April 20

Brrrrrr. It sure is cold out there!
Despite the cold, my lettuce and radishes are still poking their noses out to greet me. And those chives are doing great, too. They’re already up six inches and were useful last weekend in my herb butter. It is delicious and so easy to make! I am barely making it with these cooler temps, but my garden is still surviving through this cold. The end of the week looks great, and I will again be anxious to wear a short sleeve shirt and sunscreen. I feel like such a risk taker this spring, because I have so many vegetables planted. Compared to normal years, I am way ahead of schedule! The garden is lacking a bit of color though, so I will probably add a few violas this week. Those flowers are so happy-go-lucky! And darn cute!

My garden plans change every day while I am at work. So many things to dream about growing and customers to talk to about what they are growing. A gentleman came in this weekend and purchased seeds for his vegetable garden. One of the packets contained parsnips. I’ve never even thought about growing parsnips. They are rarely used in my kitchen, except around St. Patrick’s Day when I make a Root Stew for the Sargent’s Pot O’Luck. Another gentleman told me today, he plants them right with his radishes and harvests them the following spring. So needless to say, I’ll need to figure out a few recipes this fall for my parsnips, because I have decided to plant a row of parsnips next to my radishes. It is a good thing that I have room to spare on the farm for trying different plants. Send a recipe my way, I’ll be anxious to try anything with parsnips in it. This week, I’m also planning on planting snap peas and beans. My antique tiller has been brought back to life, and I’ve been tearing up the garden! Of course, a tiller is not required for gardening, but it sure makes gardening a lot easier.

This past Saturday, I hosted a seminar at the North Store called Temptation Island. Many of you joined me as I talked about some of the new introductions in our line-up for the year. Everyone enjoyed the class and was excited to learn about many of our new perennials and annuals. We carry close to 600 different varieties of perennials. This year we added close to 40 new ones! Out of the new cultivars, I have selected three I must have for my garden. ‘Alabama Sunrise’ Foamy Bells, ‘Heart Attack’ Dianthus and ‘Blue Ice’ Blue Star. These are outstanding perennials and will make great additions to one of my part sun gardens. The foamy bells are on at the top of the list because they have such awesome foliage! It will wake up any garden, especially mine. Look for it to be on our shelves in the next couple of weeks. As for other perennials, we are getting more in every day along with annuals and our herbs and vegetables. Stop in and check out all the changes we have made at both of our locations.

Let me know if you have any questions or parsnip recipes!
I can be reached at wajasper@sargentsgardens.com

Happy Gardening!
Wendy Jasper
MNLA Certified Professional

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