I planned on writing about my spring vegetable garden.
Unfortunately neither my garden plot nor the weather cooperated. And to be
honest, the main problem was my ignorance.
My garden was supposed to look like the first photo at this point.
Instead, this is what it looks like. Fortunately, I don’t have to depend on my
garden to survive, unlike the settlers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Settlers traveling west depended on their gardens for
eighty percent of the family’s food, but also for medicine, fragrances, dyes,
and flavor-enhancing herbs. With so much on the line, nothing was left to
chance except the weather.
Responsibility for the kitchen garden fell to the
women of the family, their knowledge acquired from their own mothers and
grandmothers, their skill honed by working in the garden from earliest
childhood.
They didn’t have the variety of produce we can find in
the grocers of today, but their produce was extensive, including apples, beans, beets, berries,
cabbages, carrots, corn, lettuce, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes (white and
sweet), pumpkins, sage, squashes, turnips, and wintergreen. That’s a more
balanced diet than mine.
With nothing more than the Old Farmer’s Almanac to
guide her, the housewife staked out her garden as soon as the house was built.
The site had to be either completely flat or slightly raised to encourage
drain-off. The space allocated for the garden had to have plenty of sunlight
but be as close to the kitchen as possible and handy to the chicken coop too, because chicken manure was a favorite fertilizer, and the remains of harvested
vegetables were thrown to the chickens.
Often the garden was enclosed with a fence of spikes
to keep rabbits and other pests out.
America’s earliest settlers used the Indian method called
the Three Sisters Garden. A dead fish or eel was planted at the bottom of a
circle of raised earth. Corn was planted in the center of this mound and
surrounded by pole bean seeds. Next squash was planted around them. The beans
provided nitrogen needed by the corn, the corn provided the trellis to support
the beans, and the squash served as a mulch, preventing weeds from germinating.
Obviously, the Indian methods limited vegetable
variety, and settlers soon moved to the European method—placement of plants was
dictated by fragrance. Sweet smelling herbs and flowers were planted just under
the kitchen windows. Strong smelling plants like cabbage, onion and chives were
planted as far away as possible.
Perennials were planted together so their roots wouldn’t
be disturbed when crops were harvested. Parsnips and carrots grew together,
while radishes, lettuce, and onions were grouped, so they could be easily
reached for daily harvesting.
The main thing these settlers did that I neglected was
planning—from plot preparation to harvest and beyond. Seeds were expensive, and
every one was saved and preserved for planting the next season. All scraps not
fed to animals went into the compost pile. There was no waste—ever. The harvest
was preserved by canning or drying. Here’s an interesting tidbit about fruit
drying I didn’t know before. The western settlers would dry their apples, covered in cheesecloth, on the roof. My research didn’t say how they kept birds
from pecking through the cheesecloth. But the next time I read about those
dried apple pies in historical romances, I’m going to wonder if they dried their
apples on the roof.
I can forget my plans for an early spring garden, but
I’ve learned enough to prepare my garden for the summer. Maybe I can gather a basket of fresh veggies like this later. How about you? Do you
plan a vegetable garden this year?
FREE EBOOK ALERT!!! Book 2 of my mail-order brides series is free today through March 18. For those who've never read this series, please download. Reviews are always appreciated!
FREE EBOOK ALERT!!! Book 2 of my mail-order brides series is free today through March 18. For those who've never read this series, please download. Reviews are always appreciated!
