GARDEN CHAT By Jean Lundquist
In LOVE with Brussels sprouts W
ith one exception, I didn’t have an overabundance of anything in my garden. That exception is Brussels sprouts. I planted two seeds and both germinated. Both went crazy creating the “tiny cabbages” that are Brussels sprouts. Larry calls them “sulfur bombs” and refuses to eat them. More for me! I canned enough tomatoes. I froze enough beans. I dried enough peppers and enjoyed fresh everything all summer long. We’ll have plenty for the winter, but I am especially going to enjoy the Brussels sprouts. I wanted to pick some as early as August, and in retrospect, I should have. But I wanted to wait for a frost to bring out the best in them. A few sprouted on the stalk, but that’s OK. I have two of the best stalks of Brussels sprouts I have ever grown, and I’m going to enjoy them. As usual, I managed to learn something new this year. One thing I did not learn was how to grow great Brussels sprouts — I have no idea what I did that was 46 • OCTOBER 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
different from past years and no idea if next year they will be as good. I learned that the friendly little garter snakes so often found in the yard and garden have very good hearing. We put in a new blacktop driveway this past summer, and one of the little darlings stopped to sun itself on the surface one day. Needless to say, it startled me. It used to be that when I became startled, I’d shriek. Apparently, I still do. That poor little snake squiggled away rapidly. Toads also have good hearing. We live in a farmhouse that is nearly 70 years old. For the past few years, I have found toads in the basement. While that’s better than finding them upstairs, I still believe they don’t belong in the house. I gave what Larry called a “glass-shattering” shriek, and the little toad moved as fast as I’ve ever seen a toad move. My trusty service dog Kohl came running down the stairs to see what was the matter. Larry sat at the kitchen table drinking his coffee and casually hollered, “What?” He never did come downstairs to defend me from the
