, tomato plant smell, feeling still the fuzzy scratch of their vines, it seemed as I had bitten into the sun itself. And, of course, in a way, I had."
That piece is as good as an actual garden ripe tomato.
So how about it?
When the snow and the ice melt and the ground warms up, what will you plant?
Comments (40)
Good morning, Dale. I know spring is coming because I bought onion sets yesterday at Menards. Usually if I wait until it's actually the right time to plant, I can't find onion sets to plant. So I'm planting onions, a few tomatoes, some leaf lettuce, which is about all the room I have. And we have raspberries. We planted asparagus last year, and hopefully it will come back, but it still won't be old enough to harvest. So I guess my point is that gardening is my way of showing that there's hope in the future. It's got to get better, right.
Good Morning,
I'm not so good about keeping a vegetable garden, but I do get that alive feeling from the apples off my tree, the asparagus which has been bravely coming back each spring for the past 30 years (it was the first thing I planted when I moved to this little farm), my grape vines that produce dark purple grapes for juice...oh, and anything I pick from my neighbor's garden (with permission....I think). But tomatoes, it is important to have at least one plant of my own.
Oh, and this year I've ordered bees...
Dale, your intro was so funny, I sat shaking my head. But then I read the beautiful quotation about eating a fresh tomato, and what a gorgeous inspiration to work on my Victory Garden plan.
My friends Kathy and Sara are the real, experienced "food" gardeners, and will be advising me. We went to a Victory Garden workshop last week presented by the local food co-op.
I will be starting small, and planting only things I will like to eat. Tomatos (tomatoes? both look wrong), a variety of lettuces and greens, spinach, cukes, beets, green beans, peas, squash, raspberries. Kathy told me not to bother with carrots, too much work for what you get.
My biggest concerns are not what I'll plant, but how to prepare the soil (digging up lawn, putting in raised beds, composting, mulching) and animal control (lots of bunnies and deer in the city here). Much to think about during wintery weather.
Any advice I can get from other Heartlanders will be most appreciated!!
Oh my gosh, throat singing "In a Gadda da Vida"!?! Unbelievable!
Ray LaMontagne has a nice "Jolene" song, too. Could you play that too?
Morning Heartlanders -- not much vegetable gardening here in the middle of the city (between the bunnies and my two big dogs, vegies don't have much of a chance, except the couples of pots w/ grape tomatoes and some herbs), but my daughter and I have already started talking about this year's flowers. We do hanging pots and strips of flowers along sidewalks (out front where they're safe from the ravaging doggies) and pots on the steps. Impatiens, begonias, thunbergia, purple allysum, fuschia -- maybe even a little bucket of pansies this year! Thanks for the great tomato verbiage... it's a good way to survive these March days, thinking about spring vegies and flowers!
Dale - oh thank you, thank you for Albert Kuvezin - In a Gadda da Vida! i can't write while i listen
ok, thanks
my garden will be potatoes, onions, sweet dumpling squash, two kinds of carrots, two kinds of cukes, Swiss chard, twp lomds pf tomatoes, and i'm trying to grow luffa sponge gourds this year. i cut them in cross sections and fill them with soap (from the girls' milk) we also have apples, raspberries, blueberries, asparagus oh and lots of weeds because i'm not a good weeder.
thanks again for the throat singing!
happy storm everyone
Good Morning RH! Planting... what a warm topic! The reflection took me back to my Dad's garden, there is nothing like a warm ripe tomato.
Julie, I am now on the lookout for onion sets (you reminded me what usually happens to ME).
Hunkering down for another blast of winter...
two lomds of tomatoes is really two kinds. sorry for not proofreading - my eyes are sleepy this morning
am sure enjoying this line of chat. wow, Cynthia - a 30 year old asparagus bed. wonderful!
Wow -- I clearly need to get myself invited to some of your guys' places this summer! Yum, yum. Makes me want to run down to the produce section of Whole Foods Market right now!
Careful, Julie, with your spelling; remember what happened to Dan Quayle, correcting that student on the spelling of potato? TomAto, tomahto; potAto, potahto; but don't call the whole thing off; plant that garden; plant tomatoes.
Glad you liked that bite of tomato sun.
Julie, Cynthia and Barb, is asparagus hard to grow? When I bought my house, I was told that my lawn used to be the asparagus patch of a farm. Now that I'm making it garden again, maybe that's a good omen?
