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Asparagas Bean is one we grow just for the
wow factor. They can grow up to a
yard long. They are
better eating when picked at about 10-12 inches. |
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| Beans: Bush, pole, yard long.
Green beans are not my favorite vegetable but I love to
pick them - the pole varieties that is. Before I
started the garden program, I had pole beans growing up
the side of my garage. It was so relaxing to take
a basket out the bean patch and pick in the cool of the
evening. |
| If you are growing beans for
canning or freezing, the bush varieties are a better
choice as they will produce a bunch for 2-3
weeks, then they are done. Pole
beans can easily grow 6-8 feet and climb with their
runners. They will produce
most of the summer and into the fall, if you keep them
picked. But make sure you get all of them.
Do not allow any to go to seed until you are ready for
the season to end. |
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Beets: When I was growing
up, no special occasion dinner was complete without a dish of my
mother's pickled beets. It's only in the last few years that I
have learned to appreciate them prepared other ways. My friend,
Bonnie Mitsui, of Turner
Farm, turned me on to cooking them on the grill.
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Broccoli |
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Brussel Sprouts |
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Califlower |
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Canteloupe |
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Carrots:
If you
have children, you have to grow carrots. When my now 14 and 15
year old grandchildren were preschoolers, harvesting carrots was
a daily activity. They would decide which ones to pull
then invariably they would pull the tops off. This meant
they had to dig their carrots out with a trowel. We went
inside so they could scrub their carrots. Then it was back
outside to sit on the porch steps where they would eat their
carrots and talk before heading off to their next adventure.
Digging a carrot apiece each day was a good twenty minute
activity. Back then, I did not know that carrots come in
lots of colors besides orange. |
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Endive |
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Cucumbers - space master: When I was
growing up, if we did not have pickled beets for company dinners
you can bet we have cucumber salad. That is unless we were
having bean soup; then it was cornbread and homemade bread and
butter pickles. At the school gardens, we grow the space
saver cumbers because they only need about three feet and
produce like crazy. But we also grow some of the other
varieties, i.e. lemon and Armenian, White. |
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Edamame Soybean: Now you can
grow this gourmet item right in you back yard for just a few
pennies. Like all beans, they are super easy to grow and
all you have to do is
steam them for a couple of minutes and they are ready to
shell and enjoy. |
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Gourds are such fun to grow!
Children and grownups alike are fascinated by the different
shapes that form on the vines. There is all kinds of
information on the internet about fun things to make from
gourds. You will also find lots of information about how
to dry them. The easiest way to dry them is to leave them
on the vine until they have dried out. |
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Kohlrabi: Is one of my favorite
vegetables. It look like something from outer space, has a
texture similar to a raw potato and taste like broccoli only
sweeter. It is a cool weather crop that grows with the
bulb sitting on top of the soil. It is great raw or
cooked. |
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Lettuce: My earliest memory
of my mothers gardening was when I was about three years old and
we lived on a farm on the Ohio River in Warsaw, Kentucky.
It was early spring and she moved back the cheesecloth that was
covering the tobacco seed bed and there was the lettuce.
The green and healthy lettuce was such a beautiful contrast to
the still winter brown of the rest of the farm. From then on the
first picking of lettuce from Mom's garden and the wilted
lettuce she made with it marked the arrival of spring. Of
course, we no longer eat wilted lettuce (made with bacon
grease), but fresh lettuce from the gardens still heralds the
arrival of spring. |
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Lima Beans |
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Mustard |
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Okra |
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Onions: I've always grown
onions from set but only started growing them from seed when
after starting the garden program. We planted seeds
donated by seed companies and they actually grew. Even
after all of these years, I am still amazed at seeds and what
they produce. It turns out that onions are really easy to
grow. You can have them green and fresh from the garden as
well as dry them to keep for the winter. |
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Sugar snap peas: These are
the kind of peas where you eat the pod and all. People are
always amazed at how sweet and tender they are. The
classes plant them mid March. Not too many of them are
ready before the end of the school year so most of them are use
in the summer program and as snacks for the garden volunteers
and visitors. I hear the curly tendrils that allow the
vines to grab onto supports are now a fancy salad item in high
end restaurants. Peas, like beans, are super easy to grow. |
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Peas - Edible Pod/Snow Peas |
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Peas - Shelling |
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Peppers, Sweet |
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Peppers, Hot |
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Pumpkins:
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Radish Spring/Winter |
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Spinach |
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Squash: I'm sure you've heard the
jokes about people who grown zucchini and had so many they ran
out of people to give them to. Actually, it's the truth.
The way to avoid this is to stagger your planting. Plant
3-4 seeds every couple of weeks or so. By the time one
plant is done the next one will be coming on. If you still
end up with more zucchini, or other squash, than you have
friends to share with, donate them to your local food pantry.
They'll be happy to have them.
Winter: Butternut, Spaghetti, Golden
Hubbard
Summber: Yellow, Zucchini |
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Strawberry popcorn:
This corn is so beautiful. The ears dry to a deep red that
is wonderful for fall decorations but the real fun is when the
children get is shell it from the ear and pop it. |
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Swiss Chard |
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Watermelon Surprise |
