I have a vegetable garden at work. I work at the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio in Midland MI. I have had this position for 1 year. I am trying to bring back the plantings that Mr. Dow had there when he was alive. One thing they had was a vegetable garden. Vegetable gardening is not new to me, my parents always had a big garden and my siblings and I were expected to help in the garden, which we did. It is a whole different story however when you are responsible for the garden.
I started things out this winter when I decided to grow my own vegetables and flowers from seed. The AB Dow H and S has a small greenhouse. Growing the plants by seed was quite successfull with the exception of lavender. I only had one plant germinate. Everything else did well however. The peas were the first thing I started. It was so much fun watching those little guys germinate and grow. After everything was up and growing and it was getting close to the time when spring would be approaching, I built some cold frames out of some old wooden boxes and some recycles plexiglass and placed the veggies in there. This worked out swimingly until Memorial Day weekend. Becuase I did this at work, I was not there to keep and eye on things over the long weekend. I didn't want the plants to get too hot and dry so I took off the plexiglass tops and covered everything with a shade cloth. Then it rained all weekend. Everything but the peas were fine. I didn't realize it but the peas were in a flat that didn't have any drainage holes in it. The peas drowned. When we went to plant them there was this awful rotted smell and I thought I had a problem then after they were planted one by one they died. So I decided even though it was late in the season, I would plant a pea at each place where one died. This worked out fine and they started to grow and then one night the electric fence was on the fritz and the deer came in and ate all the peas. I guess I am just not supposed to have peas.
The deer also ate the lettuce, the spinach, the beanse and some of the parsley. I did get a huge harvest of lettuce and some spinach however before the deer had their salad. I plante a huge amount of tomatoes. They have grown to sizes I have never seen before. They will be ripe in the next week or so. I planted some heritage tomatoes. Brandywine, and Navajo Purple. I am excited to taste them. They are supposed to be excellent. I am getting a lot of cucumbers. More than the staff can eat, so I am going to donate the next batch to the open door. The open door is a homless shelter here in Midland. We also have several food pantries that will take produce. It is much better than letting it go to waste.
Things I would change for next year. Plant more peppers, more kholorabi, more flowers, less cucumbers and probably less tomaotes. I will keep the peas and beans the same and if the deer don't get them we will be all set. Oh yes the deer got the carrots as well, but that is fine because they were not doing too well. Next year I will put them in a raised bed. They don't grow through gravel very well
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