Grow a pretty garden

By Rennie Phillips

Most of the time, we kind of grow our gardens in two different directions. We grow a flower garden for the pretty flowers and for the looks. Then we grow a vegetable or fruit garden for the goodies we pick and eat. What I'm wondering is, why can't we grow a vegetable or fruit garden not only for the goodies we eat, but for the looks as well?

One of the prettiest plants I grow in my garden is Rainbow Chard. Rainbow Chard looks almost exactly like rhubarb, but the two are light years apart. Rhubarb is more of a tart fruit, while chard is a vegetable. The stems of chard can be light and dark green, yellow and red. The leaves are a dark green color. Rainbow Chard is a mix of all these seeds, so you will end up with all the colors.

If chard is picked while it is fairly young, one can cook the stems right along with the leaves. It has kind of an earthy taste, like beets. If you don't like beets, I'd be surprised if you liked chard. I pick mine and wash it pretty good. It has an upright growing habit, so it stays pretty clean. I usually pick from the ground up with most of the older leaves close to the ground. After cleaning, I boil mine till tender. My favorite way of eating chard is with some butter and vinegar on it. Since it is pretty hardy, one can grow chard pretty much year round, if it's protected or in a high tunnel.

While we are talking about chard, I also like to have some rhubarb growing in my garden. Rhubarb is kind of hard to start, so I like to plant the seed indoors and then transplant later in the summer. You can buy roots to plant, but I have better luck starting seeds. Rhubarb has kind of a sour, twangy taste that pairs pretty good with the sweet from strawberries. Many times the two are added together to make a pie or dessert.

Another plant I find pretty in its own way is dill. Dill grows on a main stem up about two to three or even four feet tall and then sends out side shoots. At the end of each shoot is a kind of flower pod. I like the looks of dill, but I really like the smell. When we have dill growing in the garden, the whole garden smells like dill. I think I'd grow dill even if we didn't use it for pickles. Love that smell.

Many times I will start several trays of marigolds and zinnias to plant throughout my garden. Some say the marigolds' smell keeps some bugs off the plants. Not sure if this is true or not. I like the looks of both. I start mine in my workroom and then transplant outdoors. Works better for me to do it this way. I plant both at the end of my rows of tomatoes and around my cucumbers. I need to plant some marigolds around the cabbage.

Another plant I like to see growing in the garden or around the edges is winter onions. One can eat them, but they are powerful little critters. I just like to see them growing. Towards the end of summer they will have a main shoot up a foot or two and on top will be a seed pod with kind of little pig tails around it. Each of these seed pods will have a lot of small onions which can be planted to start new winter onions. If you just leave them alone, they will seed themselves.

One plant that I find neat is garlic. Most of the time I dig my garlic bulbs in late summer and then plant in the fall. After planting garlic in the fall, it will send up some shoots, and these will last clear into winter. Then in the spring, it will send up a shoot which will grow from about two to three feet tall. As it grows it will bend over and make a kind of bend and on the end will be what I call a goose head. Really neat plant to look at. Before, I've cut off these tops, or scapes, but never cooked with them.

Two neat plants or fruits are a red cherry tomato and a yellow pear tomato plant. Both are pretty cool. I like the looks of them because they will be green all summer until frost takes them in the fall. But amongst the green leaves will be red and yellow fruits. Really cool. But a great benefit is to pick a handful or a gallon bucket of little tomatoes and enjoy a bite or a salad. My way of eating them is kind of gross, but I lick the end, sprinkle on some salt and then pop them in my mouth. Always carry a salt shaker if you are a gardener. Never know when you need to try some tasty morsel in the garden. I'm looking forward to some yellow and red delights this summer.

The traditional way of planting corn is to plant it in rows, but a different approach is to plant in small areas like in a raised bed. Plant the corn in a 4x4 foot area. Plant them close together so that there won't be many weeds and such. One can plant traditional sweet corn, but this is a great way to plant the colored corn or popcorn. Then about the first part of July stick a few pumpkin seeds in the middle of the corn and grow some pumpkins for Halloween. Or stick in some winter squash seeds. I'd probably stick some cucumber seeds in for fall cucumbers.

When it comes to gardens, most of us would be better off if we gardened using the old adage "Less is more." Grow less in your garden and cut down on the time you have to spend weeding. Grow what you really enjoy.