Jimck - thank you for that beautiful piece of tomato - i could taste it!
Gail - asparagus planting is the only really hard part. the preparation of the bed - deep digging, pH of the soil, addition of composted manure, drainage, etc. all needs to be planned for. if you do that right, you are rewarded with years and years of those delicious green magic wands. a little yearly maintenance is all that is required then. Cynthia, it sounds like you've been very successful!
and yes, it is a good omen that your soil once was asparagus planted. if you have access to extension, take a soil sample and tell them you want to plant asparagus and they may be able to tell you what you need. tell them you'd like to do it with organic additives so they know.....
oh, Karen Sovoca! what a glorious morning!
We'll plant the usual suburban tomato plant or two along with a few other garden goodies, but what I really look forward to planting are sweet peas, which my grandmother used to love and to plant every season. They smell so deliciously wonderful!
The thought of the sweat peas and of my grandmother reminds me of hearing the song "English Country Garden" on the Captain Kangaroo Show as a youngster. I wonder whose version of the song was played on the show and what version(s) of it you might have in your library.
Gail, asparagus isn't difficult once it is established. I planted mine in a rather casual manner in really old cow manure with the help of my 5 year old neighbor boy...the hard part is waiting for the spears to be large enough to pick. Because I've gotten lax about the fertilizer (in spite of help from several horses), some of the older plants have given up, but the plants left are re-seeding themselves.
You'll be glad you planted asparagus...after you stop harvesting you are rewarded with a beautiful addition to the garden.
Sherrilee, one of the best "flower" gardens I have ever seen had vegetables planted in amongst the flowers...swiss chard has beautiful deep green and red leaves, tomatoes have lacey leaves, carrots (sorry, I don't agree with Kathy that they aren't worth the work, nothing like a sweet, juicy carrot fresh from the ground -- no juice down your arm, but alive and crisp) with their fern-like greens...I can just see them in between the flowers. And don't forget to plant the flowers you can put in your salads -- pansies, nasturiums, borage, violets, lavender -- along with the herbs.
Wish I were a better weeder...as it is, I grow a great quack grass.
Snow coming, eh?
Good Morning Heartlanders,
I take exception with your "too early to plant" thesis. I will be "planting" a tray of sprouting seeds today as I do about every 3 days throughout the winter. I take my gardening and "eat local" seriously!
But in the traditional sense, in a few weeks I'll be starting seeds for tomatoes and peppers, then cukes and squash. Then before I know it I'll be up to my elbows in dirt planting radishes, onions, lettuce, peas, beans, beets, cabbage to go along with the strawberries, blueberries, currants, and pear and plum trees.
Last year I had my lot relandscaped to allow for converting the entire yard to flower/vegetable/fruit production. I'll keep you posted on the adventures of the semi-urban farmer...
Our Salsa Garden has come to be 'comfort' food for our family over the years. When the children would not eat anything else, they could always count on 'mom's salsa. Then they went to college, and the entire dorm was dependent upon this mom replenishing their supply of salsa. Now our pantry sits overflowing with quarts of salsa that we share as birthday and 'hostess' gifts. Yes, that salsa continues to be a comfort food. Then there are the carrots...we are still eating the crop from last fall.
This year we are considering raising chickens. Does that qualify in the 'gardening' category?
How can snow be on the way? We pulled up the cultivators, disc and plows to prep them for their upcoming work? I need to get rid of the snow and ice to start working those fat, lazy winter-slug horses---can't run a race without some training runs beforehand (which spring planting is always---a race).
In the garden this year I will find the perfect tomato---I know it's out there, I've been searching for it for over 35 years, hundreds of varieties---many close but not the perfect 'mater yet. Heartlanders---do you have favorites that you want to propose to join the contest? I have room for 10 varieties this year.
The garden section is open in the store where we do most of our shopping. I resisted walking through it for the last week, but today the pull was too strong. I checked out the pots in hopes of having a few colorful items on our small patio. Then I wandered over to the flower seeds. I studied the flowers looking for those I recognized and then tried to figure out how I would say the Czech name on the package. I knew better than to go near the vegetables. I lived on a farm all my life until we moved to Prague, and I really miss digging in the dirt. I'll enjoy reading what other listeners are planning, but for me for now a few pots of flowers will have to do.
