Get to Know a Gardener

Here in the Northeast it’s been a cool and rainy spring. Not early spring, not late spring—the entirety of spring has been below average in temperature, below average in sunny days, and above average in rain.

Okay, I’m not so sure about my last claim, but it sure does seem like it’s been cloudy and moist six out of seven days a week.

Of course there have been some exceptions with the occasionally warm and sunny day. They’ve been few and far between. So far between, in fact, that people will say to each other, Gee, remember that sunny day we had? Gosh, that was such a nice day. We’ve come to appreciate and treasure the emergence of that yellow globe up there as if it were a gem.

This unusual weather pattern worries me. Gardening is by no means a cut-and-dry process, but it does follow some general weekly pattern. Plant your heat-loving veggies on X week, begin weekly fertilizing Y week, stop sowing lettuce Z week. With extended cool temps punctuated by fleeting warm, sunny days, NOTHING is going according to schedule.

Not a great season for beginners

Seasoned gardeners adjust. They smell the air, lick an index finger and point it high in the air. They know to hold off on planting eggplant or sow another row of chard or check the roots for black rot.

But the beginning veggie gardener, oh my. Any sort of schedule they had hoped to follow is out the window when the weather pattern behaves erratically. Getting into a hobby and having it not turn out as planned can sour the newbie against the whole experience. Pepper plants not producing as promised? The new gardener could chuck it all and take up rollerblading. And with all the folks taking up vegetable gardening for the first time, a difficult growing season this year could mean that their new trowels and tomato cages and soaker hoses go unused in 2010.

That’s not a good thing. So, whats the solution?

Introduce yourselves

For you new veggie gardeners, I suggest cozying up to an experienced gardener. Don’t be shy! You’ve taken up this new hobby, you’ve made the investment. Chat up your garden-growing neighbor or consult with the local garden center. They’ll be more than happy to share their knowledge and insight.

And for you long-time gardeners who have caught on to the iffy weather, take a new gardener under your wing. Chances are you have spotted Charlie across the street, up to his knees in weeds or trapped by his tomatoes. Go on, walk over and start a conversation about the troubling weather. Think they won’t take kindly to it? It’s not butting in when the life of a melon is at stake.