Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger. – Saint Basil
Slowly winning the battle with weeds, this June 9, 2012 photo shows the current status of my Roseville Community Garden plot.
Today is the 21st day since the start of my 2012 gardening project, when the first multitudes of seeds were sewn, and the transplanted young spouts of Black Beauty Summer Squash, Early Acorn Squash and Waltham Butternut Squash were planted in my Roseville Community Garden plot. With the exception of gently sprinkling the newly planted seeds & seedlings that day, I have yet to need to water the garden. For better of worse, Mother Nature has provided a more than ample supply of moisture.
Just two days after planting, a torrential downpour now appears to have washed out most of my Extra Curly Parsley, Thyme and Rosemary seeds, and a small potion of the rows of Broccoli, Ruby Red Swiss Chard and Bloomsdale Spinach.
I’m at the bottom of a gentle slope – the low end of the garden, as it is – and the runoff from the stone paths grows to a healthy “stream” as it reaches my end of the garden. A subsequent “gully-washer” 10 days ago actually created ruts in the stone pathway and started undercutting the boards of the raised bed.
The downpour also flattened all the seedling Sweet Red, Kung Pao Hybrid and Pepperochini Hot Peppers I had planted, so I restarted some seeds at home and purchased some more established, nursery-grown plants over Memorial Day to insure I’d have a pepper crop this summer.
I’m not complaining about the rain, mind you – although it, along with some early unseasonably warm nights has certainly helped with the bumper crop of weeds I’m dealing with. The constant rain is making access to the garden itself a muddy trek, and working on weeding or thinning planted rows difficult at times.
The Parris Island Romaine Lettuce is looking very “lettucey!”
The recent cooler, damp and cloudy days have been hindering growth of some plants – the tomatoes in particular could use some bright sun and warm nights. A string of hot, sunny days would really be great at this point.
With many of the the seeded plants definitely making good progress, it’s becoming apparent that my first “harvest” will be of Parris Island Romaine Lettuce and Cherry Belle Radish. So this morning I set off on The Google seeking potential recipes with these ingredients. I turned up this simple and interesting salad, “Romaine and Radish Salad With Buttermilk Lemon Dressing” from Martha Rose Shulman in the May 11, 2012 edition of the New York Times. With a little more sunshine, I’m hoping to put this recipe to the test in the next few weeks.
Unfortunately, neither the Cherry Belle or Crimson Giant Radishes matured as quickly as stated on the seed packet, so my Mom – a radish connoisseur – did not get a chance to sample them during her visit this spring. She and my Dad – pictured below doing his best scarecrow imitation yesterday morning as we again fought the battle of the weeds – left early (as in “the dark of the early morning” early) this morning to return to Minnesota. They visit twice a year, so when they return in the fall I’m hoping I have a host of other vegetables to try out in new recipes with them.
My Dad, doing his best scarecrow imitation yesterday morning, hoping to scare away the rain long enough to do some garden work.
This garden experiment has been a good learning experience so far. I’ve found out what plants are best suited for early (far earlier than I started this year) planting via indoor starter kits, and how delicate young plants can be when exposed too early to the elements. I’ll make some changes in my preparation work and planting schedule next year. On a positive note, we did add a dozen pepper plants started as seedlings into the garden in the last week, and although they are dwarfed by their nursery-raised cousins, I’m hoping these guys are tough enough to pull through with a bumper crop of peppers later this summer. In the mean time, maybe the rain on the scarecrow will slow down a little?
More next weekend!