My Grim Reaper Thumb
I know I described learning to hang dry my clothes as the “classic Grandma Challenge,” but I think I may have been mistaken. In my post about laundry I wrote that my Grandma Pickies’ clothesline stood as strong as ever and ready to use. I was wrong.
While visiting my Grandpa last week, I decided to take a walk to the side of the house where I expected to find my Grandma’s clothesline. Imagine my shock when I discovered it was no longer there. My Grandpa said he had taken it down when it became clear my Grandma no longer had the strength to hang dry her clothes. I felt sad that I had become so disconnected from my Grandpa over the past few years that I did not even realize he had taken it down.
Thankfully, I am finding ways to reconnect. I know for certain that my Grandpa Pickies’ garden is not a figment of my childhood memories. I have kicked off my shoes and rolled up my pant legs numerous times this summer as I followed my Grandpa’s instructions to get to work picking mounds of corn, cucumbers and most recently bags and bags of vine ripened tomatoes. He has maintained a garden on the very same plot since he bought his property as a young man. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to label gardening as the “classic Grandma Challenge” or rather the “classic GrandPA Challenge.”
I have one big problem with this challenge. I do not have a green thumb. Let me say that again in more dramatic fashion. I DO NOT HAVE A GREEN THUMB! I have tried really hard to not exaggerate for the sake of a good story when writing my blog. Unfortunately, it is no exaggeration to say that my thumb is the Grim Reaper of the plant world. It has been the kiss of death for every plant which has had the unfortunate luck of coming my way.
Despite my history of foliage doom, I planted my first, small garden this year.
One sunny day in May I found myself filling in a large hole my oldest had dug and filled with water to create a muddy pond. I should have made him fill it in but I did not think about that before I sent him inside to wash up. It seems it was providential because while working to fill the hole, I discovered it was a naturally sunny spot in the yard. As I watched the sun dance across the freshly tilled dirt, it dawned on me that it may be the perfect spot for a garden.
In a moment of earthly delirium, I forgot all about my Grim Reaper thumb.
The next morning I found myself at a local nursery buying starter plants of tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, strawberries, watermelons, red cabbages, cilantro, basil and one organic zucchini plant to round it all out. By mid July, I was hip deep in a long row of tomato plants along with the other vegetables I had planted.
While weeding my garden one afternoon, I gasped when I discovered a plethora of baby cucumbers stretching to life. It took my breath away to know I had managed to coax a vegetable from the ground. I was ecstatic on the day a couple of the cucumbers matured. I ate one and saved the other for my husband. When he came home from work, I excitedly waved it in his face and said, “Eat this! You can taste our dirt! It is delicious!”
I managed to grow a dozen or more cucumbers before they succumbed to a white mold. I picked four zucchini squash along the way. I have quite a few onions waiting to be picked and the pepper plants produced a pepper or two. The squirrels ate all of the strawberries and a hungry woodchuck gobbled up the red cabbages along with my neighbors’ broccoli and carrots. The watermelon plants produced six or more lovely striped fruit but then died and rotted. I enjoyed making a couple of homemade pizzas with the basil before I killed it and adding the cilantro to fresh guacamole.
Despite my marginal success, my Grim Reaper thumb still had its way with the garden. I did not know that tomatoes and other plants do not like Walnut trees. Shortly after my tomato plants matured and were bearing loads of green fruit, they began to wilt one by one. My neighbor suggested I call the local extension program offered through Michigan State University. After conferring with a Master Gardener on staff, we concluded that my plants were experiencing ”walnut rot.” Walnut trees carry a toxin in their roots called juglone and it killed all ten of my tomato plants.
How am I going to redeem my Grim Reaper thumb? Over the course of the next few weekends I am going to move my garden and begin preparing for next year. I am going to try and try again until my Grim Reaper thumb becomes a hard earned green thumb because there is something that just seems so logically sustainable about learning to grow my own food.
My Grandpa Pickies told me to till up the ground and to plant some clover. The clover will grow in the spring and when I till it under it will act as a green fertilizer. My Grandpa is also going to get me some manure from one of his neighbors to add to the mix.
Gardening is my next official Grandma Challenge.
Did your grandparents grow a garden in their younger years? Do they now? How about you? Is there a sunny spot in your yard that you can till up to make room for a small vegetable garden in the Spring? Do you have any gardening tips? Your tips and stories have proven to be invaluable each time I take on a new challenge!
My mom told me that my grandma used to grow all of the vegetables for the year in her gigantic garden in central Nebraska. They’d can like crazy and eat the bounty all winter long. Supplement that with the meat from the farm, and pretty much they didn’t have to get much if anything from the store. My mom had a smaller but still sizeable garden when I was a kid in the early 80’s.
With that in mind (it should be in my genes, right?), I’ve tried growing some meager rations for the past 2 years. Throw me in with the ranks of the black thumb…the first year I got one cherry tomato and a few lonely cilantro spots. This year, the tomato plants produced some fruit, but had some rotty looking bottoms. I tried cutting it off and eating the rest, but it made my stomach queasy. Needless to say, I’m on the road to eradicating the black thumb, but I will keep trying for the same reasons you’ve shared with us.
I grew up in a very large “garden” if you will. My parents own 200 acres of orchards and fields which my Father plants with corn, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, summper squash, gords and tomatoes. Then he has orchards of cherries, apples, peaches, plums, apricots, and nectarines. I spent my whole life working on that farm. I don’t have a problem gardening but I can’t where I live currently… it’s against the rules. As soon as I have my own property and can do what I want I plan to plant several fruit trees, and grow a very large garden. That doesn’t include the animals we would like. We would like Meat Chickens and Laying chickens as well. We would also like a couple of pigs and a cow. That way we have our own food right there for the most part. I told Ricky I didn’t want a milking cow because I wasn’t going to milk it everyday… I’d be more than happy to buy my milk!
