New West Network Topics News

Ahhh, yes that first frost reminds you that global warming is not always in the here and now. I have been tucking mine in at night for a couple of weeks now. I know it is not long until it will freeze thru the blankets or I'll forget one night, and then back to seed catalogues & planning for next year. But cheer up a gardeners hope springs eternal, and those catalogues always arrive in the darkest winter.
Right now I'm shopping for a greenhouse to kind of bump things along.

Hehehe, the first year I owned this place, I planted corn, the deer kept it so pruned I had about a 4 inch stalk with a 2 inch ear on it! I spray my tomatoes with pepper spray and do not plant anything else I know deer like to eat.

They build those water rounds, tubes you fill with water that surround your plant, for cooler areas. The sun warms the water by day, and it keeps the plants from freezing at night. Big deal in the Salt Lake valley. You cover those at night and get a head start on tomatoes. And don't water a tomato after August 1. If in a really dry area, maybe just a little bit. Let the greenery ripen the tomatoes.

Mostly, you gotta know that the railroad brought people in from the northern latitudes of Europe to farm and work in Montana and the Dakotas, and buy those rail road sections. Chermans, Sveeds, Danes, Norgies, and a lot of Chermans from Roosya. The Catherine the Great escapees from the Bolshies and da Retts. They had some knowledge of how to farm in a short season. And what crops to grow. The Hoots to the north have it down pat. They can get a truck garden to produce in cold country. Someone must have put out a pamphlet on what and how to grow it in the wind and cold. I can be done. My Dane grandfather got the chob done in Great Falls. When he wasn't tinkering with his Indian motorcycle which mostly did not run (according to his 1918 daily journal). He built his little 12x16 house with 2x10 studs, and then filled the space between the inside and outside walls with sawdust from the "melter" where he worked. Warm and cozy, and had lots of sauerkraut and spuds, onions, and even tomatoes.

Dave, thanks for writing this article. I too grew a garden this year, the first in many years and struggled with not enough as well as too much too soon (lettuce and cilantro). Yours was a noble act and you are right "a home garden is a much-needed and intimate reconnection with nature". I'll be back next year out there giving it my best and I hope you will be too. Next year cantaloupes!