We helped you put down roots, now go forth and grow
Things are progressing beautifully in the experimental garden. The wheat is high and forming heavy heads. The oats, too.
Tomatoes gifted in the throes of the worst spring weather are pushing skyward, flowering mightily and setting fruit. Green peas brought back from Israel are producing — and how. All of the beans from Argentina miraculously germinated.
Carrots raked into the cold frame last fall on the advice of a colleague who promised they’d do great in a container are looking like actual carrots. Second-chance dinosaur kale is leafing out. Garlic saved from a farm in Oregon is ready to be dug. And the zinnias sprouted from seeds given by my friends in our circulation department are going to rock the border with a riot of color by the end of July.
This garden is set for the summer. It’s leafy and messy, and a glorious expression of the influences of the community of friends, family and near strangers who cared to contribute to its creation. Now it’s up to me to tend it until harvest, and then start over again, replenishing the soil with homemade compost and burying it for winter under a deep blanket of leaves and straw.
I trust that things are going well in your garden, too — that you found your perfect mix of flowers and food and are moving fearlessly into the part of summer that is more harvest than heavy labor.
As we begin thinking about saving seeds and planning for the next great garden experiment, we also are marking the end of the official Grow season. Don’t worry, you’ll still be in good, dirty hands as responsibility for guiding your next moves in the landscape transfers to the Saturday features section. You’ll find stories about gardens and the people who tend them and advice for growing well, wherever you are planting.