Good morning RH,
Just a little food for thought- how can you really call it a "victory garden" before it produces? Seems a little overconfident to me.
Dale, do you mean to say that the guy who wrote that beautiful tomato piece reads this blog? Do you suppose he laughed out loud at my joke yesterday like you did?
I'm shocked...no one has mentioned sweet corn. I love those ripe fresh picked tomatoes...but corn fresh from the stalk to the pot, ambrosia...dripping with butter...even better.
Lynn Rosetto Kasper once quoted Garrison at the end of one of her Splendid Table broadcasts as declaring sweet corn being better than sex...
Some years ago I joined a CSA and converted my veggie garden to flowers. But I always planted cherry tomatoes in big pots next to my back door to pop into salads. To my consternation I found that the plants flowered and set fruit, which grew into promising green nuggets, but there was never any ripe fruit. This mystery was solved when I noticed Joey, the Naughty Dog, coming inside with tomato juice and seeds on his chin. So I started planting herbs and nasturtiums in the big pots, but this summer I'm back to a cherry tomato - in memory of my little vegetable-loving pal. Cheers, Joey!
Good mornin'
Remember as you plant to think about entering your champion crops at the State Fair when yu come to see Dale and the goats. Wouldn't it be cool to have a RH giant pumpkin or set of purple beans?
I planted 6 varieties of garlic in the fall around 50 plants! This is the second year I’ve tried it, last year I was impatient and pulled some of them up too early, I didn’t know to cut the scapes off. The garlic I did get was sooo good though and we ate some of the scapes as well. I planted the rest, my understanding is the scapes will take longer to develop into bulbs.
Other than that my garden is mostly tomatoes 5 or 6 varieties. Lettuce, some peppers and this year I’m trying popcorn.
Today is our company chili cook off, some of my frozen tomatoes and peppers made it into my chili. Wish me luck….
Good Morning!
That is clearly the most sensual description of tomato eating I have ever experienced and yes, I did re-experience my eating of that same tomato from my youth while reading.
We are planning to set up some raised box gardens here in the city with a variety of delights but haven't finalized the list. There will be tomatoes of course, carrots, lettuce and who know what else.
What a great theme to get us going on a day with a winter storm bearing down on us!
back from the barn and chicken coop - really fun morning!
Kathy, chickens are GREAT! things to consider though, so a website for you:
http://www.mypetchicken.com/breedQuestions.aspx
they need a good deal of food and light to keep producing thru our cold winters. i just finished replenishing my hens' suet bar where they supplement their feed calories during the cold days. as i carry it in the chickens are leaping in the air at the suet and pecking as i walk. so fun. and then you get those delicious, fresh eggs.
my favorite tomato is Sweet Olive. they are small but oh so tasty. a salad of halved sweet olives, fresh goat cheese crumbled, fresh basil and a little balsamic vinegar is heaven.
Greetings Heartlanders:
What a great way to start a gray day! Barb, you got my mouth watering with your salad idea using your homegrown ingredients -- wow!
I'll have a small garden of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, lettuces, beans and whatever seeds I have lying around unused. I have a few Earth Boxes that I love for growing huge tomatoes -- they're awesome. My favorites are heirloom varieties like Purple Cherokee -- which has the most amazing texture and taste -- plus a beautiful color.
Thanks everyone for brightening up this morning!
Jean - smart dog, that Joey. made me laugh to think of him coming in with tomatoes dripping off his muzzle. thanks
and Cynthia - i think it's good to have us each do what we do best and then share. i don't grow sweet corn well, so how about trading potatoes or carrots or ? for sweet corn? i traded goat milk for 25 pounds of collards last fall. bartering is fun!
i went to "Farm Beginnings" presentations on saturday and one of the young farmers said the most profitable thing any one of us can do with produce is eat it ourselves (or trade with others, i think) - much more than selling it at a farm market. so victory gardens are getting more and more popular. i'm glad.
Barb -- do you sell your goat milk or cheese? If so, where the heck is Blackhoof -- just curious. It would be nice to source raw milk, cheese, etc., from someone nearby.
Barb...trading sounds great...but. I steal the sweet corn from my neighbor's garden...how do you feel about accepting stolen goods?
