The Garden Sleeps...

At least someone around here is!

Fall Potatoes

Planting potatoes, for us, is a frugal act born of neglect. We let the store-bought spuds start to shrivel & sprout eyes. You could set aside some on purpose, but we just forget what gets covered up on the kitchen counter. In early October, we brought a basketful of them out to the backyard garden, dug shallow trenches, and planted them in 3 rows, eyes up. We’ve also cut them in half prior to planting, but I was in a hurry that day. We had just pulled up the cornstalks, so there was a patch of soil ready for them once I yanked out the weeds. No need to dig very deep; just a few inches of soil to top them. It rained within a few hours. It was a very rainy Autumn and flooded zones had to be avoided.

The year prior we planted the potatoes in November, on a surprising warm day here in Michigan. They showed their leaves above the ground in early Spring, with a harvest by late June maybe? (Note to self: keep better records.) The hope for this year is an earlier Spring potato harvest. Among the weeks of rain this Fall there were some sunny days, and some of the taters sent up their shoots prematurely— only to be zapped by frost. In the best scenario, we’ll harvest a whole cartload of potatoes, each plant started from one old potato. We did the same with a few sprouting garlic cloves. Frugal in the multiplication and guilt-assuaging for the food waste from forgotten produce.

Transplanting Strawberries

Biology Club strawberry plants, May 2017

We have a pretty large strawberry patch in proportion to our suburban plot. It began 5 years ago with 3 strawberry plants that our son brought home from Biology Club and 3 Alpine strawberry plugs delivered by mail order. They sent out runners like a Greek city state with drastic news to tell and within 4 years were warring with yarrow, spearmint, creeping buttercup, and bishop’s wort in a Battle of Five Armies at the north garden wall. (What on Earth was I thinking to plant buttercups there?)

An admittedly tidy battle between 5 plants, May 2021

We dug up many a strawberry plant beginning in the Spring of 2020, to give away to family, friends, and neighbors of friends. By all reports the transplants bore fruit by their first or second season. The Great Front Lawn Project of 2020-21 (to be presented in a future post) included using creeping or edible plants as groundcover instead of grass. Digging up the strawberry plants was quite a job (or so it appeared to me from the window, watching my husband do the digging), especially since the ground was already cold, but they took well to their new spots bordering the driveway. They quickly established themselves and even fruited without missing a beat. They’ve also proven themselves frost-tolerant in the Spring. They’ve been prolific enough to supply our family, give away, and spare some fruit for the rabbits.

Strawberry transplants as front yard groundcover. They’ll form larger clusters soon. Photo taken just after we stripped away the lawn.

Accidentally On Purpose Seed Planting

It’s so heartbreaking to thin out seedlings in the early weeks of the growing season. After a late May frost took out most of our early tomato transplants this past year (Whyyyy, Memorial Day weekend, whyyyy?!), I lost all courage for plucking out any volunteers that appeared. Did I learn my lesson after dealing with the resultant tomato forests and squash jungles? Um, perhaps… I mean, the harvest of cherry tomato varieties was incredible but the tangled mess, blockage of sunlight, and takeover of other plants was not ideal. Not to mention the mama rabbit who made a nest in the garden, and we didn’t notice until her offspring were hopping all around like they owned the place.

My actions this past Fall as I harvested and “tidied” the garden indicate that I have not changed my ways in time for the next growing season. Last season’s volunteers came from the compost that was spread all over the backyard garden. This coming season’s volunteers will be from my pitching practice last Summer & Fall. Find an overripe tomato? Pepper with a bite out of it? Sopping wet calendula blossom after a rainfall? Chuck it to the other side of the garden! Find dried up peas when pulling plants past their prime? Toss them casually over the fence into the flower bed. This coming season’s garden promises to provide volunteer plants in surprising places, and I’m not that sorry about it. The birds and rodents took their share and the soil will nurture the rest. And I will pluck out some of the tomato seedlings, pinky swear!

Let’s share garden tips!

What did you plant this past Fall? What do you usually plant but 2021 was a mess and you didn’t get around to it? Did Mother Nature spoil your plans? What are your hopes for Spring produce? What have been your biggest garden successes? Or failures, because those are often the best teachers— not to mention a source of humor in hindsight sometimes. I’d love to hear your stories and garden advice.

Until next time, friends… may the sun shine warm upon your garden and your neighbors appreciate your weird front yard.

Erin in Michigan, Zone 6 Gardener