Vegetable Gardening



Ed's new veg garden

My neighbor roto-tilled up part of his back lawn and put in a vegetable garden. It was an ambitious project that took most of two weekends to finish and now I see rows of something green beginning to sprout.

The vegetable garden at Countryside has been in for several weeks now. This year Richard and Lori have planted potatoes, broccoli, chard, tomatoes, radishes and peppers.



The Countryside Garden




You might think that June is too late to put in a veg. garden but it really isn’t, especially since our spring was so cold and wet. Most of the traditional veg crops do best in warm weather anyway. So, really, now is the perfect time.

Even if you think my neighbor was a little ambitious, many vegetables are easily grown in containers. I grow my herbs and tomatoes in half whiskey barrels where I can position them to take best advantage of the sun in my otherwise shady garden.



Netting over the spinach to keep
our little friends out.



Some vegetables, in particular the leafy chards, beets and lettuce can be interspersed amongst your ornamentals. One year at Ball Seed field days we saw beets used in ornamental annual containers and I just love the look of Bright Lights Swiss Chard in containers. My friend, Jean, does the containers at the Brink Street Market and uses them. Chard is a great alternative to spinach, which has a tendency to “bolt,” or go to seed in the hot weather.



Planting vegetables, even in containers, is a great way to get your kids interested in gardening and interested in eating what they grow. When we lived in Denver I planted pole peas up the one side of our deck. We never had enough for a whole meal but we would use them raw in salads and my girls enjoyed harvesting and shelling them.

If you need some ideas about what to plant, the Cornell University vegetable variety project has vegetables rated by actual gardeners.  It is not just specific to New York, but has garden profiles from all over.  The University of Illinois extension web site also has information about growing, harvesting and storing vegetables.  And, not to brag, but we here at Countryside are a vertible font of knowledge on vegetable growing.

We still have plenty of starter vegetables at Countryside and of course seeds. So come on in and let us help you get started. It’s not too late!

The Year of the Tomato

Topsy Turvy tomato

A couple of weeks ago my youngest, who is in school in Boston, called to ask about growing tomatoes in one of the Up Side Down grow bags. She asked if they started tomatoes from seed would they bear fruit this year. Well, apparently, I have been neglectful of her horticultural education (tho I may say that she is getting a first rate education in information science and it has been worth every penny Mr. Ross spends to send her there). Of course tomatoes are an annual here and even if you could over winter them, the likely hood of survival and then good production the next year is doubtful.
The National Gardening Bureau has proclaimed this year the Year of the Tomato. They have also selected the Zinnia as the Annual of the Year and next year will also honor a perennial.

Tomatoes can be classified in several ways, including by size and shape of fruit, growth habit, color, days to maturity, etc. Everybody has an opinion on which is best, but it really depends on how you are going to use it, to determine what tomato is best for you. There are plenty of hybrids and heirlooms to pick from so you shouldn’t have a problem finding one that suits your needs.

Tomatoes in a mixed container





Tomatoes range in size from grape, cherry, plum, standard and beefsteak. They can be red, orange, yellow, green, almost black and even striped. One important factor in determining what variety to grow is its growth habit. I always grow mine in a big whiskey barrel so I usually pick a “determinate” variety. This type of tomato grows to a genetically predetermined height and bears most of its fruit at the same time. This is a good thing if you do any type of canning or preserving of tomatoes. Determinate tomatoes tend to be more compact, which makes them perfect for containers. Some of them are so compact they can even be planted in hanging baskets! Indeterminate types continue to grow and produce fruit over the entire season. They can get quite large and need staking or a tomato cage to hold them up.

There are a bazillion
tomato varieties



One question we always get at Countryside is about the days to maturity and what this actually means. Tomatoes are classified as early, mid-season and late. Days to maturity are the average days from the time the plant is transplanted into the garden until the first fruit ripens. Since it is an average, it really should be used as a guide not gospel. Generally speaking early tomatoes will ripen in fewer than 70 days, mid-season from 70-80 days and late tomatoes will require over 80 days from date of planting outdoors.

We always have a great selection of all types of tomatoes and I am sure we can find one that will suit your needs.  Click here to see all the varieties we will have this year.







Vegetable Gardening Tips

Well, I don’t want to be the one to say this, but does it feel like fall to you? I didn’t mind the mild summer, in fact, I rather enjoyed it, even if my tomatoes (that do so much better with warm nights) are now just ripening. I just hope we don’t pay for it this winter. I have a very long driveway and no kids to shovel. But I digress...

