In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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August 28, 2007

Next year I’ll do things differently

If I could rewind the year and start again, knowing then what I know now, I’d do a few things differently. So I've made a few resolutions.

Next year, I’ll build more raised bed planter boxes.

I’ll use soaker hoses and misters instead of overhead watering. As the garden grew and foliage covered more of it, the water didn’t trickle down as well and some parts didn’t get watered as well as others.

I’ll plant more heirloom tomatoes. They’re so much more interesting than the standard round, red tomatoes. It’s fun to tell visitors the tomatoes they’re eating are called Zapotec Pleated, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Hillbilly Potato Leaf or Red Fig.

I’ll choose one favorite heirloom bean or tomato variety, save seed at the end of the season, and then grow it from seed each year.

I’ll grow more vegetables from seed. It’s amazing to think that so much life can be contained in a gnarled, withered, hard little seed. And I’ve always been especially proud of the garden when I’ve planted it from seed instead of starts.

I’ll plant the pole beans on a flat trellis rather than around a tomato cage. It was hard to reach in and find beans when the foliage was so dense. Consequently, lots of beans got overlooked until they were giants unfit to eat.

I’ll find room for zucchini.

I’ll plant Romaine lettuce several times throughout the spring and fall to have a bigger crop.

And in the compost, I’ll plant giant pumpkins early enough, say, mid May, so there’ll be plenty of time to grow a giant pumpkin.

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