The Endless Garden

My concept of gardening has changed dramatically over the years. When I was a girl, my dad planted in the spring, harvested in the summer, and that was that until the next spring. He never dreamed of planting a fall garden. Dennis’s dad did the same. Consequently, For several years Dennis and I gardened the way our fathers did.

Although I experimented one year using a hot bed for starting broccoli seedlings, our first real break with tradition occurred when I traded my neighbor a printer for a cold frame she built at an Extension Service workshop. Having the luxury of home-grown lettuce in winter made us true believers and we have continued planting cold frames in the fall ever since.

It’s plain to see that the cold frame works like a miniature greenhouse. Look at all the moisture trapped under the lids this morning, some of it running in rivulets down the plastic covers.

Dennis planted kale, baby bok choy, spinach, and lettuce in mid-October, and here are lettuce and baby bok choy seedlings, up and getting their first true leaves.

Still, we needed to replant kale, which didn’t germinate very well, and spinach, which didn’t germinate at all. We accomplished that in half an hour this afternoon. Now all we need is four fresh bales of straw to set around the back and sides of the frame for insulation.

When I ventured into having a fall garden, planting escarole, radicchio, turnips, Swiss chard, and other cool-weather vegetables in early August, we became year-round gardeners. Fall greens are better than spring-planted ones because there’s no hot-weather bitterness to them. They go on and on, even after a frost.

I had been thinking that the big garden was finished for this year, but when I visited it this afternoon, I realized that the big garden is never finished. Something is always growing there, whatever the season. The parsley is going strong, cilantro volunteers are thriving, and dill volunteers are ready to harvest for salad additions.

What’s more, the garlic and shallots planted last month are taking off and will continue to grow any time the winter weather warms. Here the young garlic fronts four remaining leeks that we planted in May. Swiss chard, on the left, is still growing, too.

Gardening is no longer a seasonal affair. It goes on all year, cycling over and over. I wish my dad were here to enjoy it with us. To be truthful, I’d like to show off for him.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer