With the able assistance of Paul, Steve and Natasha, who did
most of the work, the garden at Roshara is planted. Our goal is to plant most of the
garden—especially the more frost-fragile plants such as tomatoes around
Memorial Day, and no earlier.
I usually try to have my potatoes in the ground by
mid-April. Not this year. The garden was still snow-covered in
April. We planted them in early May and
they are almost all up and growing well, all ten rows of them. At that time I also planted radishes, onions,
early sweet corn, lettuce, and beets.
All up and looking good.
Last Saturday we planted squash, pumpkins, cucumbers,
zucchini, gourds, more sweet corn, some broom corn, and a half-row of
sunflowers. Got to add a little color to
the project.
We set out the tomato plants I started back in April. They look a bit small and scraggly but in a
week or two, if all goes well, they will catch up with the fancy much taller,
store-bought varieties. We went
overboard a bit this year setting out nearly 60 tomato plants. Included in the 60 are 25 heirloom tomatoes—a
special variety from the Isle of Man (Manx Marvel). The seeds germinated well, the plants are
vigorous, but I’ll withhold
saying more until I see and taste the tomatoes. All told I think we have six different tomato
varieties, with the hope that a least a couple of the varieties will produce
well this year.
Saturday was also the day to set out the cabbage plants—both
red and white—broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi plants, all purchased at
the Co-op store in Wild Rose.
We mulch all the tomato plants with a few inches of
straw. It’s a slow tedious job. Paul
drew the short stick for the job this year and completed it without
complaint. We also mulch all of the
cabbage, broccoli , etc. plants. The
mulch keeps the weeds down and the moisture in.
And for the tomatoes, the mulch provides a bed for the ripe fruit as I
do not stake or put racks around all my tomato plants.
Now, like I have done for every year since growing a
garden, I wait to see what does well, what does less well, and what fails. I have turned it all over to Mother Nature, who
is largely in charge from this point forward.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS:
One of the most difficult things we face in life is learning how to come
out from behind ourselves.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Interested in learning how to write your own
stories? Sign up for one of my upcoming
one-day workshops that I am teaching at The Clearing in Door County.
Saturday,
June 22, 9-4 (A few openings still left)
Saturday,
November 3, 9-4
(There
will be a book signing at The Clearing on each of these Saturdays from 4-6:00
p.m. The public is invited.)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 4, Noon. Milwaukee Rotary Club. War Memorial Building.
Limping Through Life.
June 6, 7:00 p.m. Dane County Genealogy. One Room Country
Schools.
June 7, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Launch
of LETTERS FROM HILLSIDE FARM and LIMPING THROUGH LIFE.
June 8, 11:00 -3:00 Book signing, Tri-County Thresheree,
Plainfield
June 13, Writing Workshop, Fulcrum Publishing offices, Golden,
CO.
June 20, 7:00 p.m. Wisconsin Rapids Public Library. Limping Through Life
June 22, 9-4. Writing Workshop.
The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI.
June 25, 8:30-10:00.
Bethel Lutheran Church, Madison.
Homeless Book Club. Limping Through
Life.
June 29-30, Chicago. McCormick Place. American Library Association Convention. Letters From Hillside Farm.
SPECIAL
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “JERRY APPS: A FARM STORY” DVD
DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984
(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.
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