Logan May 2023 Blog

After an unseasonably warm and late winter followed by an unseasonably cool and early spring, where people
weren’t too sure about getting cool crops into the ground, the growing season has arrived with a bang.
There has been lots of warm sunshine and just enough rain to keep our plants happy without drowning them.
There were a couple of really cool nights where we came close to having a serious frost, but our plants
made it through and are thriving.

We have had critter issues in previous years; sometimes it’s deer, sometimes it’s racoons, but this year
the one critter that’s driving gardeners crazy are chipmunks. Netting covering your plants? No problem-
they burrow up from below. Try the old-wives-tale of using mint? YUM! Cat? No problem- wait until it’s
asleep and then take all you want. The Chip & Dale Family may be cute, but right now gardeners are
waging a full out war to convince them to leave their gardens alone, and the chipmunks are just as
adamant that they will continue to harvest their share.

On the whole, though, gardens are doing well and some gardeners who missed the opportunity to plant
early crops are planning ahead for a fall planting since it often stays warm enough into November to still
have some of the hardier and cold loving plants grow and thrive and continue to provide fresh produce.
Even some plants like eggplants, if protected on colder nights, will continue to produce.

And the one thing (other than chipmunks!!) that’s on gardener minds , even this early, is food
preservation and growing enough to provide for their families over the winter months. Some can. Some
freeze. Some dehydrate. Some use a combination. And that will be a story for another Blog.