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I grew up with a mother who had a degree in horticulture and used it to write newspaper articles and later books about gardening. My father had no such education, only 11 acres of which he devoted several to the growing of corn and tomatoes every year. So it was only natural that I would want to imitate this "urge to grow" things in the various locations where life has taken me. The first was Alaska, and once out of the apartment and into a house, I decided to take advantage of the long summer light to do-what else-plant things! The coleus that I had in pots in the house went wild in the extensive light, reaching sizes any florist would envy. The college I attended there had huge hanging planters filled with flowers. But I, thinking of the long term, decided to plant things along the walkway IN THE DIRT. In the "lower 48" as it was called, this might have worked out fine. But in soil that spent the winters at 20 below, it didn't. Nothing even sprouted out of the ground which with my luck was actually permafrost.
Next stop was in New Hampshire where I had a decent-sized yard in my 200 feet along the river. A woman I worked with insisted that my garden would do better if I fertilized it with cow manure. Since I didn't have a cow, she offered to bring me some from her place (!) and came out with bags filled with the stuff that had mostly become like a liquid. Not wanting to refuse her "gift" I worked the "fertilizer" into the soil and began planting my first garden there. I started off with green beans, added tomatoes, peppers, and types of squash. If nothing else it could provide vegetables for two people's dinners. The pumpkins could be used at Halloween or-possibly-at Thanksgiving for a pie! I didn't have to worry about them going bad, since in New Hampshire there is a marked change in the weather right around Labor Day (I discovered this when water skiing and beginning to shiver.) A pumpkin pie required a pasty consistency like what my mother always bought in a can. So I washed, cut up and de-seeded the pumpkins. Then I boiled the pieces. When a fork test told me that they were soft enough to use, I drained them and let them cool to the touch. Next I used a spoon to scrape the soft filling out and mush it into something like the canned stuff of my childhood. From there it was just a matter of getting out the recipe, setting out the ingredients, and making the pie filling. Because I had only a small electric hand mixer, the consistency retained its "natural" texture, which I found quite homey and pleasant. Time passed, and I found myself in New Jersey. Now I had a spot for a bigger garden and greater variety. I planted corn, which the raccoons knocked down practically as soon as it grew up. The rabbits ate the first indications of lettuce leaves. I planted cantaloupe, water melon, and every variety of squash I could find at the seed store. And of course, there were tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. As I waited breathlessly to see if my garden would grow, something ELSE was watching as well: the groundhog! Finally, from the house which was up on the hill I could see the first sign of success-a red tomato. Eagerly I went bounding down to pluck it from its vine, reached around, and SQUISH! It had a big BITE out of the back! That ***** groundhog got it first! That incident touched off a battle which would persist until the late fall when I used my tiller to turn under the remaining dead vegetation to become next year's enriched soil. Now in Pennsylvania I have not been able to start a garden, since from a wheelchair I don't do well getting down on my knees and BACK UP any more. But I have long heard about "raised bed gardening" for handicapped people, and this year I may try it. There are railroad ties that were removed to make the new walkway plus loose soil that was shaken off when the trees and bushes were dug out. With a little help I could start a small patch of vegetables. My first step would be to dig out the lawn, then put in some soil, and then plant. I have seen groundhogs around, but my neighbor's black Lab makes short work of them. I will then put in a row of green beans and hills of zucchini, peppers and one of cucumbers. Last of all I will plant some tomatoes. The Sunday newspaper carries ads in the comics section and l have recently seen one for "Giant Tree Tomatoes". They are supposed to grow on a "tree" eight feet tall and be very big! Forever the skeptic, I have to be convinced of anything that produces tomatoes that high off the ground. It could be a great way to discourage groundhogs, should any manage to avoid the neighbor's dog. But how would I harvest them? Two years ago I finally located an apple picker on the Internet. Would that allow me to also pick tomatoes off their plants eight feet off the ground? And when they ripened to the point of falling off the vine, would they land on my head? Would some daring groundhog attempt to scale the "tree" in search of his favorite food? Perhaps for the safety of all concerned, I will just buy a few plants from a local nursery and put them into the ground the usual way. With any luck, the local groundhog will visit elsewhere to get his salads. Just Mom |
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