Gardening = Experimenting

Jeanne Crisp and Julie Kelly

Any time you plant a vegetable garden, you're experimenting. But sometimes the experimentation is quite deliberate. As the season winds down, let's look at what's going on in the Mukilteo Community Garden.

The Giving Beds, where we grow crops to donate to food banks, are on track to produce over 1,500 pounds of organic vegetables this year. Such impressive results happen because lots of people donate lots of time to choose what to grow, plant seeds, tend to the plants, and harvest. The experimenting comes in the form of which seeds to plant, when and where to plant them – the same decisions you make as a home gardener. Perhaps a new variety of green beans promises to be disease resistant, or produce a higher yield, or mature more quickly. Should we experiment with the new variety, or continue to grow a tried-and-true one? It ends up being a combination of both, and some years the new variety of beans or tomatoes or radishes is so successful, it becomes our tried-and-true choice.

We also experiment with pest control. Take rabbits, for example. (Yes, please, take them! Far away!) It's heartbreaking to watch a month's worth of effort to grow and transplant seedlings disappear overnight when rabbits take a liking to those plants. This year one of our Mukilteo Community Garden board members, Rob, experimented with rabbit fencing that's lightweight and easy to lift away from a bed when we need to work there, and move back into place when we're done. He used PVC pipe to create a rectangular frame, with legs extending about 8 inches. Then he strung wire rabbit fencing inside the frame, and sunk slightly larger PVC pipe into the ground. The frame lifts easily in and out of the ground, and seems to have kept bunnies at bay. The experiment was successful enough to plan on making more frames next season.

Marina, another board member, is experimenting with tomatoes. She's growing a number of heirloom varieties from seed and is keeping careful records about how they perform. Perhaps one day we'll be planting dozens of "Bull's Heart" tomatoes, instead of the usual Early Girls.

(In a few months we'll share more about Marina's tomato experiments.)

One of our renters experimented with solar-powered watering. Renters' beds are not irrigated, so renters must hand water as needed. Tony, who does a lot of tinkering with a local Maker Space group, devised an automatic system that will sense dryness in the soil, triggering a pump that draws water from large buckets he fills and leaves alongside his bed. Based on his tomato plants that have grown more than 7 feet tall, it's been a successful experiment.

Whether you are an experienced gardener or a beginner, this time of the year is perfect to start thinking about the next season. Will you grow the same crops, or try something different? Will you plant purple cauliflower instead of white? Did your tomatoes produce well in the location you chose, or should you try a different spot? Should you plant some things in containers instead of directly into the ground – or vice versa? Should you buy heavier cages, sturdier poles, or other items to provide better support for your plants, especially if there's an end-of-season sale?

Thanks to Mother Nature and our human tendency try and do better, no two gardening seasons are ever the same. Sometimes we can't control the outcome, but we will always try to make things better.