I am not an avid gardener by anyone's standards. However, I do enjoy working the soil, planting vegetable seeds and watching the plants grow and mature, producing something edible in the process. To me, a garden is all about what I can produce in the way of extra food; it is not about having a profusion of flowers. I appreciate seeing the gorgeous blooms that others produce through hard work, but I won't waste limited garden space on something I can't eat. Therefore, I let others have the flowers and I will enjoy them as I walk by. They won't be growing in my yard, because whatever available ground I have I will use for vegetables or fruit.
Wherever I live, I pay attention to what I think will grow well in my hardiness zone as I hate wasting time and energy on something that will need absolutely ideal weather in order to produce results in a growing season. I am thinking cantaloupe here. I had a fantastic melon crop one year, when we had hot dry weather all summer long. The cantaloupes loved it, and I reaped a bountiful harvest. However, cantaloupes often get off to a slow start and then never produce like I want them to. Generally I am lucky to have three cantaloupes mature to edible status. To me, that equates to a waste of my garden space, so I decided several years ago to let others produce the cantaloupes. I quit trying to coax melons to produce in the type of soil I had and contented myself with producing vegetables and fruit that would grow and produce enough to make the effort of gardening worthwhile.
Each year varies, and each type of vegetable responds accordingly. One year I may have a few measly tomatoes that sit shivering in the cold murmuring something about needing antifreeze, and another year I have so many I have more than I know what to do with. In those years the neighbors usually have a bumper crop as well, so I can't even give the produce away. No matter what part of the country a person lives in, weather plays a huge factor in what type of harvest a person will reap.
The cycle of planting and harvesting worked well in eastern Montana as I learned in general what worked, I had the knowledge and experience of my sister to rely on when it came time to plant, and through trial and error I discovered what varieties of vegetables liked my type of soil and would produce consistent results through the years.
Now that I have moved to Virginia City, elevation approximately 6000 feet, I will start over again as far as knowing what to plant and when to plant it. I know we have a shorter and cooler growing season than do the gardeners in eastern Montana, so I have perused seed catalogues with an eye to number of growing days required for each variety. I also know that here, as anywhere, it depends on summer temperatures and moisture amounts as to what decides to produce well and what will just sit in the ground and complain about life in general all summer long.
I have tried to pick the brains of local gardeners, but even these natives have given me conflicting advice. One person assures me that cucumbers will grow well at this altitude, while another person earnestly explains that this is not the area to try to grow cucumbers. Someone told me peas won't grow here. Peas? A cool season crop that matures by mid July in eastern Montana? They won't grow here? I find this hard to believe. Peas do very well planted early in eastern Montana, they survive freak snowstorms and frosts, and do well in cool weather. If I still lived in that part of the state, my peas, potatoes, onions and radishes would all have been in the ground by Easter.
Some misguided soul even told me that zucchini won't grow here. Come on, folks! Zucchini grow like weeds; they have a short growing season to maturity, and they produce early and continue to produce until a frost kills them off. You can bet I will plant zucchini seeds by the end of May and I am willing to bet (and I am NOT a gambler), that I will have more zucchini than I can possibly eat.
All this conflicting advice has me scratching my head in puzzlement, but it also spurred me to pay close attention to which variety of vegetable has the shortest growing time to maturity. I selected those varieties this year to try in my garden.
This means that in many cases I have selected varieties that I have never tried before, so that means I am flying by the seat of my pants this year. I sent off my order in mid-April, three months later than I generally order seeds. I have resigned myself that this year may prove disastrous, but then again, I may actually have some fresh garden goodies to enjoy by the middle of summer. I can only hope.
I also ordered two apple trees, both of which supposedly grow well in zones three to six. I am not100% sure of my zone, but by perusing the maps and planting charts. I guesstimate we live in zone 4. So hopefully the two apple varieties I have selected will take root and thrive, supplying me with good eating in my older age.
With the seeds and the trees ordered, I now will prepare my soil, wait for my order to arrive, plant the seeds at the end of May, and see what grows and what does not. It should prove interesting. I will learn from experience, try other varieties if the ones I have chosen do not work, and once I discover what will grow well for me I will go back to my old habits of using the basic same varieties year after year to ensure that I produce a garden that provides us with tasty fresh veggies for our summertime eating.
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