Advice For the Four Season Garden

I've been on the phone daily, calling everyone and anyone who gardens locally. No one I've talked to, including Master Gardeners, has had experience or success (beyond kale and chard ) at spring and fall gardening. I guess that makes sense with our local severe weather swings. We're happy usually to have a good tomato season, and fruit trees are unpredictable from year to year as the spring frosts may kill blooms and buds. It's actually getting kind of embarrassing to ask about a gardener's habits. I'm finding that it's a bit like prying into someone's financial habits. No one is as organized as they'd like you to believe. I'll quickly state here that my garden has a few weeds. I had planned to remedy that this summer, but DS has a summer volunteer project and craftily decided to study a new language in a nice cool house instead of actively pulling weeds.

I had to gently tell a friend that eggplant seeds tossed into the ground in June are a lost cause. I barely get eggplant when I start seeds inside in February. It's just as well, DS could live on eggplant fritters and I RUIN a nice top every time I fry on the stove top. Better to have a short and glorious eggplant season. Yes, I've heard of aprons...I'm a working Mom, everything in my life happens at full speed and on the fly.

My friends have had success with lettuce and peas, which if you've read the earlier posts you know that I have not. Blame the rabbits. And the rain. And that rascally Sun. This year I'm seeding the lettuce in my new greenhouse. I had done that at the last house and it was working beautifully at first. Then the cats discovered warm potting soil in a sunny window with tender greens to munch if they grew bored. I put sharp little bamboo stakes (feeling a little guilty) in the soil to discourage feline lounging and preserve the remaining greens. They considered this a challenge and artfully arranged themselves around the stakes. I added more stakes...now their feline honor and sunny window rights were on the line and the cats declared war. Over the next two weeks they sat, nibbled, trod, or sat upon every square inch of edible green. This year (Morgana's Revenge) they will find themselves on the exterior of the warm, sunny green-filled greenhouse. I will not hear their piteous cries for sunny warmth, will not listen their impassioned pleas as they twine around my legs, will not open the door for their little furry butts.