My favorite tomatoes are (mis-spelling alert!) Thessalanikis or Stupens...and I'm with Joanne...any of the purple tomatoes...also the sweet yellow ones.
Time to fly...off to work.
Joanne...Big Lake. Hmmm is it the one in Carlton County? Blackhoof and Mahtowa are.
Good day all.
Cynthia - this Big Lake is in Sherburne County about 45 miles northwest of Minneapolis -- almost halfway between Mpls and St. Cloud. Hiway 10 runs through the middle of town.
I am now officially inspired to go down to the basement and start some seeds tonight--lettuce, broccoli, maybe cabbage--as a way of thumbing my nose at winter weather advisories and other portents of meteorological doom. Peppers and eggplants aren't far behind. I grow carrots, even though I have about the worst carrot soil imaginable, and potatoes. Yes, I know, potatoes are so much cheaper at the grocery store or farmers market, and compared to supermarket produce the carrots are a bit stunted and some of the potatoes a bit scabby, but we're still dining on the potatoes and carrots we harvested last fall, a source of great satisfaction.
And this year we'll grow about 30 varieties of tomatoes. Do we need that many? No. But I was given Amy Goldman's new book "The Heirloom Tomato" and I defy anyone to read that and then stop at, oh say, a mere 20.
Finally looked up Blackhoof in Carlton County on map -- whoa -- you're almost up to Duluth. I'll bet it's a beautiful area, but I don't even like driving a half hour (call me a driving wienie). Anyway, I'll have to look closer for raw milk, cheese, eggs, etc.
Have a glorious day -- just ordering my transplants now!
Reading about Joey the tomato dog reminds me of Nicholas, our late and lamented wonder dog. We had green pepper plants that looked glorious and set fruit but never could we find any peppers...until one day I smelled the dog's breath. Apparently he loved crunching on fresh crisp green peppers. They made him burp, though.
Joanne...you are right, we are close to Duluth. But you live in an area that I believe is rich with sustainable, home grown type farmers. Contact the Sustainable Farmers Assn of Central MN at http://www.sfa-cm.org/ and I bet they will help you find milk, cheese and veggies.
Good hunting, it's worth it.
Cynthia, BEES!!!! David would be sooo excited! Harder than a garden in someways tho... What kind did you order?
I can feel spring in southern Indiana. Delightful! Crocus' are here, and there are buds on daffodils!
HI all!
I am not much of a gardener... I have a bit of a black thumb I keep my roses, and I have 20 clay flower pots sunk into the ground, with about an inch of the rim exposed In those pots, I usually have some wildly colored snap dragons going in the sunk pots. As long as I leave the flowers alone, they thrive... ;)
As for Veggies... My neighbor Bill is always giving me things from his garden.... They are truly scrumptious...
Ooooops! I am noticing I am almost punctuation free today... It must be "The Winter of Our Discontent" snow storm that is approaching....
I never realized how many dogs harvest garden vegetables! I posted my Joey-the-Naughty-Dog story (above) on my Cocker Spaniel Forum. Almost immediately other people began adding their dog stories, some of them funnier than mine! Here's a link:
http://zimfamilycockers.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38049&p=506438#p506438
Joanne - on the Minnesota dairy goat assoc. "members" page i see a woman from Big Lake - check it out!
http://minnesotagoats.org/members2009.shtml
good luck! and Cynthia is right - it's worth the effort!
Hi All-
Running late here after chaperoning a jr HS field trip to Feed My Starving children this morning.
We HOPE the asparagus crop that has been replanted several times will finally yield this summer. The strawberries are usually good for 1 small round of berries and the raspberries usually go nuts late in June/early July. Good to freeze what we can't immediately eat. Am looking forward to that. The new blueberry bushes didn't do so well last year; don't know if we'll try again this year. We usually plant green beans which our dear departed Maggie dog would eat off the plant when she could. We also plant several varieties of tomatoes and Lexi the 2 year old yellow lab discovered this past summer (her first with us) that she could easily eat the cherry/grape tomatoes right off the bush. We will have to make them more difficult to reach this year.... We also usually plant sunflowers for the birds.
- Become a Member
- Member Connect Accounts
- Leadership Circle
- Sustaining Members
- Member Discounts
- Become a Sponsor
- Tax Information
- Planned Giving
- Vehicle Donation
- Donate Stock