The Graul Garden

I got a late start on the garden this year due to busy weekends in May, but I finally got it planted the last weekend in May. Speaking of a late start, I’m afraid most of our gardens are getting just that… with the unseasonably cool start to the month of June. 6 of the first 7 days of the month have been below average, and we’re about to make it 7 of 8. In fact, since Saturday our highs have been closer to our average lows in the mid-upper 50s. Our average high for early June is around 80F!

The Graul garden is pretty small, but just big enough that we can plant our favorite vegetables and of course some pumpkins for the kids. I like to let my 6-year old son Preston make the call on what we plant, within reason of course. This year he suggested planting potatoes and bananas, but I told him those probably wouldn’t do real well in our garden. He also wanted to plant corn, but I told him we just didn’t have the room and that we’ll let the farmer across the way take care of that. So he decided on some pretty common “usuals” for a Wisconsin garden, but also a nice variety.

Here is what we planted this year: Cucumbers, zucchini squash, yellow squash, grape tomatoes, red & green peppers, oregano, basil, parsley, green beans, spinach, lettuce, radishes and pumpkins.

The pumpkins will of course take over one side of the garden, but I have a good place for them to vine out away from everything else. We got two perfect pumpkins from the garden last year… but we’re hoping for three this year since we have three kids.

Other veggies that did great last year were the cucumbers, squash, green beans and the lettuce and spinach. We almost had a hard time keeping up and eating those items as they were ready to harvest. As for what didn’t do so well last year, the radishes (I don’t think I thinned them enough when they first came up), I only got about 5-6 peppers from 3 plants, and the tomatoes seemed to struggle as well.

Do any of you have any advice or recommendations for plant food that is more organic than not. My wife is big on not using chemicals or “unnatural” things to feed the plants and I’m starting to lean that way as well. In fact, she’s not even a big fan of me fertilizing the lawn either.

So far, things seem to be coming along nicely, even with the recent cool and wet weather. As of last evening, the radishes, spinach and lettuce were coming up. The cucumbers and squash were coming up as well. I’m still waiting on the beans and pumpkins. I used starter plants for the peppers, tomatoes and the herbs… and they all seem to be doing fine, but off to a slow start.

I’d love to hear how things are going with your gardens. I’d also love to hear some new ideas on what I could plant next year. What do you grow that does well around here? I’ll be sure to pass the ideas along to Preston, my “master-gardener in training”. I’m sure Kylie and Addison will also be wanting to help sooner than later, which is just fine by me. Maybe Preston will be able to mow the lawn in the next year or two as well. Ok, maybe a little early for that.

Until next time, see you in the morning!