I am worried for Susie’s garden. And it is not that Susie is doing anything wrong. She has poured a tremendous amount of labor and love into that garden, as I think we all do with our gardens. This area has been unusually cold and rainy, so much so that the local paper recently ran a front page story on what a disaster it is turning into for the local farmers. Susie’s garden, mine too, are not immune to the disastrous effects, and we are lucky that our livelihoods do not depend on what we are growing.
Susie did not lean toward cold loving crops when planting, and those seem to be the only crops doing well around here. I took a meander around her garden the other day and found the watermelon longing for heat:
That is my pen next to the melon plants for scale and it is hard to see, but it is actually pointing at one of the mushrooms(!) that has sprung up in the garden.
Susie’s garden fascinates me because she has planted many varieties I’ve never tried. I am endlessly interested in what other people plant. Some of what she has:
Potatoes: Kerr’s Pink, All Blue, and many others.
Charentais melon. Heirloom variety, reputed to be delicious. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
Moon and Stars watermelon. This is one I have grown, with its beautiful speckling of the fruit and even the leaves. Makes me happy just to look at it in the garden. I don’t have much watermelon space and this year I have Mountain Sweet Yellow in my garden, exquisite flavor and it ripens in our tough Northeastern area. (Well, maybe not this year.)
Crystal Apple cucumber. An heirloom white cuke. Looks a bit like lemon cucumber to me.
Black Beauty zucchini. I am open-minded, and I will try this if Susie has any to spare. Meantime I will try to convert her to my all time favorite zucchini, Costata Romanesco. A low yielding zuke—and I believe that is a virtue in a zuke—lots of blossoms for frying and a reasonable amount of fruit. Costata has a delicious nutty flavor. When I bring them to work people actually fight over them.
Boston Marrow Squash. Susie has come up with yet another nifty heirloom, a pumpkin this time.
Peppers: King of the North, Healthy, and others.
Tomatoes: Trophy, Brandywine, Suddoth’s Brandywine, Green Zebra, and others—I’m hoping that between the two of us, Susie and I can have a little tomato tasting this fall.
Susie has many other plants—all look happy but a bit behind due to the rain and cold. Well, not all look happy: the potted tomatoes up by the house were attacked by the chickens and had to be moved within the safety of the garden fence:
A couple of innocent looking chickens:
