I have been richly rewarded as gardener and artist for sowing winter wheat – which requires warm soil – as soon as beds were prepared after onion harvests and, especially fascinating, the rye that followed cucurbits and beans.
During summer months I broadcast crimson clover seed between crop rows. This beautiful plant not only fixes nitrogen in the soil – i.e., we grow our own fertilizer – it keeps weeds down and is a good cut flower.
That planting, intended to protect the earth through harsh winter storms and serve many other functions for the soil, was stripped and hauled away to chipmunk storage chambers, a ready food for uninvited guests of the garden.
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.
Stored in a cool, dark location, green tomatoes ripen slowly and develop good flavor. Check often. I’ve enjoyed juicy Brandywines into early December.
