If you are a New England gardener, then you know it involves a year-round cycle of preparing and anticipation of each season, not just the growing season. But with the growing season about to burst on the scene, I feel compelled to try once again, taking up my spade and trusting that my partner will do all the heavy lifting, “Oh Honey…”
We’ve been gardening our patch for 30 years. Once upon a time, long before our backs said “Uncle!” we planted and hoed long rows of beans, tomatoes, lettuce and lots of flowering plants. Our plight came in the form of migrating deer and groundhogs. It’s one thing to fend off worms or mildew, but it’s an entirely different game when your enemy has four legs.
My husband was up to task in those early years. He dug a trench around the 30×40-foot garden, filling it with rocks and small boulders and installing a 6-foot-high wire fence. He felt confident that these barriers would keep out the groundhogs, rabbits and migrating deer. We fought the good fight. The animals won. This went on each season until we finally realized we’d never win. You know what they say about insanity, doing the same things repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. We surrendered.
More recently I’ve taken to container gardening. Nothing more. I’ve even given up expecting Hosta to bloom or iris or daisy or… well, you get the picture. The deer are the biggest bandits. We’ve scaled back, but this year I’m feeling excited about stuff growing in my yard. I want that thrill of planting something and watching it mature into the masterpiece nature intended. So off to the garden center go I.
It’s fair to say that gardening is, above all else, an activity that demands hope more than skill. You don’t fix a gutter, paint a wall, remodel a kitchen with your fingers crossed. Indeed, those labor-intensive chores are just that, chores. But gardening – well gardening is an activity where, with a bit of muscle and a whole lot of high hope, something truly wonderful will result.
Being a New England gardener places one in a special category of those with vast depths of hope in their souls. There are so many things that can go wrong during the short growing season, but we don’t think about those pitfalls, those dusty molds, tomato worm, aphid-covered moments of despair. Heck no! We think about juicy, ripe, cherry tomatoes, tender lettuce greens, carrots straight at sticks or peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis, pumpkins, melons and more.
“The year has no beginning and no end; it is a continuous cycle…,” said that sage of all things growing in the dirt, Jim Crockett, of the Victory Garden. He advised that during the months of February and March soil preparation should begin. It’s been some years since Crockett held us captive watching his every move on PBS. Today soils are easily purchased from any garden center ready to go complete with growing instructions on the bag. My trick is to mix in a few bags of enriched garden soils as a top coat to my gardens.
Yet being aware of the quality of the soils you purchase is important. Those offering fertilizer as one of the ingredients will only provide about 10 weeks of enrichment. And soils coming out of bags can be compacted and of poor quality or, worse, full of funguses. Crockett might advise, if you can’t make your own soil, something “real” gardeners apparently do, then at least invest in top-quality brands. Container gardens demand really good prepared mixes.
One of the best ways to spend some quality time outdoors is at a garden center. We all have our favorites from big-box to mom-and-pop operations. Whatever your pleasure might be, roaming through the racks bearing all manner of veggies refreshes the spirit.
Here’s something to be aware of before selecting plants or sowing seeds: Not all veggies play nicely together. That’s right. Some vegetables are friendly and some can be downright dangerous.
Here’s what the Farmer’s Almanac says on the topic.
Tomatoes, one of my personal favorites, likes being with basil, marigolds, carrots, celery, onions and leafy greens. It does not like being around cabbage, beets, peas, fennel, dill or rosemary. Peppers also like basil as well as tomatoes and leafy greens, but – caution – don’t put them with beans due to spreading vines.
Green beans, oh tender young green beans, go along with corn and can use the stocks to climb. Marigolds, rosemary, broccoli, and the cabbage family may go along with green beans, too. Beets and onions should be avoided.
Cucumbers – guess what – they like marigolds, too. As a matter of fact, marigolds go with everything so just plant them everywhere. Besides, marigolds are darn-right beautiful and an endearing touch of the old fashioned. Anyway, cukes like them as well as nasturtiums, beans, celery, peas and dill. But, please, no aromatic herbs.
Onions love root veggies, carrots, beets, parsnips along with tomatoes and rosemary but not beans, peas or asparagus.
Lettuce, all varieties, want mint, beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, corn and peas. Exclude parsley.
Mr. Zucchini, step-up. Here we have a squash that will be awesome in sweet breads or a savory side dish with any number of embellishments from cheese to sausage stuffing. Plant them with their cousin summer squash or corn, beans, peas, radishes, and dill. But do not, I repeat, do not plant them near potatoes, which are prone to blight.
Carrots like loose soil and tomatoes, leeks, herbs like rosemary, sage and chive but not coriander or dill.
Radishes go along with cucumbers, carrots, onions, beets, cabbage family and leafy greens. Hyssop is a no-no.
And last but by no means least for gardens big or small is sweet corn. Plant with green beans, cucumbers, peas, pumpkins, melons or zucchini. Do not plant around tomatoes, however.
If you are just starting out, today’s technology puts abundant knowledge at your fingertips. Yes, the internet helps, but nothing replaces talking to gardeners and plowing the depths of their experiences to gain an advantage in your own gardens.
Once again you may need to rely on technology, given the need to communicate remotely with people at the present time. But that is easily done.
On Facebook, there are local garden clubs you can join, whose members are happy to share information. Rochester Garden Club, Mattapoisett Woman’s Club, and the Marion Garden Group are Tri-Town’s groups making their personal and many public spaces fruitfully beautiful.
If all goes well, it is possible that the Rochester Grange will hold its annual fair in August, one of the oldest in the country. Now that’s certainly a place to witness the glory of a New England garden. It’s worth noting here that gardening can be a great family activity starting right now. To learn about the Plymouth County 4H programs, visit https://plymouthcounty4h.org.
Regardless of one’s age, the joy of planting and watching things grow cannot be overstated – not now, not ever.
And one final word about gardening, it’s good for character building. No other activity will test your patience quite as much as gardening will. But then again, good things come to those who are willing to try hard and then simply wait.
By Marilou Newell