Last week on my jaunts through town on the old bike, I ran across this garden. Actually, Neil lives down the block from me and I’ve seen his garden many times with these odd bottles and finally got around to stopping by and asking about them. He was somewhat embarrassed to admit he didn’t get these at Countryside, but since I don’t think we carry them, it’s okay to say he got them by mail order, but I won’t say where. You can see from the picture how it works. You cut the end off a 2 liter bottle, screw a hollow plastic spike onto the other end and finally push the spike into the ground next to the plant. Using this system gets the water right to the root and doesn’t water the weeds. I think something like this would work to water indoor plants while you where on vacation as well.

Neil has been gardening for many years. His garden is actually in his neighbor’s yard but they let him use it. Every fall they rake up the leaves from both yards and pile them on the garden. Then they roto till them in and let them decompose over the winter. In this way they have solved two problems: what to do with the prodigious amount of leaves that accumulate and improve soil tilth.

Also last week I rode back over to the community gardens off of Barlina Road to see what progress had been made since my first visit in June. Wow, things had really changed in those two months. Only one gardener was out working when we were there, so we asked Don O’ Conner what he was growing. This year he was growing cucumbers, pumpkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. He had started out growing heirloom tomatoes but is moving away from them because of disease problems.

He does not garden organically. I noticed quite a few Japanese beetles flying about. He had a trap out and had trapped and killed a lot. He was using Sevin® (carbaryl) as an insecticide for the beetles not captured by the trap.

AAS Selections

Wow, we had a great turnout over the weekend for our seminars. Kim and Pam did a presentation on annuals and perennials, I did one on vegetables and herbs, and Kerry and Mike showed how to attract birds, butterflies and bees to your gardens. It was also our Art in the Garden art show, with lots of new artists and some of our favorites from previous shows.

In the news today was an article about the price of food, especially rice. One way to keep the food bill down and eat healthier at the same time is to plant a vegetable garden. Even if you don’t have a lot of room, many vegetables do well in containers or can be easily integrated into your existing annual and perennial beds. I have two half whiskey barrels on either side of my garage devoted to vegetables. I just planted a 4-pack of butterhead lettuce. In a couple of weeks I will add a tomato, an eggplant and a pepper, as well as a few herbs. It’s only me here so I really don’t need much. (Which brings up another subject: As some of you may know I am in the process of getting a divorce. The garden center is not the ideal place to meet single people so if you have an older brother or a younger uncle let me know. I was married to Mr. Ross for 25 years so obviously I’m not that picky.)

I have a few tips for when you are select plants or seeds for the vegetable garden. The first is look for the letters AAS. This stands for All-America Selection and means that it has been grown in trial gardens all over the US and has been judged to be superior in garden performance. Each year since 1933 the AAS organization has announced the winning varieties in several catagories: annual plant, annual bedding plant and vegetable.

There are three trial gardens in Illinois and 12 display gardens. The nearest display garden to Crystal Lake is L & M Gardens on Randall Road in St. Charles. Catigny Gardens in Wheaton is also a display garden. Per AAS rules, each display garden must hold an "open day," in which the public is invited to view the gardens and it must be publicized in the local media.

This year’s selection for vegetables is an eggplant, "Hansel." This eggplant produces finger sized clusters of fruit on a short, compact plant. The fruit mature about 10 days earlier than the comparison eggplant. If left on the plant the fruit continue to grow in size but remain tender and do not turn bitter. At less than three feet tall, this eggplant is great for containers.
Previous year’s winners include: pepper "Holy Mole," carrot "Purple Haze," eggplant "Fairy Tale," and a melon "Amy." To find out about these vegetable varieties and the winners of the annual plant and bedding plant winners go to http://www.all-americaselections.org./

Here are two more websites with information on gardening: The Cornell University website has growing tips for all types of vegetables. They have also implemented a project so that everyday gardeners can rate individual varieties. You have to register and give your location if you want to post a comment, but you can browse the database without registering. If you want to try a new variety but aren't sure how it will perform, check out http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/index.php. The University of Illinois also has a good web site with vegetable growing tips: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/.

Web Sites for Vegetables

Information for Growing Vegetables

In the process of updating the vegetable signs for the coming season I came across a couple of web sites that I thought would be of interest to avid veg gardeners. The first site is run by Cornell University in upstate New York. It provides descriptions of many different vegetable and herb varieties. The most interesting feature of this site is that it allows registered users to rate and post comments about each variety. The web address is: http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/ The site also has growing guides for a wide range of crops. The University of Illinois also has a web site with information on growing vegetables. Their web site is http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/ As you begin to plan your gardens for the coming year you might consider using these sites to help you pick new crops or varieties to grow. I found the Cornell site more user friendly and better laid out but the U of I site would have better information about our particular growing areas.

Land Grant Universities

Both universities are what are known as "land grant" universities and were originally funded by Congress with grants of land that the universities were able to sell to raise money to establish the university. Each state has one. These universities received these grants with the obligation to conduct research and provide education that would benefit the public. At the time the public were mostly farmers and rural communities and the research reflected that. While most research is still agriculture based, more research and programs are directed toward consumer sciences and urban development. It is a valuable resource that is available to everyone through the web site and our local extension offices. In McHenry County the extension office is located in Woodstock at 1102 McConnell Rd.

