70 pounds and Counting

70 pounds and Counting

It’s November, cooler temperatures have set in, summer is a distant memory, and most gardeners have called it quits for the vegetable growing season.  Being the intrepid Square Foot gardener that I am, I continue to protect the plants, collect and weigh the produce, hoping to reach a self-imposed harvest of 100 pounds, before I call it quits..

77 plus pounds and counting- the amount of vegetables harvested so far. It’s been a wonderful journey getting to this harvest number, since almost everything growing in our Square Foot Garden was started from seeds, by our program participants.

The “Let’s Get Growing” Square Foot Garden program began in January with journal making,  seed starting workshops, an insect safari, cooking in the Historic Wisner house kitchen, and a workshop in which the children discovered, that there are alternative ways to grow food, like the methods used by astronauts to grow vegetables in outer space.

The seasons bounty included eggplants and squash, with “Lemon Boy” and “Paul Robeson” tomatoes.The harvest also included cucumbers, bright light swiss chard, “Outredgeous” lettuce, edible flowers and a variety of culinary herbs.

Visitors to Reeves-Reed Arboretums were delighted, as were the children and adults who participated in our Oaks and Acorn program, because they became the grateful recipients of much of the gardens harvest.

Fresh from the garden and straight into the Historic Wisner House kitchen, program participants created delicious summer vegetable medley, candied edible flowers, personal pizza pies, pesto,zucchini spaghetti and more.

So as the frost sets in, I continue working in the garden, planting garlic bulbs in anticipation of next year’s harvest, and sowing hardy spinach, which will greet me as winters snow begins to melt away.

Wishing you Happy Gardening!