The Madman Says So Long 2020

            2020 is almost over. Two days left in this strange and challenging year. The madman says so long 2020. He is not sorry to see the end of it. Nor am I if truth be told.

            But there are better days ahead. The Solstice Pig has told us so. Eight days ago, the shadow of the sun hit the pig at noon signaling the shortest day of the year. As the madman said, “it only gets brighter from here.” It’s still too early to notice any real progress with the sun, but at noon I have noticed that the shadow is moving away from the solstice pig – I guess that’s why he put that in.

Welcome Back, Sun

            Like ancient civilizations, we welcome back the sun and we know that as it gets stronger, nature will slowly come out of its dormancy. If we stick to our New Year’s resolutions, we will be ready for it: and 2021 will be a great year. At any rate, it can’t be any worse than 2020.

As the end of the year approaches we all have a bunch of resolutions. You know, eat less, lose weight, keep in touch, read more, reach out…We have our personal lists and we are sure you have yours. We all resolve to make our lives and our worlds better. But, this is a gardening blog, so let’s get down to earth.

Water More

            So, I asked the madman – what’s top of the list for our gardening resolutions. Without even thinking about it, he said, “We need to water more.” We don’t expect another drought like the one in summer/fall 2020, but it taught the madman the true value of water. His second planting of beets is a prime example. They went into the ground in early August. Since we had no rain, the madman dutifully watered them every day, sometimes twice a day. And, he didn’t stop watering until we got rain.

            Guess what? Just before a snowstorm dropped 14” of snow on December 17, the madman harvested a wonderful supply of beets – our best ever. I have to agree with our first resolution: Water more, especially in the early stages of plant growth.

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Don’t Rush the Season

            Speaking of early stages, the madman resolves not to rush the season. We mentioned this in an earlier blog, but the fact that he included it in our gardening resolutions shows that he might really mean it this time.

            Last year we thought we had an ample supply of cosmos and zinnia seedlings. The madman had nursed them along in his greenhouse. As soon as the weather warmed up, we planted them. Our goal was to create massive blocks of color to invite all sorts of pollinators. (As an aside, during the Master Gardener course, we learned that single blooms are not as effective as mass plantings of single color if you want to attract pollinators.) Unfortunately, our blocks were hit by surprise late frosts and many of the remaining seedlings fell prey to marauding insects. In a normal year, the madman would have driven to a local store to purchase more seeds or plants. But, you remember 2020 – the madman couldn’t go anywhere and seeds were the new toilet paper. So, our blocks of color turned into blocks of whatever we had.

            Of course, there is always the exception. Suicide tomatoes are near and dear to the madman’s heart. He’ll never change this. I’ll bet you have forgotten about the suicide tomatoes. Long ago fellow master gardener John Carlson introduced the madman to these tomatoes – plants you put out well before their time. They either die or produce wonderful early tomatoes (usually they die – don’t try this at home unless you have an unlimited supply of seedlings).

            But, I did get him to agree to limit this suicide idea to just tomatoes. After all, seed supplies are still an unknown – maybe they’ll be scarce, maybe they won’t. Which leads to our next resolution: don’t leave the picking for tomorrow.

Pick Today

            Last summer, our Okra plants were amazing. They loved the hot and dry conditions. Seems like every day, the madman said “tomorrow we’ll have okra in the stir fry.” But, by tomorrow, those pods were too tough and stringy to eat.

            Okra was not the only crop we mistakenly neglected. Some of our snap peas got a little too poddy – you would think with our being home we wouldn’t let this happen, but happen it did. But, that’s not all. The same thing happened to our pole beans and we ended up with a few zucchini torpedoes. We hang our heads in shame, but it was hot and dry, and we had absolutely no visitors who could take some of the excess produce. An easy fix – plant less, you say. But remember, I am dealing with a madman and this is not an option. A better option will be to look for ways to donate our excess which we will do if we are out of quarantine next summer.

Three Resolutions

            So there we have it – three resolutions for the new gardening year. As we look forward to 2021 we know we can keep these three. We will water more: the madman is formulating a plan to make this happen. I know he is serious because he actually asked me for some graph paper. We will not rush the season – suicide tomatoes aside. I know he is serious because he circled the date of the last frost on the garden calendar and made the notation “Nothing before this date.” And, we will pick the veggies as they ripen. I can only hope he is serious about this one, but I understand that it will take the two of us to keep it.

            We have no idea what 2021 will bring. Thanks to a vaccine, everyone is thinking about the big picture: travel, gatherings with family and friends, a social life! We, too, are looking forward to this, but we resolve to take joy in the small things. The warmth of the sun and the splash of the rain. The caterpillars nibbling on their favorite plants. The monarchs darting throughout the flower beds. The hummingbirds drinking nectar. The chickadees visiting the treehouse. And, we will dance more in the garden.

            But, for now, there’s hot chocolate.

            We wish you all a happy, safe and COVID-free New Year.