Spring Gardening in the Western MD Mountains

It has been a long time since I have written here, but I will blame it on spring. I have been rather busy the last few weeks watching grandkids (which I can’t get enough of even though they can wear me out,) taking care of the lawn, getting fully vaccinated, and FINALLY gardening!

I was at my daughter’s home in South Carolina the first of the month and they were setting out tomato plants, watching the peaches and blueberries grow, and we got some of the best strawberries straight from the field that we have gotten in a while. We come back home to two weeks of weather in the 30’s and low 40’s, but this past week, the sun came out, the soil warmed, and we could once again get back in the garden!

Since this is my first spring as a retired educator, I have been able to expand our small orchard as well as working on a vegetable garden. We have added some concord grapes and elderberries, and they are doing well. I have planted a weeping cherry for my wife, a knockout rose, some lavender, a Carolina Sweetbush in memory of my mom and dad, and will be adding some rosemary and peppermint soon.

As of today, I do have lettuce and radishes growing, potatoes are coming through the ground, and the past week we planted sweet corn, ornamental corn, marigolds, pumpkins, peppers, and squash. We try to put marigolds at the end of most of our vegetable rows because they not only look nice, but we do believe they do help in controlling pests.

I do know the gardening fad that was caused by the virus has not faded much. We had some difficulty finding tomato plants that we were looking for and we visited several greenhouses. We were looking for plants better resistant to blight, but couldn’t find many we were looking for, so we finally decided to plant some of our known varieties, but simply space them further apart and have the fungicide ready.

Sooo, with all of that we still have later corn to plant, and our beans. We usually wait until after the first of June for our beans because they really need warm soil to germinate properly and we just can’t trust that the soil will warm up sufficiently here until that time.

Hopefully now the patience has paid off, I can watch the plants grow, battle the weeds, pests, deer and rodents (lots of rabbits this year) and once again enjoy this time of the year! I will keep you up to date while I garden, watch grandkids, and work on my first black walnut bowl on my lathe. Until next time,

Countrypap

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to share with me. Please feel free to like and comment if you so desire!