Hey, Mom

I recently bought 25 bare root strawberry plants from my local garden center, and I got some great advice. “Soak ‘em good for a day,” the man said. I did, and two weeks after planting, they are doing really, really well. I cannot even believe it, but I think I see the beginning of blossoms on a few plants. I mixed June bearing with everbearing varieties. I am anxious to see what kind of crop I get.

T.S. Eliot wrote that

April is is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land,
Mixing memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

Taken out of context of The Wasteland, we lose Eliot’s meaning. But these lines are often quoted and misquoted to say something profound about April.

To be fair, April is cruel in some ways. For example, after a fantastic Saturday (temps in the upper 60s) when we tilled up space for eight new asparagus plants, Sunday came back at us as if to say, “Oh yeah? You think it’s spring?” And today (Tuesday morning) we awoke to snow. But this afternoon the snow is gone, replaced by the famous April Showers, and even the daffodils, which looked a bit perturbed this morning in the snow, seem happy enough. Who, then, are we to complain?

Mostly April is kind. It is April that unlaces the straight-jacket of winter. The “dull roots” do indeed stir with desire in April. Saturday we remarked how quickly the plants grow–overnight it seems. Even a snowy morning does not deter our hopefulness. I know that real warmth and time to plant is only short weeks away. While seedlings thrive indoors, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and chives thrive outdoors. We have waited a long time for April, and it is indeed kind, not cruel, and April rains are the sweetest of all rains, turning brown grass green right before our eyes.

I can always tell when spring is here. I buy seeds and plan my garden layout. This year I am also going to buy a small electric tiller. My garden is fairly small, so it should do a good job. I tossed a lot of nice compost into the garden last fall, and it needs to be tilled in before I plant. I am also going to add two or three new grape plants this year. I bought seeds for peas, pole beans, spinach, and baby romaine lettuce. I saved seeds from my butternut squash, so I’m curious to see if I can start new plants from those. I previously had no luck with that and had to buy plants.

As always, I will start my tomato plants indoors. I save some seeds from my favorite pink beefsteak tomatoes and they are good producers year after year. I also bought some heirloom seeds that will be fun to try. I love garden tomatoes. Nothing I can buy in a store comes close to their taste. Tomatoes take time, energy, and patience, but they’re worth the effort. We’re still enjoying the tomatoes I canned last summer.

Over the winter, I discovered a tip for keeping the blight off my tomatoes. When I plant my tomatoes, I need to plant them deep, up to the leaves, but then prune off any leaves that touch the ground. Also I need to mulch well to keep the soil and the plant from becoming too close. Blight spores live on in the soil. Continued pruning should help.

Of course, I know that I should rotate my crops by planting the tomatoes in a different spot than I did the year before. Tomato blight is a huge frustration. I do not like to put chemicals on my garden, so finding organic ways to deal with pests, both critter and otherwise is my choice.

As for the rabbit problem we had last winter (they nibbled nearly all of our raspberry canes to the top of the snow), our new fence seems to be very successful. While our poor, fenceless neighbor’s garden was a salad bar for the neighborhood rabbits, ours was not. We should have a lot of wonderful raspberries this year.

By the way, the best rabbit repellent is a roaming cat or two.

Fresh from the garden tomatoes are one of the simple joys of life. I always overplant just to make sure I will have enough tomatoes. We are just about to start getting ripe tomatoes and I know that once they start ripening, I will have more than I can handle.

I try to use as many of them as I can fresh. But if they start to go bad, the idea of tossing them out is simply abhorrent.

One of the cardinal sins of tomatoes is putting them in the refrigerator. You may think that you’re preserving them, but what you’re really doing is robbing them of all flavor. Just keep tomatoes out on the counter or in a decorative bowl on a table or in a basket.

Give extras away before you put them in the fridge. Or preserve them for later use.

I do not can. Instead, I freeze. It’s very simple. I wash the tomatoes, core them, and then cut into cubes. Usually I cut them in half, then the halves into four pieces (or six if the tomato is larger). Then I place the “cubes” skin side down on a cookie sheet and plop them into the freezer. Once the tomatoes become “ice cubes,” I put them into quart sized freezer bags and they go straight into the deep freeze.

If you will store them in a regular freezer, they won’t last as long. Frost free freezers are always heating up and cooling down, which is why you get freezer burn. But tomatoes stored in a deep freeze will last for about a year (maybe even a little longer).

I use my frozen tomatoes in a couple of ways:

• add a few to soups or sauces (simply remove unwanted skins that slough off before serving)
• use as a base for chili
• use a a “fresh” tomato sauce for pasta

It’s best to add them to recipes in their frozen state. If you thaw them out first, you will lose a lot of juice.

Thawed tomatoes are never good for simply eating. They will be mush, so it’s best to use them for sauces and soups.

Planting fresh herbs in even the smallest sunny soil near your house is well worth the effort. One of the most simple and easy herbs to grow is parsley. Cutting during the summer encourages more growth, so use it often. Chop and add to stews, sauces, even salads. Fresh parsley potatoes are wonderful.

For me, nothing beats fresh basil. Basil is a very tender herb and won’t withstand a frost, so cherish it in summer while you can. Add fresh basil to the very end of cooked recipes for the strongest flavor. But also, don’t be afraid to use it raw with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese.

This year I will plant thyme, mint (for some homemade mojitos), and basil. My parsley came back from last year, a pleasant surprise. And my perennial chives can always be counted on to add a gentle onion-y flavor to many dishes.

Herbs are easily grown in containers on a sunny deck or patio, too. So even if you don’t have a great big garden, grow your own herbs and add wonderful flavor to your cooking this summer. Oh, and I forgot to mention that you will also be saving a lot of money by not buying packaged “fresh” herbs in the store.