We got the cutest children's book about gardening on our last trip to the library. The riddles and rhymes tickle my funny bone! Here's a riddle for you (name the vegetables):
Papa ate the root and tossed the leaves.
Mama ate the leaves and said, "Mine's best!"
Brother ate the stem and found no seeds.
Sister ate the seeds and tossed the rest!
Answers at the bottom!
Today I want to share a gardening newsletter written by the Relief Society President of my ward. She helps her father with an acre garden, and says he is crazy
enough to plant 500 tomatoes, 200 peppers and 200 pounds of potatoes and think it's fun. She begins everything by seed in a hot house, and I am hoping to get my tomato and pepper starts from her this year.
I love hearing advice from people with years of experience... it is the best teacher after all. I have heard that her tomatoes are the biggest and juiciest around! Here is what she wrote--it's good stuff so I'll let her have the last word:
Is
It Spring Yet? Well, if you're following the movement of the sun, the
days are getting longer. Compared to last year this winter weather has
been a contrast for sure. Our area is known for its
unpredictable weather patterns which include killing frost in June,
severe winds (especially around Memorial Day), snow on the 4th of July,
and hail on Labor Day.
Spring is still a few weeks off. If you are familiar with the area then you know you don’t need to get in any hurry to plant your garden yet. There’s plenty of time left to look through seed catalogs or check out online catalog versions.
Vegetable and flower seeds will start to appear at local stores in a few weeks. However,
if you want a larger selection to choose from, here are some companies
with online catalogs that offer All-American (that means these varieties
do well in all 50 states) selections and other hybrid options for you
to consider:
- Burpee www.burpee.com/
- Parks www.parkseed.com/
- Stokes www.stokeseeds.com/
- Twilleys www.twilleyseed.com/
Gardening is a whole lot like having a baby. Time erases the painful memories and you start to get baby-hungry again. If last year was not
a happy gardening experience, spend some time looking at the catalog
pictures and dreaming of that perfect tomato or your favorite vegetable
fresh from the garden and prepared just the way you like it. If you haven’t ever planted a garden as yet, start out small. You can expand your garden size over time rather than kill your desire to garden right out of the chute.
Late February is a great time to start pruning, weather permitting. It’s best to start with the earliest blooming fruit trees and work your way down. Apricots should be at the top of your pruning list, then peaches, pears and apples. For best size fruit prune aggressively. All water sprouts (tall single stems that shoot upward from main branches) should be totally removed. Reduce growth by 1/3 to ½. Prune back to sturdy short branches that can support the weight of mature fruit. Grapes and raspberries can also be pruned in late March.
Detailed pruning and spraying information may be found at the Utah State Extension website: http://extension.usu.edu/htm/
If you took advantage of autumn’s fallen leaves and tilled them into your garden before winter arrived, congratulations! Leaves are one of the finest soil builders as they contain trace minerals which are drawn up by the trees from the subsoil. If you didn’t make use of last season’s leaves, set a resolution this year to cache in on the 2012 leaf crop. You’ll be glad you did. Grass clippings and other green waste also build up the humus in your garden. Don’t till in weeds that have gone to seed. Dispose of these nuisances. Additional weed seeds only add to a gardener’s frustration!
In
closing, I hope this gets you thinking about the Provident Living
principles we talked about last year in Relief Society. Now is a great
time to check your pantry shelves and determine what fruits and
vegetables need to be restocked during the 2012 growing season.
***Riddle answer: Carrots, spinach, celery, peas***
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