With great pleasure, I spent part of Mother’s Day digging in the dirt. At last, sunny days and warmer nights are here and the growing season begins.
As always, I planted old standbys such as tomatoes, marigolds, and one of my favorites, a blue Columbine. A miniature rose has popped up and is looking good, plus the lilies are sprouting in places I don’t remember planting them.
The tomatoes are early girl, which I like for the medium size and really good taste, plus I should be eating them by the Fourth of July. I did plant an heirloom, Cherokee Purple, which takes close to 70 days to ripen. It is a purplish red tomato, and when sliced open, it looks dark and almost spoiled. It is not and it is delicious, great for sandwiches and salads.
This year, I am planting something for the first time — horseradish. It is a pungent perennial that is in the mustard family. It grows underground, but with huge foliage above. I am not sure whether to plant it in the middle of the garden, where it may shade other plants, or squeeze out some room at one end in case it needs to flop over.
My plan was to harvest it in late fall, but it actually takes two years to develop. I may check it out in November and see if I can do anything with it this year.
I hope I have room for a few gladiolus bulbs. They will bloom in August and make a tall statement, I think. I was told to plant them on their side, not the bottom, and they will grow straight without staking. It works, too.
Last, I am going to spread some low-growing nasturtium seeds near the tall plants, as I have heard they act as a ground cover. They are also fun in a lettuce salad, very colorful and edible.
Last year, I bought a canvas greenhouse. It is about six feet tall, with shelves measuring about 15-by-18. I bought some plants early, popped them in this canvas house warmed by the sun, which fits in a corner outside on my deck. They all stayed alive even when it was around 30 degrees a few nights.
Starting the garden is always fun in the spring, weeding and watering not so much. But the first, fresh, homegrown tomato, midsummer is the best.
Judy Terry is a longtime garden columnist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Garden Walks with Judy: It’s time to plant the garden | Column
Reporting by Judy Terry, Special to the Press-Citizen / Ames Tribune
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