30 years after the classic ‘New Organic Grower’ comes ‘Life in the Garden’
If there was ever a vegetable gardening power couple, Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch would be it.
Thirty years ago, I read Eliot Coleman’s classic, “The New Organic Grower” (Chelsea Green, 1989). It is widely considered to be the best book ever written on growing vegetables. And now his wife Barbara Damrosch comes along and writes “A Life in the Garden” (Timber Press, 2024), an intriguing, personal volume about her upbringing and life as a food gardener.
It’s important to keep in mind that this couple gardens in Maine, where the growing season is short. Reading their books is encouraging since you find yourself repeating Frank Sinatra’s words regarding success in New York, except here we are talking about creating a sumptuous garden of vegetables in Maine — that is, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
Here in California, after all, the growing season never really ends. Sometimes I wonder, though, if living in a harsh climate might be more motivating where gardening is concerned than when you live in a mild climate like ours. Perhaps having a short growing season focuses your energy to getting the most out of those months when the weather is friendly to raising crops.
Damrosch talks about the salubrious side of gardening in citing the case of a couple who gardened into their nineties. The wife told Damrosch that “gardening was her tennis, her golf, and her fitness routine,” to which the author adds, “I follow that example. Why tussle with a Nautilus machine when I can walk outside, spend some time in the fresh air, and come in with an armload of food?”
Early in the book, the author focuses on building good soil with compost. She encloses her compost pile with bales of straw. “Their own decomposition,” she explains, “lends heat, fertility and moisture. Afterward, they become fodder for the next pile to be built.” You can acquire straw bales inexpensively wherever farm supplies or animal feed are sold. She alternates layers of green (fresh grass clippings and leaf prunings, fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds and tea bags) and brown material (stems, straw, sawdust, fallen leaves, shredded paper).
More brown than green material, by volume, is needed. She describes green “as the spark that lights the fire” since decomposition happens as the pile heats up thanks to the nitrogen in the green material. You know this is happening if you stick a spading fork into the middle of the pile — which should never be more than three feet wide — and the fork is warm to the touch when you pull it out. As for leaves, they are most productively left in their own pile. Although patience is required for a pile of leaves to decompose, the resulting leaf mold is worth the wait; it is highly valued as a soil amendment, mulch, and potting mix constituent.
In her discussion of root crops, Damrosch urges us to make sure our potatoes get enough water. “A potato plant stressed by drought will consume itself,” she explains, “drawing moisture from some of the tubers already formed, so that fewer of them swell to a good size by harvest time.” Don’t be fooled by potato foliage that appears lush in hot weather; make sure the soil is regularly soaked.
In our area, potatoes can be planted virtually throughout the year. The author extols sweet potatoes for their rapid growth and foliage which quickly covers the ground to prevent weeds. She recommends sweet potatoes as a “babysitter crop” if you are traveling during the summer and want something to grow in your absence. This will work as long as you have automatic sprinklers or a neighbor who is willing to water your sweet potato planting once or twice a week in exchange for some of the harvest. Keep in mind that sweet potato is often spoken of as the most nutritious vegetable you can grow.
I had never heard of Japanese turnips, but I’m eager to plant a variety known as Hakurei after I read about them in this book. These pure white turnips which do best when planted now from seed are harvested at golf ball size and Damrosch regales them for being “as crisp as a radish but utterly sweet and mild to munch on.” She now uses them in stir-fries in place of water chestnuts. Order Hakurei radish seeds and seeds of other exotic vegetables from Territorial Seed Company (territorialseed.com).
Damrosch reminds the reader of the virtues of asparagus, a rhizomatous plant. It’s probably the easiest vegetable to grow and a planting of this perennial can last a lifetime. As is the case with potatoes, it is essential that your asparagus be well-watered during hot weather in order for the plants to grow vigorously the following spring when asparagus spears develop. At this time of year, asparagus puts on a massive amount of fern-like foliar growth that should be allowed to turn brown before cutting it to the ground. Much like in the case of bulbs, this above-ground leafy growth sends carbohydrates down stems to underground storage tissue, priming next year’s flowers (in the case of bulbs) or spears (in the case of asparagus) to reach their full potential.
Under the best of circumstances, it may take several years before you harvest a significant asparagus crop yet, once your plants are established, your harvest should last for 10 weeks each spring. Asparagus is dioecious, in the manner of date palm, pistachio and carob trees, meaning that it has separate male and female plants. Female plants are less robust since they produce seeds, sapping their strength so that, over time, an asparagus planting will consist mostly of male plants. There are also hybrid varieties, however, such as Jersey Giant, that consist entirely of male plants. You can order asparagus crowns at this time of year by mail order from Gurney’s Seed and Nursery (gurneys.com).
California native of the week: Anacapa pink California morning glory (Calystegia macrostegia ssp. macrostegia var. Anacapa Pink) originated from cuttings taken from a plant found on Anacapa Island, the most eastern of the Channel Islands. Like the more familiar purplish-blue morning glory, it will grow rampantly and is an excellent candidate for covering a chain link fence or gazebo. Alternatively, just let it sprawl as a ground cover to blanket a slope where nothing else is planted. Flowers are three-inch wide trumpets that bloom for many months while lush foliage is evergreen. You can find this boisterous vine at Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano (Californianativeplants.com).
Do you have any vegetable tales to tell? If so, send them along to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments, as well as gardening challenges and successes, are always welcome.