The spring of 2022 was (in Minnesota fashion) highly unpredictable, with rapid weather and temperature changes. However, we were able to get the garden up, running, and planted by June. Here are some highlights from our spring harvests.
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It is exactly 0 degrees on this bright, icy February morning, but drafts of blueprints for the 2022 garden have already been drawn up in gardening excitement. Every day below freezing I find myself longing for the organized chaos of the garden, the juxtaposition between the strict Apollonian uniformity of the grass paths next to the Dionysian jungle of leaves, roots, flowers, and fruits, the gentle morning dew glistening on the leaves of a cucumber vine, the tempting vermillion of a ripe tomato. While the ground is still frozen, though, we should take a moment to reflect on our 2021 season. Our first season was a learning experience for everyone. Everyday, there was a new revelation in the garden for gardeners and non-gardeners alike: Watermelon grows on a vine! Broccoli is a flower! Botanical reproduction is a mysterious and vastly interesting topic for all. In between the countless tasks of planting, tending, and harvesting, we were also able to make plans for the future. Seeds were collected from some of my favorite heirloom varieties (such as the Spacemaster 80 cucumber, Sugar Snap pea, Sugar Baby watermelon, Big Moon pumpkin, Tabasco pepper, and the Scarlet Globe radish) so that they can be shared and grown again next year. The weather was less than ideal: severe drought, heat, and poor air quality due to Canadian wildfires made 2021 a challenging year to start a sustainable, productive community garden. Additionally, we did learn a few lessons about pest management from the surrounding wildlife (deer love pumpkins, squirrels love peas, raccoons love corn, wasps love melon, cabbage loopers love brassicas, and aphids and whiteflies are willing to damage any plant in a greenhouse). But there were also residents of the garden who I was happy to see everyday, like Champignon, the toadlet who grew up under the shade of the Lima beans, and Basil, the giant Northern leopard frog. However, we were able to rise above these challenges with the help of 18 volunteers and 24 donors over the garden’s 7-month growing season. I am immensely grateful for the support of Eden Prairie’s gardening community. Thank you all so much for your support! We were able to grow 896 pounds of fresh produce which was donated to the PROP Food Shelf, located less than half a mile away from the garden. Despite all of the challenges faced in 2021, thanks to our hard work and nature’s perseverance, People’s Patchwork harvested and donated countless bunches of leafy greens, boxes of squash and potatoes, and bags of peppers and tomatoes. As my favorite botanical author Michael Pollan once wrote, “Seeds have the power to preserve species, to enhance cultural as well as genetic diversity, to counter economic monopoly and to check the advance of conformity on all its many fronts.” As much as I respect his writing, in this scientific passage, I do think he failed to mention the seed’s ability to unite the community, teach patience and teamwork, and inspire positive change.
Last night, Eden Prairie had its first fall freeze, marking the end of the summer growing season. Even as the temperatures dropped this fall, the garden still produced colorful harvests of hot chili and banana peppers, sweet cherry tomatoes, all types of winter squash, pumpkins, zucchini, beans, bell peppers, tomatillos, and giant heirloom tomatoes. Additionally, cold-hardy crops like celery, kale, broccoli, and cabbage will continue to produce this fall and winter, despite the frost. Here are just a few of our final October harvests.
It is already September 1st and the annual plants of the garden are beginning to look tired from the long, hot summer but weighed down with fruits and vegetables. On August 23, we harvested another watermelon, two cantaloupes, pie pumpkins, butternut squash, honeynut squash, acorn squash, cabbage, tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, green beans, celery, and the garden's first eggplant! On August 25, we harvested a grocery bag of tomatoes, tomatillos, a few more cucumbers, butternut squash, acorn squash, shallots, bell peppers, and a pie pumpkin. Finally, this morning we harvested a basket-full of cherry tomatoes, butternut, acorn, and honeynut squashes, cantaloupe, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, and summer's last zucchini (maybe). We also harvested a few rows of potatoes: Goldrush Russet and Red Pontiac.
After a long, hot, dry summer, we finally received all of our rain in one dreary week. The garden has been untouched for the past weekend, as its watering needs have been taken care of. I did, however, visit the State Fair agriculture building this weekend! The vegetables had perfect uniformity and even beauty (an odd word for a vegetable) that I had to document them with a blog post. The care taken to grow these perfect vegetables is truly inspiring. 2021's largest pumpkin was grown by Chris Brown of Nowthen. He explained the genetics of the pumpkin; he had bred the pumpkin for large size as well as for the classic pumpkin appearance. This lovely specimen weighed 1104.5 pounds. I was especially impressed by this Savoy cabbage--definitely a variety that I would like to grow in the future! The diversity of fruits and vegetables grown is impressive, ranging from grapes, plums, figs, and pears to hot peppers, cucamelons, and colorful tomatoes to artichokes and giant pumpkins.
We are receiving some desperately needed rain this morning--good news for the thirsty plants and for our rainwater collection system, which we use to collect water from a warehouse roof and pump water all across the 12 beds of the garden with! While I am writing from indoors this morning, I would like to showcase some of our recent harvests from the past few days, beginning with Friday's harvest of cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, tomatillos, peppers, shallots, a pie pumpkin, butternut squash, and a basket of white potatoes. On Monday, we harvested more butternut squash, pie pumpkins, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and onions as well as a few acorn squash, honeynut squash (a cross between the classic butternut and the sweet buttercup squash), watermelons, beets, zucchini, turnips, and broccoli.
Today's harvest was quite possibly the most satisfying harvest of the garden's short history. We harvested acorn squash, cabbage, pie pumpkins, tomatoes, onions, tomatillos, cucumbers, peppers, and, in the spirit of summer, five watermelons. Melons are one of the more tricky fruits to grow in Minnesota, as we have a shorter growing season with unpredictable weather, as well as clay soil in the garden. In my opinion, it is also difficult to determine when the fruits are ripe. My struggle with this can be seen in the following two photos of an unripe watermelon (white) and a peach-colored but not very flavorful cantaloupe. I believe it is important to document these mistakes in order to learn and grow. Thanks to these learning experiences, today's watermelon harvest was a sweet success. A sixth melon was cut open for me to ensure ripeness and collect seeds, which will be saved for next year. The watermelon was exceptionally sweet, juicy, and very satisfying! We harvested five more watermelons to complete our donation.
This Monday morning, we gathered yet another colorful August harvest! Tomatoes, cabbage, kale, celery, beets, zucchini and summer squash, peppers, onions and shallots, cucumbers, potatoes, and many winter squash were harvested. The potatoes harvested today were of the Goldrush Russet variety, and we still have many rows of potatoes left. We are also growing the Red Pontiac potato and the Magic Molly potato. The winter squash harvested today include butternut squash, acorn squash, sugar pie pumpkin, and one Jack Be Little pumpkin.
On Thursday, we harvested the garden's 300th pound of produce in the early morning rain! This may be one of my favorite harvests of the summer; it displays the biodiversity and the rainbow of vibrant colors in the garden. Thursday's harvest consisted of tomatoes (cherry, San Marzano, and an unknown donated heirloom), bell peppers, cayenne peppers, banana peppers, red and yellow onions and shallots, potatoes, sweet corn, butternut squash, acorn squash, broccoli, cabbage, and cucumbers.
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AuthorHello! I'm Calista Swensen: gardener, environmentalist, student, volunteer, and aspiring botanist. Archives
July 2022
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