Breadth Thrusts & Bread Crusts: Looking forward to this year's Surprise

JC Parets
March 25, 2021

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

March in Wisconsin (especially here in Milwaukee close to Lake Michigan) is a season of it being already and also not yet Spring. Depending on whether the wind is blowing out of the warm Southwest or coming at us right off of the lake, temperatures can swing dramatically. But the consistent warmth of the Sun heats the Earth and gets the soil ready for planting.

It’s one of the most exciting times of the year for me, full of promise & expectation. I’ve already been at work in the garden (the areas, that is, that are already receiving enough sunlight to soften the dirt). One of several changes in my life over the past year was last Fall’s rebuilding & re-arranging of the raised beds in our backyard. I’m excited by the new layout but it means more work getting them ready for planting. The beds are pretty barren at this point. Rhubarb and horseradish will soon provide some evidence of life, and I tried to work around the asparagus, so hopefully that survived. Garlic, unfortunately, did not get planted.

The soil is workable, so I need to get out and plant kale and other greens. Leafy greens are the workhorses in our garden. Peas also can go into the ground once I find the time. Beans, carrots and beets still have to wait. Last year we had a phenomenal cucumber crop and we’ve enjoyed homemade pickles all Winter long - less dill and more spice than what you get at the store. If we are going to repeat that this year, I should get those seeds started inside. 

Every year in the garden is a little different. Plants that flourish one year can struggle to survive the next. At this point, though we have a pretty good sense of what will work in our situation and what won’t. What I really enjoy are the positive surprises. A few years ago we had a mammoth sunflower that emerged seemingly out of nowhere and last year we had volunteer cantaloupe vines that provided us with a half-dozen homegrown cantaloupes. I never would have planted that, but am sure glad I let them go rather than pulling them out right away. I wonder what this year’s surprise will be?

What thrived in your garden last year? What are you excited about planting this year? Let me know!

 

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