June 12, 2008 - Getting a grip on the garden• •
he Suffolk Times • June 12, 2008 Getting a grip
on the garden
v
.I'-
Suffolk Times photos by Paul and Barbara Stoutenburghl
newborn fawn was found nestled against a tree trunk in among some leaves, and another was seen some distance
► against another tree. The mother will leave them all day long, and they won't move until she returns to feed them
Bill Terry of Orient never planted
his garden until Memorial Day
weekend. I believe he was on the
right track because whenever I have
planted my garden before that date,
things just stood still until Memorial
Day rolled around.
I also swore I'd never plant another
garden until the deer problem was
solved. The deer always did a job
on my early lettuce, leaving nothing
for me except some browsed -over
stumps. Few things are distasteful to
them. If it's green, they'll find it. Then
I thought, I 'should be able to outwit
them. I'd give it one more try, but this
time I'll install a fence first.
(While writing this article, we
received a call from a reader who had
just found two tiny deer in his front
yard. They were so small we figured
they must have been born during
the night. The
mother left them
FOCUS
some distance
�� apart, each snug-
gled up against a
NATURE tree. They were
by Paul the smallest deer
I have ever seen.
Stoutenburgh You had to blink
your eyes to
make sure you were seeing right since
they were so camouttagea. it s nOt
unusual for deer to have twins and
even triplets. No wonder we have so
many deer around.
When the mother leaves them to go
feed, they stay in an almost frozen state
until the mother returns in the evening
to nurse them. I couldn't believe how
perfectly they blended into the land-
scape. You had to search and search the
area, making sure you didn't overlook
any inch of it, to find them.)
It seems impossible that 50 or so
years ago the sighting of a deer would
have made the front page of the lo-
cal paper. Today not only are they a
they have become a real problem on
the highways. In the meantime, back
to my garden...
I add some of our cow manure each
fall to my garden plots so that by
springtime my garden has been pre -
enriched. Then in the spring I turn
over the rich soil in hopes it will not
onlv nourish my seeds but also in the
end give me a bounty of fresh veg-
show themselves first, with the vari-
etables. The price of food of any type
ous kinds of lettuce close behind. I
has skyrocketed so that perhaps, just
have trouble with carrots; they don't
perhaps, our garden will take on the
grow nice long roots but rather look
appearance of years ago when gar-
stunted and twisted. I spoke with
dens gave us such gratifying results.
someone who seemed to be an ex-
This year I'll also
pert in the field and
be using an old fa- It seems Impossible that he said I_didn't cul-
vorite called manure 50 or so years ago the tivate deep enough
so the soil would
tea on our flower
garden. It works Sighting of a deer WOUId be soft, enabling
miracles; it's made have made the front the carrot to grow
by mixing old cow page of the
flops in a bucket of
local paper. straight and strong.
So, I'll give that a
water and using the liquid. With our
try this year and look forward to the
two cows we have an endless supply
fresh carrots we like to eat raw after
of natural ingredients.
they've been well scrubbed. There's
Of course we'll be looking for-
no better snack than a sweet- tasting
ward to those early radishes. They
carrot to fill in that empty spot in
your stomach.
Before I forget it, I want to tell
you about a great couple I visited
some time ago, who have the most
unusual old -time colonial garden in
Jamesport. Many of the plants they
use would be considered weeds, but
when given a chance you'd be sur-
prised how some have turned out.
One in particular I liked was the
hardy goldenrod.
With'the possibility of utilizing
these weeds as part of my garden, I
planted a clump of goldenrod three
years ago in one of my raised gardens,
where it grows healthy and strong all
summer long and bursts into clusters
of yellow flowers in the fall. Perhaps
maybe you'd like to try it, too.