When we lived in the Midwest I had great luck with my first garden. It was there that I learned not to plant a whole package of squash seeds, or even 3 packages like I happened to do
Last year was the first time I tried gardening in our current location. We live on decomposed granite in the high desert so my garden wilted and died before we got more than a few zucchini. This year we tried a raised bed using the square foot gardening method. We’ve had much better luck with the tomatoes and squash but no luck with the beans and cucumbers. I think it just takes time to figure out what will work in a specific location. We are adding a few more raised beds for next year and I look forward to trying some new things with the hope that we will hit upon more things that will work in our climate.
Dear brown thumb April, Gardens are profitable, organic and healthy. You are making an excellent case for a neighborhood garden club as a place to share ideas cuttings and seeds. All that is needed is a time and location. I’ll bet you would find a lot of people interested in learning what grows and how to plant them.
Oh, the garden. The garden is my main activity in the summer. Before last year, I had ZERO gardening knowledge and I routinely killed houseplants. Luckily, my MiL has been gardening her whole life and is a veritable encyclopedia of gardening knowledge. But it should make you feel better to know that even she has trouble with some things. It’s a lot of trial and error, and sometimes, things just don’t grow. But when they do grow (and something always will), it’s the best, BEST feeling in the world to look at your plate and know that you grew every single vegetable on your plate.
Keep on fighting the good fight! You’ll get it in the end. Promise!
My grandparents and parents both had gardens. I have one in the front yard. Yield varies year to year, pretty much dependent on the weather. Also, since we moved here 20 years ago we have gone from Zone 6 to Zone 7, and I haven’t quite adapted to the change in planting times. I used to have to wait until almost Memorial Day to plant tomatoes; these past few years it’s been warm enough by Mother’s Day. Then we had a cool June, super hot and dry July, cool August–the plants and I are all confused. 2 tips: improve your soil—start a compost pile and use the compost (it takes a year or two to decompose enough if you just pile it and don’t turn–the lazy way like I do); add manure in the fall so it breaks down enough by spring. Your grandpa is right about the clover. Second tip: get some soaker hoses to lightly bury in the garden for water. I reconfigured my beds and took them out, and my yield is significantly less, even when I water with the sprinkler. Plants need water! Another tip: don’t pick veggies when the leaves are wet–this spreads disease. I’m hoping for a better year next year (there’s always next year), and I’ll bet you will do better too. Listen to grandpa.
My first attempt at a garden has also succumbed to the dreaded walnut tree. My property is full of them. Next year we are going to try container gardening. I have heard that planting in raised beds will also improve your chances when dealing with walnuts. On the flip side, have you thought of harvesting your walnuts? I looked into it a little bit this year. Between the walnut trees and the squirrels killing all of my food, I figured they could share some of theirs with me.
Potato bugs! One summer I got rich, because my dad paid us a penny for each potato bug we plucked. I filled a whole canning jar. There’s one of my gardening memories. Also picking strawberries till I thought my back would never straighten out. (Migrant workers should get free PT during strawberry season!) And I remember my brother trying to steer his snow sled into the kale, which he despised. (We never froze that; it just stayed in the garden all winter and we picked it from there when we wanted it.)
If you want some collards, trot up the hill and pick some of ours. Don’t ask, just take it. There’s plenty.
You’re doing a good thing, April!
I am the same way! I will not be detered though. We picked a nice sunny spot and started digging up sod a few weeks ago. Thankfully my husband had to help with his families garden growing up or I’d just be digging up a plant graveyard = )
We have had a garden in the past and love going to pick our fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, and peppers. However, there is nothing more discouraging than watering, weeding, and tilling and finding your plants dead. This happened to us as well and put us off gardening for awhile.
But I don’t mind going down to the farmer’s market and supporting our local farmers in the summer and right now that’s easier than having my own garden : )
April-
We’ve been planting a small garden in our backyard for the past three years. The only things that seem to thrive there are our MANY tomato plants and cucumber vines. I just wanted to pass along a back-saving tip: buy a black tarp (it’s especially for gardens and landscaping) to keep out the weeds…it was a lifesaver for us, but we didn’t use it this year and got a rather nice crop of weeds along with everything else in our garden. I think you could probably reuse it, if you plan to plant in the same places every year…not sure on that though. Hope this helps!!
Love always-
Karen
Thanks for all of terrific tips. While I am not sure if I will ever have a large garden, I really want to learn how to successfully grow at least a few things we enjoy eating. My kids just love to watch the garden grow and are far more willing to try new veggies! I am going to summarize all of your tips for my follow up post!
I recently bought a book about square foot gardening. Do you have any favorite gardening books?
One of my favorite things to go when I was growing up was to go down to the horse corrals and pick peas in Granddad’s garden. He always had the best peas, and lots of them. I have lived in an apartment since college and haven’t been able to have a garden. Now that I’m living in a much warmer climate and don’t have that wonderful manure-based soil, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it to work, but I think I’m going to try growing peas out on our patio over the winter.*
One thing that Mom did quite often, since she lives in a colder climate with a short summer, was to start her plants indoors in old milk cartons. It worked best when we could get the cardboard cartons, but even the plastic jugs work now, if the tops are cut off. I think that might be where I start this year, too. Thanks for the inspiration.
*Winter here is much like summer was when I was growing up.