the veg patch
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2019
We started our veg patch a few years after living in the house. By that point, we’d had time to put in the patio and walkway which created all new flower beds that we planted with a variety of drought tolerant and New England hardy perennials. But that’s another blog post.
I needed an elevated planter, since I can’t really lean over comfortably for a long time in my wheelchair. I also needed one that I could easily roll under without slamming my knees. In addition, I wanted something I could put in the front of the house with easy access to the hoses and I wanted it to look good with everything else we’d done to the house (and were planning to do).
After my usual obsessive amount of research, I ordered a 70-inch VegTrug in gray wash. I absolutely love this planter. Not only does it look great, it is made of cedar, comes with a liner and has lots of accessories you can add to it over time (e.g. cold frame). It’s great for those of us in wheelchairs, looks great, and most of all, you can pack a ton of vegetables in it!
It arrived unassembled. Having a little one, it always gives me palpitations about how I’m going to manage to get something assembled with a super active kiddo nipping at my heels. As it turned out, it was a project in disguise. Because of the size of the pieces, my husband had to step in and help, which immediately engaged my son, who never misses an opportunity to use the big boy tools with mom or dad. It was the perfect project for a 4 ½ year old. Holding pieces, using a drill to place screws in predrilled holes, and ratcheting bolts.
We set it up in the front yard on the side of the driveway for easy access to the garage for tools and for water access, oh and to keep the herd of bunnies in the back from eating everything. Since this was my first year growing veg, I kept it basic. Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, basil, and strawberries. I bought everything in quart planters, ready to go from Mahoneys, my absolute favorite local garden center. Like any first time veg grower, I had mixed success. The month of May ended up being cold and soaking wet, so much so that even the nursery plants were molding. In typical New England weather fashion, June was scorching hot and the cherry tomatoes we planted took extra long to grow. As we learned, tomatoes are kind of high maintenance. They don’t like it when it’s wet and cold and they don’t like it when it’s hot and dry. It has to be just right. It wasn’t until mid August that we finally saw the fruits of our labor.
Wondering why our zucchini was flowering and then immediately turning to mush, we also learned that zucchini need at least two plants to pollinate. Yup, we were definitely learning as we went along. We quickly bought a second plant and did reasonably well growing a dozen zucchini, but missed a bit of the growing season.
2020
When the pandemic hit, they closed Massachusetts in mid-March including my son’s school. As far as weather, I am no fan of March. In Massachusetts, it’s cold, wet and generally miserable. It’s too warm for a lot of winter activities and too cold and wet for anything else. Plus we now had to balance remote work for both my husband and me and remote kindergarten for my then 5 ½ year old. There was no balance. It was stressful and chaotic, but we were safe and together.
Remote school dropped on everyone unplanned and the teachers all did the best they could, but mom and dad being teachers and pushing sheets on a kindergartener was a nightmare. We quickly shifted gears to provide learning tools that still bolstered skills he needed for first grade, but were more pragmatic, fun, and engaging for our little dude. This included lots of cooking and baking, which requires math for measuring and learning about nutrition, as well as starting our plants from seeds indoors.
This too was such a great learning experience. We bought a grow light to go under our recently installed kitchen cabinets. In my excitement, I totally overbought seeds and we planted enough for three VegTrugs. In the attached picture, you can see we used the VegTrug, as well as every old tote we had to hold the vast number of plants we managed to start indoors.
We grew big boy tomatoes, broccoli, and zucchini. My neighbor also gave us some extra cucumber plants, including slicing and pickling cucumbers. I used a simple recipe to make refrigerator pickles in a week and they were incredible. We started adding hot peppers and other spices to make variations and they were to die for! The plants produced so many cucumbers that we were giving away mason jars full of pickles all season.
A new issue we ran into was watching our tomatoes grow, only to rot at the bottom. We’ll thank goodness for the local gardening Facebook group, as well as my green thumb sisters. The tomatoes weren’t getting enough calcium. Someone suggested putting Tums in the soil to add more calcium, which is kind of brilliant, since they are calcium carbonate. I did one better. Using my food processor, I ground them into dust, which I added to the watering can and gave my tomatoes a healthy drink once a week. Problem solved!
2021
As we head into mid-February with no vaccine for us in site, I’m making a plan to buy a second VegTrug and map out what we’re growing. We may even use those ugly totes again, but relegate them to the backyard, where only I can admire their ugliness. After all, I need more room for pickles, but will need a anti-bunny strategy. Have some thoughts about what we should grow in Zone 6? Drop me a line via the Blog or comment on my Instagram elevateherworld,
