Like it or not, Mother Nature is on her own schedule. She will deliver, but it will be on her own terms, not ours.
Where I live, spring is finally just showing up. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we only got just one week of spring followed by full out summer. After all, wacky weather patterns are the new normal.
One thing my garden projects teach me, year after year, is patience.
I’m still learning how to be patient, maybe this is the year I’ll finally learn.
This is the time of year when I look at school garden beds and wonder if we’ll have a salad by the end of the school year. Here in the Northeast, the garden year and the school year don’t really jive all that well. This year, I’m fortunate be involved with an exciting hybrid garden project combining a school garden with a community garden. I have no doubt that when September rolls around, this garden will be abundantly full with a wide variety of summer and fall vegetables, way beyond a simple salad.
But now, in the middle of April the rush is on to get some lettuce and radishes and a simple herb salad dressing to grow before the last day of school.
According to the back of the seed packet, my salad green mix can be ready in just 28 days. The radishes can take around 30 days. Carrots would be lovely in a salad, but they are at least a 50 day investment of time.
Can we do it? Will a salad be harvested before the end of school, a mere 40 days away?
Time will tell. I’m hoping Mother Nature will cooperate.
