Mid-Shore Life

by Cyndi Paxton Johnson

Almost every Spring I succumb to the allure of Earth, warmth and bounty. I buy endless seeds and plants, I dig beds, fertilize, and plan. I'm always so proud when the sprouts poke through the earth, announcing the plentiful abundance of things to come.

From there things go downhill for me. Some years, I don't transplant quickly enough, and the sprouts crumple like ice cream on a hot sidewalk. Other times I manage to transplant - but weather or birds quickly destroy my fledgling sprouts. Sometimes they just flatly refuse to grow (other times I forget they need regular watering - SHHH!).

This year I knew the deer and rabbits would attack my garden like hungry children after a birthday cake. I delayed my planting until we had installed a protective fence around the majority of my garden. I replanted my seedlings, added more fertilizer and watered every morning. Finally - I was going to have a bumper crop!!! I'd planted enough tomatoes and peppers to ensure we'd have salsa all year thru! (I lost a few plants to the construction workers, who dumped a load of dirt on them!)

And then I recalled that my husband ALWAYS refers to my spring planting frenzy as "the annual immediately to the gardening gods".  First, my lovely tomatoes are all ROTTEN on the bottom. (I'm told I watered a bit TOO frequently). No problem - I'll stop watering everyday - and the REST of the tomatoes will be wonderful!

By Elizabeth Beggins

Last year, as people grew frightened of their peanut butter, and recession gripped the nation, thousands of Americans made the decision to get back to basics by growing their own food.  Seed companies were inundated with orders from enthusiasts ready to get their hands dirty in their new, or newly expanded, backyard gardens.  Perhaps you were among them?  Or maybe you only got as far as your good intentions.  Those new to vegetable gardening are often daunted by the perceived magnitude of what lies before them when, in fact, vegetable gardening is actually quite simple.  That is, if you remember a few important truths. 

First:  Most vegetable plants need at least six hours of full sun a day.  If you don't have a single location which offers that, consider several smaller sites. Interspersing your landscaped areas with edible plants can create suitable growing spaces, as can planting in containers.  Different kinds of plants prefer varying levels of light.  Summer crops, like tomatoes and squash, prefer more sunlight, but others, such as leafy greens and certain beans, are more shade tolerant.

Photo by Jane Thomas

by Cyndi Paxton Johnson

Worm ComposterI love the concept of worm farming - of letting the little slimy critters do their job - eat my garbage, and give me nutrient rich fertilizer! A few years ago I purchased a somewhat involved worm composting system and set it up in the garage. My mail order worms arrived - were set up in their dark home, and were sporadically fed my garbage. I was, perhaps, not the best example of a worm farmer - since I never recall actually using their compost on my garden and found out - too late - that the garage was a bit too cold for their winter survival.

Alert! An herbicide called aminopyralid, released by DowAgroscience in 2005, does not decompose readily and may remain in treated straw and well-rotted manure. The perennial weed killer is aggressively marketed and has been used on thousands of acres of North American fields. Putting tainted manure, compost or straw on your garden may kill plants such as tomatoes, lettuce and beans.

This isn’t Dow’s first environmental nightmare; they were linked to destroying home gardens in 2001 due to their product clopyralid – which is still sold as Confront. Our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seems to be turning a blind eye to these dangerous chemicals.

Indeed, in spite of research showing that aminopyralid remains in the soil for years, the new products were fast-tracked by EPA through the Reduced Risk Pesticide Initiative. Apparently, by showing that the new generations of poisons are LESS toxic, regardless of amount, the product bypasses most of the scientific data required to win EPA approval.

Be very careful about putting tainted material on your garden. IF the EPA doesn’t care about potentially destroying our healthy, nutritious gardens – we must look out for ourselves. This is the time to ask probing questions – not to blindly accept a salesman’s assurances that “of course this stuff is safe – no problem!”

The Winter Garden: Strawberry, asparagus and tomato patch

by Polly Irons

I visited my garden today, the first time in over a week. I was not looking forward to seeing the perennial grasses popping up all over the vegetable and flower beds. To my surprise the grass, I believe it to be Kentucky blue grass, is throughout all the beds and is forming a nice turf in all the wrong places. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Oh, well, it will wait until spring."

The weeks prior I had spent endless hours pulling and hoeing the grass. With the cool damp weather upon us, hoeing would not kill it. It resprouted everywhere I hoed it to. With the grass barely one quarter inch high, pulling was like plucking your eyebrows with your fingers.

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Santa Tree

Homestead Growers/Gardens

By: John K Johnson

The Mid-Shore Homeschool Cooperative took a field trip last Monday to Homestead Growers, to see one of the largest independent, single-location garden centers in the United States. Homestead Growers is the wholesale, growing division of of Homestead Gardens. The wholesale division is not open to the public, but educational tours can be arranged.

This is one of the three growing areas for poinsettias at Homestead.