Annuals--More Color Bang for the Buck

The Gardening Trivia Quiz
Our own Laura Fergus was the staff winner last week for correctly answering the question about what family rosemary, sage, oregano, thiyme and marjoram belong to. Young Pamela wants to institute a new rule for staff--no Google-ing. Just to clarify, only the Countryside staff has to get the correct answer to win the batch of mini-chocolate chip muffins. The rest of you will still get the coupon even if the answer is not correct. Obviously, this is a marketing gimmick, but I still would like to hear from you and it is nice to know someone is out there reading this. This week's question is a toughy: True or False (or as we say in Italian: vero o falso): The banana has no trunk. It is held upright by a tightly wrapped bundle of leaf stalks. Thus the banana is not a true tree. Good luck. E-mail me with your answer at leslieross@sbcglobal.net.

Planting Annuals

The more I garden, the more I have begun to appreciate annuals. Don’t get me wrong, perennial beds are wonderful and every year more varieties are introduced that add color or texture to the garden. But for great color all season long, you can’t beat annuals. During the dog days of summer when your perennial bed is perhaps not looking its best annuals will be there to provide continuous color. There is certainly a spot in the perennial bed for them.

I think broad sweeps of annual beds can be quite dramatic. I have a bed in front of my house that is about 20' by 3' that I plant in impatiens every year. It takes about two and a half flats to fill it. I do tend to plant my annuals closer than recommended on the tag because I want them to fill in faster. My coworker, often referred to in these pages as young Pamela to distinguish her from us old folks that work here, gave me a great tip last week. She uses a bulb auger attached to an electric drill to plant her bedding plants. I tried it last night and it worked a treat. Of course, I couldn’t take the pictures and do it myself so I enlisted the help of my neighbor, Sandy. We strive for perfection here at Countryside and I had to take numerous shots to get the perfect one. By the time I did, Sandy had just about finished the planting. Couldn’t have been any easier. (I wonder if I can get her to do it again next year.) I treated her to a glass of wine after and of course we had to get the perfect picture....

(Hey, and a big thank you to my neighbor, Sandy, for being my "comic foil.")

Horseradish
The other day a customer wiped us out of our entire horseradish supply. I couldn’t help but ask what he was going to use it for, since it does spread once established, and how much horseradish sauce does the average person use in year, anyway. Well, his recipe for horseradish is an old family recipe and the sauce is in huge demand from his family and friends. He agreed to share the recipe with us as it is posted on his blog. So here is the address for those of you who are interested: http://www.sardawg.org./ . It is listed under the tab "dawg recipes."

Herbs and Vegetables
It is finally warm enough to plant the veggies. If any of you attended our spring gardening seminars in April, the vegetable seminar focused on integrating vegetables into your ornamental beds. Many vegetables make great foliage additions to the garden and have the added benefit of being edible. One of my favorites is the Bright Lights Swiss Chard. When I was in France last August, the Bright Lights was used extensively in many of the municipal flower beds in Paris and elsewhere. The leaves of the swiss chard can be used like spinach and the swiss chard won’t bolt in the heat like spinach does. In addition, Bright Lights has great coloration in the stalks. Eggplant is also a great plant to use in the ornamental bed. The star-like purple flower is very attractive as are the resulting purple or pink fruits that add color to garden. Sliced and grilled is a great way to serve it this summer.

Even if you never cook with fresh herbs, the purple basils make a great border around a sunny garden bed. Of course you should use fresh herbs and here is a quick recipe using sweet basil. My garden club friend, Donna Cramer, makes this hors d’oeuvre using sweet basil and grape tomatoes. She uses one grape tomato, a basil leaf and a small cube of mozzarella cheese on a toothpick and drizzles a little olive oil over them. Delicious

If you are interested in attracting butterflies to your garden plant pineapple sage and parsley. The pineapple sage really does smell like pineapple and it gets a small tubular scarlet flower that attracts both humming birds and butterflies. Swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs in the parsley and the caterpillars feed on the parsley. If you do plan on using the parsley, check it closely for eggs and caterpillars! If you would like to know more about butterflies, check out the Crystal Lake Nature Center’s Butterfly House. It is located at Veteran’s Acres, at the Main Street entrance.

The Answer to Last Week's Trivia Question:

Rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme and marjoram all belong to the mint family. I can see where oregano, thyme and marjoram are in the same family, but rosemary and sage really don't look like the first group and none of them seem to have the same characteristics as mint. Mint has square stems, although the leaves are somewhat similar looking. Good luck with this week's question!