Note to Michele: Veggies, Flowers and Fiddleheads

Today we got started at our community garden plot. I’m lucky to have kids who were able to get the work done in no time at all. One turned the soil, one pulled out the weeds, one added compost and I followed along and popped in the plants. We still have more work to do but today was a productive start.

So far we’ve planted:

Three varieties of peppers-sweet, hot, and, by request of my daughter-purple! 12 plants total.

A variety of lettuce seedlings

4 eggplant starts

In the wild-crafting department, we enjoyed some fiddleheads recently. I boil or steam and then serve with lemon. Some I add these to rice and stir fry dishes (note: always be sure to cook thoroughly. Raw fiddleheads can make one ill.)

 I found an interesting way to eradicate the pokeweed plant I’ve mentioned before. It’s spreading and popping up in the strawberry bed. I read about a non-toxic way to kill it- by pouring boiling water over the plant. It seems to work but we’ll have to wait and see if it tries to sprout again. It’s a pretty plant with beautiful berries but I just don’t want it in my strawberry bed and the fact that it is toxic worries me with kids and pets. We think it was introduced to our garden with a load of compost a few years ago.

The flowers are all blooming early this year. My rhododendrons are going by with blossoms falling to the ground like rain. Irises are in bloom. My daughter is planting her raised bed with annual flowers this year rather than veggies. She is planting snapdragons, alyssum, four o'clocks, bachelor's buttons, cosmos, gladioli, and candytuft. The perennial beds are in desperate need of an overhaul and dividing of plants. I think we'll tackle that in the fall.