How Did Your Garden Grow in 2021

How Did Your Garden Grow

IN 2021

By Jan Cashman

In the Gallatin Valley more people are gardening than ever before. Staying home because of the pandemic might have something to do with the popularity of gardening, but more and more people are realizing that growing and eating your own food is both satisfying and heathy. I have asked many local gardeners—employees and customers-- how their gardens grew in 2021… Weather is a main factor in how our gardens grow each year. 2021 was and is a dry year. Precipitation at MSU in 2021 as of October 10 is 13.95 inches. Normal year-to-date is 16.47. Temperatures were above normal in 2021, especially in June. A number of days in early June were above 80 degrees and then a record high at MSU and the Belgrade airport on June 14 and 15 of 93 and 98 respectively. The rest of the summer was hotter than average, with highs in the 80s and low 90s but no days over 100 degrees. Although dry, we have had a beautiful fall with only light frosts by October 1. Fall leaf colors have been spectacular. That is, until the snowstorm and cold arrived on October 11. Most all vegetable gardeners are saying their gardens were fantastic this year if plants got enough water. The warm days helped vegetables ripen earlier than normal but greens and spinach bolted with the hot weather. Heat loving peppers and sweet corn were delicious and prolific. Our corn was easily knee high by the 4th of July. Unfortunately some of the sweetcorn varieties we have enjoyed over the years (such as Trinity) have become unavailable.

We harvested rhubarb for weeks. And had a good crop of asparagus. Strawberries bore well. We had almost no raspberries for the second year in a row. Our raspberry plants probably died back because of extreme cold in late October of 2020 (a record low of 20 below) after a relatively mild fall. Similar weather conditions happened in 2019. This summer the raspberry plants are alive and growing, so we hope for a good crop of raspberries next year. Annual flowers planted in May and June grew and bloomed earlier than usual. My marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, and osteospermum (African daisy) were full and lovely by July 1. I was careful to get enough water to them. Perennial flowers did well too. I especially noticed purple coneflowers (Echinacea) around town were showy and beautiful. Newly developed coneflower colors of yellow, orange, and red were outstanding. This perennial thrives in our climate. My husband Jerry pointed out that Rudbeckia (brown-eyed Susan) and Gaillardia were also stunning in late summer. Shrub roses around Bozeman, Winnipeg Parks, Morden Sunrise and Persian Yellow to name a few, were full of beautiful flowers this year. As soon as the cherries on the trees in our orchard got their first blush of red, they were eaten by birds. Netting is difficult to put and keep on, but necessary to keep the birds off. Mount Royal, a popular and delicious, prolific, prune-type plum, did not do well around town this year. A snowstorm on May 22 and 23 with record lows of 26 and 27 degrees could have hindered their pollination. As far as we could tell, pollination of our apple trees was not affected by this storm and cold in May. We have a good crop of apples. Later, birds pecking at the ripe apples were a real problem for us. Our apple trees are too big to net and the birds were persistent. And at night, a family of racoons were climbing into our apple trees and eating the apples. We ended up picking some of the apples before they were fully ripe to keep the birds and racoons from eating them first. We are now enjoying the fall weather and the fruits of our labor—apple sauce and pies, squash soup, carrots galore, and tomatoes fixed in every way—BLTs, spaghetti sauce, Greek salad. Another great year to garden.

Jan Cashman has operated Cashman Nursery in Bozeman with her husband, Jerry, since 1975.