by Mary Houle

Types of plants

As a whole, our annual edible gardens are made up of cold hardy, moderate, and tender annuals. There are some perennial edibles in the garden such as herbs, rhubarb, horseradish, asparagus, and some others. Some are perennial (if tended to regularly), by the nature of the way they rejuvenate, such as strawberries with over ground runners and raspberries with underground runners or suckers.

Plant what you like to eat. Basil is a tender annual as are both peppers and tomatoes. Resist temptation to plant these outside early; wait until Memorial Day, typically when all danger of frost has passed. Moderate annuals are beans, rosemary, and corn. Hardy plants are in the cruciferous family: cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Other good candidates for cool planting are Swiss chard, radish, peas, and parsley. Even lettuce (surprisingly), can handle the late frost and the eight-inches of snow that fell the other week. It did no damage in my garden and in fact, acted as an insulating blanket. Plant these cool and moderate crops now.

When some flowers bloom too early, frost may wipe out a tender flower and diminish the yield of that plant. Strawberries tend to bloom early and it is not uncommon to find a black center on the king flower. The king flower leads to the king berry which is usually the first and biggest berry from that plant.

Monoecious flowers have separate male and female flowers on the same plant, like squash, pumpkin, and corn plants.

Dioecious flowers are from male and female plants that must be present to have complete pollination like male and female kiwi plants. It is also true that male asparagus plants produce more stalks that female plants do. It seems that the female asparagus plants are busy forming the seeds for future plants while the males are bulking up the yearly harvest for our spring eating pleasure. The red berries on the female asparagus fern also are food for the birds later in the season. Some blueberry plants are self-pollinating and other varieties require two different blueberries in flower at the same time (a critical element that cannot be overlooked). This information is found on the label when you buy the plants.

Without pollination, we would not have apples, corn, fruits, or vegetables. This applies as well in the non-edible gardens. Bees and other insects achieve the perfect pollination: one insect at a time, one stamen (male, pollen bearing) and one pistil (female) at a time. The wind also is an effective but inefficient pollinator as it carries pollen to complete the cycle too. In corn, for example, the male flower is the tassel at the top of the corn plant. It has the pollen that must be brought to each silk (receiving tube) on the emerging ear and it carries the pollen to each individual kernel of corn making each a fully formed ear of corn. This is the female flower. You may have seen an ear of corn that has not fully formed and some of the kernels are flat; this is the result of incomplete pollination.

Last year the local food shelves received donations of fresh vegetables from folks around town who took an extra step to help. They planted an extra row for the food shelf. The Shelburne Community School took this initiative to heart as well and planted, tended, and harvested fresh food to donate to people in our community who needed the boost. Please consider doing this too, and add a row to your own garden as this season’s family or neighborhood project.