You can literally smell it in the air. It's that musky, earthy smell of the ground coming awake again. It's the sight of 3 feet of snow, slowly (oh so slowly) melting into the ground. It's the thrill of seeing the pavement on your driveway and not the sheet of ice that's covered it for the past 3 months. The birds are back, searching the patches of open grass for grubs or whatever else may be lurking beneath the surface. It's the warmth of the sun shining through the kitchen windows.
Yes, I think Spring must finally be on the way. And just in time too - after all, the calendar said Spring happened two weeks ago!
Spring on PEI means it's time to start thinking about the garden. Being a rural island, lots of farmers have been thinking about their crops for months, planning out crop rotation and planting and harvesting schedules. My approach is much more simple than that. I simply ask myself - what do we like to eat? Will it grow here? When do I need to start the plants from seed, or should I just buy small starter plants later in the Spring? How much will I plant and how will I lay out the beds?
Last summer, our first summer on the island, I created my very first vegetable garden. Being an urbanite for most of my life, I had never had enough land or garden space to plant a vegetable garden. But buying a house with two acres solved that problem - we have plenty of land to cultivate here in the Oyster Bed Bridge. I had no idea if I'd be successful at growing our own food. But, I come from farmers and I figured I could at least give it a try and see if any of my grandparent's talents for growing vegetables made it to my blood line! I'm happy to report it did.
While Dwayne tilled out our garden patch, I poured over packets of seeds...peppers, peas, 3 different kinds of lettuces, carrots. Sunflowers, zucchini, green beans and more. I started everything (but the tomatoes) from seeds that I planted in tiny little starter pots that sat basking in the western sun on my office desk. I was thrilled beyond belief at the sight of the first shoots poking their heads through the soil. I did it. I grew something from a seed. I am a "GARDENER."
Of course the trick was transplanting those tiny starters into the bigger garden once all the risk of frost was gone, hoping they survived. On PEI that was any date after June 9th. I remember thinking that it seemed so late, but the almanac was right - because people that planted before June 9th often had to replant when they got hit with one last frost.
Of course some things I could plant directly from seed into the ground...most specifically peas, green beans, lettuces, carrots. I waited with great anticipation for their tiny shoots to pop through the soil...I waited...and I waited. Then, one morning on garden patrol I saw it...the tops of the green beans shooting up through the ground! I had done it again. I had grown something from almost nothing.
Sadly, I never got to taste a single green bean. It seemed the ravens and crows really liked green beans and before we could gather any fresh beans they were gone. I'll try again this year, but with the protection of bird netting over the beans in the hopes that we get to enjoy them this year and not the resident bird population.
But everything else did grow. Our sunflowers were 5-feet tall the day of our August wedding. Brilliant yellow, bathing in the sun, standing tall over the wild poppies & cosmos as their feet. My dahlia's were simply stunning in shades of hot pinks and purples.
Our most prolific crop was zucchini. I had no idea three zucchini plants could render so much! We harvested zucchini from August through November, serving them with virtually every meal, giving them out to colleagues at Dwayne's hotel. We had an over-abundance of zucchini. This year perhaps we'll put in only one plant.
My favorite memory of my first vegetable garden, however, is standing in the garden, picking peas and eating them right out of their pods, still warm from the summer sun. Now that's FRESH. Shakespeare said "a rose by any other name will still smell as sweet". That simply is not true of vegetables grown 30-steps from your kitchen door. A carrot is a carrot is a carrot is simply not true. Peas out of the garden are like nature's candy. Carrots have a completely different and more powerful flavor than anything you'll buy at a grocery store. And a toasted tomato sandwich made from tomatoes you picked while the bread is toasting, simply does not compare to one made with store bought, hot-house tomatoes.
So, a kitchen gardener I became. This year I hope to hone my skills and try some different vegetables. My peppers failed last year, but I'll give them another go this year. I'm thinking a lot about fennel. We love fennel and it'd be great to grow our own. This year - more tomatoes and carrots. Definitely more peas. And we'll give green beans a try and see if we can win the war with the birds. I'll expand my herb garden to include more basil, thyme and lavender. And this year, at the end of the season, I will harvest every last herb and create my own dried herb collection.
Yes, Spring is here. I can hear the garden calling now.
