Garden Chat

By Jean Lundquist

Tough decisions for my garden

My grow bags are all emptied and stacked behind the shed. As I moved them this fall, more handles gave way to sun rot and broke in my hands.

The bags are heavy, especially when the soil in them is damp. Moving them is a chore I don’t relish, but at least I didn’t face plant because of them this fall.

I don’t intend to use them again next year. That’s not to say, however, they are useless. The morning sun warms them, and the cats love to sleep on them, apparently choosing a different one for each day.

A month ago, my garden was a mass of 6-foot-tall weeds, dried and gone to seed. I tried to clear it but failed. I hired a couple of young folks to clear it for me. They did a great job!

Next year, my garden will be planted in the ground, not in bags.

Plants in grow bags are almost as needy as chickens. They need to be watered and cared for every day. Twice a day if it’s really hot. It’s hard to find someone to come and water for me, even if I pay them.

I figure I can do with a fraction of the number of tomato plants I grew this year. In bags, tomatoes are not very prolific, but with enough plants, I got as many as I needed, plus some. I’ll spend the next few months figuring out which varieties to plant. But more importantly, which varieties not to plant.

This is going to be a hard winter.

I have four sturdy tomato cages, so my goal is to grow four tomato plants. I’m already expecting I will not be successful at this. Once, many years ago when my garden was seven times the size of my house, I grew 36 varieties and doubles of some of them. I have no idea how I will decide which to keep and which to keep out.

Ditto for the peppers. Two people cannot eat the fruit of 12 pepper plants, even when they produce less because they are grown in bags. I finally started fertilizing them, knowing they are heavy feeders, and then we were really overwhelmed.

This is going to be a hard winter of decisions for me.

As I write this, I have four tomato plants and three pepper plants still producing in the greenhouse. My milk house heater is running almost constantly, and I will soon unplug it and move everything out. But it’s so wonderful to bring in a vine-ripe tomato every other day, and the intermittent green pepper. It will be hard to turn off the heater, sealing their fate.

With the diminishing number of daylight hours this month, heat is not all those plants will need. Still, it’s hard to pull the plug on them.

Earlier this fall, old friend Glen Medenwald, having read my sad tale of woe about growing morning glories, brought me morning glory seeds he guarantees will grow. I’ve cut down the tree skeleton I had tried to get the morning glories to climb for the last two years, but I have a garden arch that will work just fine. They are mixed colors, and I can’t wait to see them bloom. Hummingbirds love them, and I hope to have many morning glories and hummingbirds come 2022.

Since the pandemic, it seems we are all gardeners now. That is great for us and our taste buds, and also great for the planet.

When you buy a pepper from the grocery store this winter, save the seeds from the red, green, orange, and yellow bell peppers. They are likely open pollinated and will grow true to form for you next year. Just let them dry well, then seal them in a plastic bag so they don’t mold. From one pepper, you’ll have thousands of peppers on the plants you can raise.

Though these days in the dead of winter can seem dark and dreary, fear not: The days start getting longer at the end of December. Planting season looms!

But during these dark, dreary days of winter, I will be making some hard decisions about my garden next year.

Jean Lundquist is a Master Gardener who lives near Good Thunder. gardenchatkato@gmail.com

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