We’re ready for the spring season. Are you? Perennials, trees, shrubs, tropical plants and early season vegetables are in stock now, as well as seeds, onion sets and plants, seed potatoes, and all the soils you need to get them all started. Come and see us!
Based on the results of a survey by the Garden Writers Association Foundation published in its 2013 Winter Gardening Trends Report, 51.9% of all American households that garden anticipate growing edibles this year– an increase of 11.3% over the previous year. This number includes gardeners who grow traditionally in the ground as well as those who grow in pots or containers.
So, if you are considering growing your own vegetables and fruits this year, you’re in good company.
The reasons for growing your own food are many. Freshness, of course, is number one. You can’t get much fresher than just-picked! I come home from work, pick tender lettuces from my garden, rinse them, put them into my salad spinner and tuck them into the refrigerator to crisp up while I make the rest of the dinner.
And in these days of food recalls, safety is also a big issue. Whether you choose to grow without pesticides or to use relatively safe organic solutions, you know what is on your food because you are the one who chooses what to put on it.
Flavor is a big factor. Large farms produce varieties of vegetables and fruits because they ship well, not because they taste better. The tastiest varieties are often more fragile, and can only be sourced locally from a farm market or your own garden.
If you have children at home, growing food together can make them more willing to try healthy fruits and vegetables they may have refused in the past. And at the very least, they will learn that vegetables don’t just appear, fully formed, on the shelves of the local grocery store!
And the physical act of gardening is healthy. Fresh air, exercise and contact with the soil are known to be good for you. It’s like therapy to me– plus I get tomatoes…
Fresno Chile image courtesy of Ivy Garth Seeds
Do you like jalapenos? Then you’ll like Fresno Chiles, too. They are just about as hot (maybe a bit hotter) and have the thick waxy feel of a jalapeno. You could use them interchangeably in recipes. They are good fresh, added to salsas, roasted (and stuffed as an appetizer if you like that heat), or canned.
They begin green and ripen to red, at which point they are a little sweeter. The plants are vigorous and bear well.
We have some great new vegetable varieties in the pipeline for you this year. Let’s talk about a few, just to whet your appetite for spring.
I don’t know about you, but the reason I like to eat fruits and vegetables I’ve grown myself is that I know they are fresher and healthier than those I can buy in the grocery store that have been picked and shipped across country, or even across countries.
photo courtesy of Ivy Garth Seeds
With that in mind, we are growing a tomato variety this year called Caro Rich. The name derives from the fact that it is higher in beta-carotene (up to 10 times as much as in other tomatoes!) Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that gives orange and yellow fruits and vegetables their color and is converted by the body into a safe form of vitamin A. (This is believed to promote eye health and help with vision—there’s a reason your mother told you to eat your carrots.)
It is an 8-10 oz beefsteak-style tomato in a deep orange color. (That’s about the size of your average Better Boy– a nice size for a slice on a burger.) They are low acid and sweet. They are large plants, probably a better choice for in-ground growing, rather than in a pot. Oh, and did I mention, they’re more healthy?
Day 5: Seed Starting Supplies
Do you have someone on your list who wishes that he/she could be out in the garden? RIGHT NOW.
Give them a gift of hope for the next gardening season, and something to do when the winter begins to get to them and they just wish they could be OUTSIDE. An assortment of seed starting supplies, peat pots, soil and heat cables to use to start their own seeds inside in February or March when they just need to feel like they are doing SOMETHING for the garden. Prices Vary.
Day 3: A Book for your favorite food gardener.
Growing your own food is an idea whose time has come… again! With the price of fresh fruit, herbs and veggies, and the news about food contamination, growing your own (or at least some of your own) makes good sense and good cents.
In our loft gift shop we have an assortment of gardening books geared for the food gardener. One of them might be just the right gift for the Foodie on your list!
My sister-in-law, Kathleen with one of my summertime head lettuces
If you’ve decided to grow some of your own vegetables next year, you can get a jump start on your project by digging or tilling the ground this fall and allowing the freezing and thawing through the winter to help break up the soil.
With this strange economy and the many food safety scares, growing some of your own food is an idea whose time has come again.
Wonderful fresh vegetables and fruits can be grown in a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Add compost or composted manure in the spring for additional organic goodness.
Isn’t it great that the weather has moderated for a while? The heat and humidity was getting to me, and I’ll bet to you, too. Now that I can stand to be outside during the day, I’ve begun weeding again, and replacing mulch.
And don’t forget the next meeting of the Homesteaders group will take place on Saturday, August 27 at 11:00 AM here at the garden center. Don Feenerty will show us how to make a rain barrel (and one lucky attendee will take it home!) and we’ll be talking about how to use up the bumper crops we’re getting from our gardens about now.
Don’t forget the canning and food preserving seminar we’ve got coming up this Saturday at 11:00 at Ferda’s Garden Center. 
Polly Loy from the Belmont County Extension Service will explain how to safely can and freeze all the goodies from our gardens or local farmers’ markets. If you have a pressure canner, bring your dial or weighted pressure gauge and she’ll test them for accuracy at no charge.
Just to add to the fun, we’ll have some door prizes to give away. If possible, call ahead to let us know you’re coming so we can arrange enough seating. (But if you find that you can come at the last minute, don’t let your lack of a reservation keep you away.)
Don’t forget– this Saturday, June 25th, at 11:00 Ferda’s Garden Center will be hosting the first (organizational) meeting of the Homesteaders. This 
group is for anyone who now grows and preserves his/her own food, raises chickens or other animals, and generally is working toward becoming more self-sufficient, and for anyone who wants to do that in the future.
Come and share your questions, successes and failures, tips, and sources. It should be a fun and informational start to a meeting of like-minded folks. Come to the first meeting and see if it is for you. Dates and times for future meetings will be determined at this first session.
