After several weeks of hesitation, it appears spring has finally sprung in Northern California. The seemingly endless rains of this winter have finally ended and the temperatures are warming, though frost remains a possibility. In short, it is time for spring turning; turning the soil and planting a garden.
For lots of us, spring turning is a tradition – maybe not a fond tradition (sore muscles can remove the fondness factor) - but a tradition nevertheless. It’s the beginning of working outside, helping things grow and eventually enjoying the beauty and bounty of those efforts.
Those involved in agriculture know that spring may be the unofficial kickoff of garden season, but also know their work begins earlier, with pruning, soil preparation and occasionally even planting.
We Newmans did our share of that early-season ag work during our decades (late 1950s to late 1980s) in Anderson Valley; pruning our small orchard mostly, but also plowing and seeding pastures for hay.
Two lessons from those experiences inform my gardening today: start before spring actually arrives and stick with it, both through the growing season and over the years. Both make gardening easier and the results better.
This year started particularly early, as I switched from compost to manure to fertilize, and the latter needs time to decompose in the soil. I spread manure and turned soil in early March in preparation for planting. I also planted wildflower seeds then, as they need to go in early to flower by summer.
Lots of people turn their soil with a rototiller. I’m not so lucky; I use a shovel. On the plus side, it gives me an opportunity to remove the weeds that take over my garden plot each winter. On the minus side, I ache for a couple of days from the effort. Fortunately, the more years ground has been worked, the easier it is to work.
Some have a green thumb and can grow almost anything. Some have a black thumb and can kill off almost everything. My thumb is somewhere in between. My vegetable garden produces vegetables every year, but not in great quantities. It also looks unkempt, with weeds popping up here, there and everywhere. My fantasy is to someday plant weeds and have vegetables of various kinds crowd them out.
To compensate for my lack of gardening prowess, I put in started plants rather than seeds and I seek out the easiest crops. Cherry tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoes, broccoli and romaine lettuce do fine for me: beets and lemon cucumbers do less fine. Leaf lettuce does poorly and – situated close to the coast - my garden is too cold for bell peppers and zucchini (maybe not for zucchini, but that’s my excuse and I am sticking with it).
Of course, my use of started plants puts me at the mercy of my local garden center. Selection varies week to week and some varieties sell out quickly. I am still waiting for my favorite romaine lettuce to arrive this year. If it does not soon, I may have to find an alternative.
Then there is kale. As one friend wondered aloud, “Don’t garden centers give away kale for free?” They don’t, but I still plant some; it is easy to grow, reliable and makes a tasty salad.
Those with land in Anderson Valley, the Ukiah Valley and the rest of Mendocino County should plant gardens, even if it is just a scattering of wildflowers. Truth be told, the county is a veritable Garden of Eden; almost everything grows well here.
How well? In the spring of my sophomore year in college, I planted 40 tomato plants in the garden plot near our water tanks. Except for a short visit in June, the vines were left to their own devices. When I returned from my summer job near Lake Tahoe after Labor Day, I found my parents had been inundated with tomatoes. We had so many, my mother could no longer give them away to friends, and had resorted to canning tomato sauce so they wouldn’t go to waste.
So start turning the soil, start planting those seeds and starts, and anticipate pleasures to come. They will be worth the effort.
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