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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2012)
Applegater Winter 2012 5 DIRTY FINGERNAILS AND ALL What did your mom tell you? by SiOUx ROGeRS Of course we never listened to mom, especially when she said, “Do as I say, not as I do.” What nonsense! Why did she do it in the first place? Okay, this is easy. I am not your mom, just an experimenting gardener with very dirty fingernails and cracked heels (ick) to boot. Never the less, this is a great time to listen to my past season’s flaws and successes. Nothing in gardening is a failure, just an experiment. Last “summer” started out very early, like in the middle of a snowstorm. You may have heard this story already, but just humor me. I had a call from the Daily Courier newspaper in Grants Pass. They had read my article about cup gardening. They wanted to come out and do a full story on this crazy idea. My friend came over and we planted these wee little plants in ten-inch plastic cups, bottoms cut out. The newspaper reporter came over, took his pictures and it started snowing. The next morning the garden was solid snow, like really solid—no cups, no plants, nobody was home. Moving right along into spring, then summer, wow, giant healthy plants. The cups had acted like mini greenhouses. Granted these cup crops were cold-weather crops, not tomatoes and yummy melons, but still, can’t argue with success. Now I forgot what the point was… Oh yes, experiment—make it up as you go along. Experiments that did not work Here is what did not work in my summer garden. I’ll save the good stuff for last. My gutter garden failed, in that only about one quarter was viable. My squashes and melons planted in five-gallon containers behind the asparagus bed withered on the vine. Well, not the zucchini, but I still did not have enough to run to the neighbors and leave abandoned zucchinis on their back porch, or feed extras to the deer and chickens. Saga will be ongoing, but I think nasturtiums will win out, assuming I remember to water them once in awhile. Tomatoes in our microclimate were can easily lift them at the end of the season. their normal struggling, icky flavor and I also did a “Mint Julep” cart. Mint needs very sparse. to be contained, we all know that, so that is We also realized that the “new” very exactly what I did. I did a variety of mints. black cherry tomato looks beautiful but This is the second year in the same cart. tastes awful, even after it ripens, which They seem to hide in the cold but pop right takes forever. Basically it tastes like a glass up again in the spring, bigger and better. marble! Japanese eggplant right outside the My other melons and squashes kitchen door did great. I rotate every other planted in big tires in full sun did nothing year between eggplant and basil. Pretty except struggle. I do believe that out of the boring, but it works. five tires, I had one unidentifiable round I did more miniature lavender, “melon.” parsley, sage, rosemary, and other edible Experiments that did work herbs and flowers right outside the kitchen Here is what I did right and what I door again. In the same area I have will repeat next year. horseradish in a large container. Even Instead of fussing with trellises for though I have some of the same plants all the climbing things we plant, I simply elsewhere, it is wonderfully convenient and made eight cylinders, about one foot tall fun to just walk out the door and pick the and three feet around, from some field seasonings for the feast of the night. fencing wire I had salvaged. I hooked Experiments to try next year the cylinders together however I could. Here is what I should have done or I planted on the outside bottom of the will do next year: tall cylinder and vroom—up the climbers The gutter garden would have worked went, without any help from mom. better if I’d had a deeper gutter to use. I p l a n t e d Planted in a concrete sewer pipe next to the house, Given that I don’t a few themed this tomato plant is still putting out blossoms. and won’t, I need w h e e l b a r row s . to pay better First was a attention to “lemonade” what is planted in stand. The old them. I thought wheelbarrow that miniature had lemon grass, gourmet lettuce lemon verbena, would be perfect. lemon geranium The roots are and stevia for shallow and sweetening. If I lettuce tolerates can beat the frost, shade. The basil I will unroot all at the far end did of these plants great, but then and place them I seem to have in pots because good luck with they are frost- planting basil tender. Next year anywhere, so I may do the same why waste the using a larger gutter plan. The wheelbarrow and lettuce probably sinking the pots needed much into it so that I more water, like Please support our advertisers! They help make this paper possible. The Gater thanks you. Sioux Rogers—And the beet goes on. twice a day in the hottest part of summer. On the other hand, that is way too much work, and we eat much more kale and chard than lettuce. What was I thinking? (Slap forehead.) Okay, no lettuce in the gutters, but maybe some radishes. Small ones though. The other plan is strawberries—their runners can just trail over the sides so they will not replant and spread into my everywhere. And last, but not to be forgotten, are nasturtiums. I love to decorate salads with them, and the trailing varieties would be lovely backed up to the chicken coop. Saga of decisions will continue, but I have a hunch the nasturtiums will win. Remind me to water the gutter. The squashes and vines, whether in five-gallon containers or tires, need full sun, more compost and regular watering. They were clearly neglected. One tomato, planted in a concrete sewer pipe next to the house, is still green, ripening up the tomatoes and putting on more blossoms. Just thought I’d brag because I have no more concrete sewer pipes or room around the south side of the house. So next year we will plant tomatoes with our friends in their sunny, lower-elevation, well-fertilized plot. So what did mom say...geez, I cannot remember. But I am telling you, there is no such thing as failure, unless you do not try. Dirty fingernails and all Sioux Rogers 541-846-7736 mumearth@dishmail.net
