I Need To Be Committed

April is Earth Month.  I am earth friendly and trying to leave the smallest foot print I can.  I have an organic garden and compost.  I even started my garden already.  In honor of Earth Month, I will expose my gardening habits to you.

I am allergic to pesticides.  The “dirty fruits and vegetables” as I call them, cause me to break out in hives and asthma attacks.  If I want to eat those plants, I have to grow them.  Therefore, in my garden, I grow strawberries, celery, apples, tomatoes, potatoes, squash with edible skins, peaches, plums, cherries, carrots, herbs, blueberries, string beans and peppers.  I also plant garlic and have a patch of raspberries. 

Maybe spinach maybe lettuce?

The list of plants that I grow would lead one to believe that I have a fantastic high yield garden.  Unlike my grandfather who produced strawberries for most of the East Coast, I am not prolific.  My blueberries are fickle, while others are giving away zucchinis, my zucchini gets stubborn, the peppers never want to turn red and the peaches get the June dropsies.  I always have a bumper crop of raspberries, green beans and garlic.  The rest is hit and miss.

Strawberries being choked by weeds

I have already started my lettuce and spinach.  One of those is already growing.  I cannot tell which plant it is yet.  It looks like spinach but it is the color of lettuce.  It needs to grow more before I can identify it.  I noticed this morning that the strawberries are already flowering and I have not even weeded that part of the garden.  I scheduled planting the remainder of the garden for the middle of May due to the warmer weather instead of the Memorial Day weekend. 

In dire need of weeding

As I look at the picture of my garden, I know I need to be committed to the garden.  That might answer why I do not have a high yield garden.  I am guilty of not always weeding, forgetting to water daily, and while I try to companion garden sometimes, the garlic is often not planted next to the roses.  I know that I have erred in my choice of tomato cages, the stakes for the beans and snap peas never seem to support the plants, corn in my small patch over shadows its neighboring peas and my taste has not changed, I really do not like radishes.

I companion garden so the pests that eat my plants are deterred.  Carrots grow next to tomatoes, pumpkins grown near corn; I plant marigolds, zinnias, and basil to ward off annoying bugs.  Garlic planted around the base of fruit trees repel deer unless you are in their travel path or have a huge herd, and then nothing will stop those big-eyed does.  I also crowd-grow which means my plants are close together to inhibit the growth of weeds.

I fertilize my soil from my compost.  Yes, animals eat most of my compost but I do get some soil effects.  However, I do have a home recipe for spraying my plants.   Mash four cloves of garlic, mix with I cup of olive oil, one cup of borax soap flakes, and one tablespoon of hot peppers the kind you put on pizza.  This is your concentrate.  Mix one tablespoon in two gallons of water and spray your plants once a week or after it rains.  Never spray flowers you need the bees to stay alive and pollinate.  Your fruit will get a black smudge from the spray, however it easily washes off. 

I am but a small gardener wishing to be grand.  My hope is one day to be a master gardener explaining to others the ways of organically growing your own fruits and vegetables.  While I can do that now I feel a little hypocritical.  I love working in the garden but now everyday.  To be committed you need to work in the garden everyday to pull those weeds and water the plants when it does not rain.  If I could just be committed, I could have that grand garden. 

My secret for growing celery - cut the base of celery you bought, soak overnight in water and plant.