Rows of vigorous fall-planted garlic have anchored the garden with their lush foliage, superseded only by perennial rhubarb that thrived even when its leaves were snow-covered on May 12.
My response is to cook the vegetables before they decline, make improvements in storage conditions for the rest of the harvest and refine my choices of varieties for the new growing season.
Onions and potatoes, tomatoes and basil, cucumbers and kale, snap beans and zucchini fill dinner plates and overflow salad plates as the growing season peaks.
Among the late summer bloomers in my landscape are a fragrant heirloom phlox, Japanese anemone, Oswego tea, Russian sage and New York ironweed, all perennials.
Touring the garden, perennial herbs and flowers, as well as fall-planted garlic that emerged from snowdrifts scarcely two weeks ago, have been growing quickly since the recent heat wave.
High-elevation squalls every day and night last week kept us in a holding pattern as soft, white blankets were dropped on the whole, leaving the few planting beds that had warmed unapproachable.
Plants painted with prickly frost crystals sparkled, lit by morning’s first sunbeams. Every sparkle flashed rainbow colors. Each uniquely rimed leaf invited a close-up look.
While cool weather prevails, make it a priority to plant onion sets or plantlets, shell and snap peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach and radish, all direct seeded.
As winter turns toward spring, I’m inspired to dig deep into my pantry and pull out dried seeds that may have been there for many seasons; to look them over and turn them into the fresh food I crave – by sprouting.
