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What’s Blooming: Plans for Vegetable Gardening

 


What’s Blooming:  Plans for Vegetable Gardening

by Mary Miller, Community Garden and Outreach Coordinator, Gardens on Spring Creek

 

Each growing season brings new opportunities to one’s garden. Whether your garden space is quite small or is large, spring affords the chance to try a new tomato or add beets and chiles to the list of what to grow.

As a nearly-lifelong gardener, I have explored growing a bajillion different varieties of vegetables.  Some are abandoned after the first year.  Others remain as favorites forever (or at least as long the seed remains available).  Sometimes treasured varieties are dropped from the trade. At times, it feels easier to go with what I know and plant many of the same crop varieties season over season. 

Responsibilities for me include managing the Gardens on Spring Creek’s Garden of Eatin’.  It is a three-quarter acre site wholly dedicated to edible crops and the plants that support those crops.  Think pollinators.  It is a living classroom, a demonstration garden and a fully productive garden supporting our food-insecure community and The Gardens’ programming.  Produce grown is donated to the Food Bank for Larimer County and used in our educational offerings, special events, fundraising efforts and as a discovery moment for the multitudes of young people through school tours. Yes, little ones, the carrots are in the ground, growing in the soil.

After a year in which the Garden of Eatin’ was closed to the public during The Gardens construction, followed by two quite altered years of pandemic, and a wildfire thrown in, this year feels hopeful with fresh opportunities.  New vegetable varieties, new ideas for the themed garden beds, and well, a new tilling option for the garden, all add up to a renewed sense of this growing space.



This season I am excited to showcase “Staff Favorites” in one of the large beds.  Many staff members are home gardeners.  Like most, they grow what they love.  And gardeners love to share their knowledge and personal outlook on taste and flavor.  It is my hope that our guests to The Gardens will peruse these vegetable varieties and find inspiration and ideas for their own growing or search for these at local farmers’ markets.  Individual favorites were submitted by just one staff person, others were loved by numerous folks.  All were limited to tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and summer squash from which to choose, in order to keep the bed planted for the season and produce crops that are high value to the Food Bank.  It will also serve as a testing ground for possible new varieties to continue growing for the Garden of Eatin’ and our annual Spring Plant Sale.  Thanks to my work colleagues for this idea!

The Continental United States themed garden has undergone physical changes in the past couple of years.  It grew from being five distinct geographic areas of garden spaces to one large, encompassing space.  Highlighting regional crops from across the country, this year’s theme is the American Quilt.  It will utilize different textures, crops, colors, shapes and space.  It is the hope these regional food crops may reflect the attributes of a quilt all coming together in a whole pattern of beauty and imagination.  And function, as a good quilt provides.  In this, quality and useful produce.  All the while showing some crops are now grown throughout the country. Carrots overlap all regions.  Onions are universal. Tomatoes are grown from north to south, east to west.



There are also new varieties to add to the mix this season for the plant sale.  For example, ‘Valley Girl’ tomato was not “totally awesome” in its availability this year.  Fortunately, the highly-regarded ‘Galahad’ bravely stepped in to replace ‘Valley Girl.’  Finally!  A tomato for those with very limited space have an option for flavor.  ‘Patio Choice Yellow’ cherry tomato is also here.  No patio?  It is sized for a balcony too.  Broccoli varieties ‘Covina’ and ‘Millennium’ are weather durable and keep going through the unpredictable temperature swings of June.  And ‘Ace’ bell pepper has won out over ‘Cal-Wonder’ this year.  Seed was unavailable and ‘Ace’ promises the high card in productivity. 

While every growing season is different and often with challenge, always there is learning and reward.  This is the time of year when opportunity steps to our garden entrance and invites us to adventure forth together.

 

 

 

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