Zone 5a
Located in Lake Elmo, Minnesota I have one acre of land that is turning into a farmers’ market. My backyard supplies our family of eight with produce, food for the pollinators, and habitat for wildlife. I am a University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener with over fifteen years of maintaining my own gardens. Growing vegetables is my specialty along with creating delicious harvest recipes. Fresh picked produce has a taste and quality that is far superior to grocery store purchased food. There are also health benefits to consuming homegrown or local produce. Did you know that some vegetables begin to lose nutrients immediately after harvest? And up to half of all produce will lose thirty percent within a few days! Once you try a fresh tomato, cucumber, or corn on the cob, you will never want to eat non-local food ever again. My goal is to teach you how to maintain a garden and grow your own food no matter the size of your plot.
Zone 5a does not have a long outdoor growing season. Average frost dates being around May 1 & October 1. Which is roughly 153ish days. I want to garden 365 days a year, and I make it possible by starting seeds indoors, keeping a kitchen herb garden, and filling my indoor spaces with houseplants. There are other ways I enjoy my favorite hobby in the middle of winter such as keeping garden journals, sketching plans for next season, taking online education classes, and visiting greenhouses.
Over the past few seasons I have implemented more natives and pollinator approved plants in all areas of my yard. Making sure to incorporate plants that bloom at various times during the growing season. This way there is food available spring through fall. Our Extension program offers at home learning projects a Master Gardener can take on. I chose to create a new pollinator garden as one of my 2024 projects. I extended a small circular space that is home to a massive honeysuckle vine, irises, and tiger lilies into a 8×16 peanut shaped garden. Anise hyssop, sunflowers, borage, zinnias, monarda, wild bergamot, and milkweed were added to the new plot. Pollinator cafe has become better than I envisioned! It is a hot mess of colors, textures, and types of vegetation. The best part of having a native/perennial garden is the minimal upkeep required.
My favorite part of the backyard is my 50×50 square foot garden. This is where we keep the chicken motel and all my annuals. I enjoy growing many types of vegetables for cooking, preserving, and crafting with. This space has been evolving since 2019, with the addition of chickens in 2023. I am using more raised beds now, as it is easier to keep weeds down and to amend the soil if needed. I love that this little spot of land can accommodate such a wide variety of plants. Rose bushes fill the center, attracting bumblebees like crazy in the spring. Cucumbers and squash trail up an arch trellis, while mini pumpkins take over an entire twenty feet of fencing. I have a corn corner for feeding the chickens snacks and grow sunflowers and broom corn for Autumn decor. Possibly 7-10 Jack O’ Lanterns as well and random gourds litter the clover covered lawn, while Honeycrisp apples drip from the trees. The September garden looks fabulous with orange and golden tones everywhere.
I plant A LOT of tomatoes and peppers. Minnesotans love to grow tomatoes, and I will do 10-15 types each summer. It is my opinion the most popular vegetable for a home gardener to grow. You will find pages of tomatoes you can plant at home in seed catalogs. Garden centers only sell a small variety of tomatoes compared to the selection you get when starting your own from seeds.
My husband is a hot sauce addict so my garden would not be complete without every sort of pepper out there. I enjoy hot peppers as well, plus they make an attractive addition to an edible landscape garden. Peppers are my biggest seller at my spring plant sale. I supply unique peppers that are hard to find here in the Midwest such as Jamaican Scotch Bonnets. Pepper heat intensity ranges from sweet and mild to scorching hot. I grow everything in between and will make dried hot pepper flakes with the colorful bounty I get at the end of summer.
As a mom to six kids, I love the holidays and changing seasons. Traditions are a huge part of our family, such as classic recipes on Thanksgiving, or watching a certain movie at Christmas each year. Whether it is a seasonal craft, game, or food we enjoy I will share fun family ideas for each holiday. As I grow my blog I hope my passion for nature and plants is evident and educational for everyone.