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Growing up I was surrounded by gardeners, from my mom working at ocean spray growing cranberries to my cousin’s vegetable garden, my whole extended family has roots in gardening. This connection we all share originated with my grandparents Mary and Joe. My grandparents had a love for all things green. They grew their own vegetables, flowers, and fruit trees. My aunts and uncles grew up helping pick things from the garden and helping to weed out the two industrial sized greenhouses my grandparents attached to their home.

My own experience in my grandparents garden is not a unique one, but one that I share with my brother and cousins as well. I was babysat by my grandparents often just like my relatives and in this time I would learn everything I know today about gardening. My favorite part was heading out to the garden with my grandma on a hot summer day rummaging through all sorts of vines and plants to find the biggest, roundest, and reddest tomatoes to pick. Once I found around five perfect tomatoes I would move on to the biggest, greenest, shiniest peppers I could find. After roughly five of the peppers, covered in dirt and sweat I would then move to cucumbers and finally bring my picks of the bunch to my grandmother to inspect in Shaws bags. She would select the ones to bring inside for herself and I got to lay out the rest on their “free” cart that she had parked right next to the garden. Here neighbors and friends could stop by and grab anything they wanted from the cart. This was my favorite part. I loved watching people come stop by to take the vegetables that I picked myself.

My grandparents were a huge influence on my family as far as gardening and giving us all the gift of a green thumb. They even created a family holiday just for us called “planting day” where we would all meet in the spring to plant the seeds for their huge garden. This collectively was one of everyone in my extended family’s holidays. It meant so much to me and more than my grandparents could have imagined.

Written by Marj Tobin

Written by Caroline Howland

These beautiful orange and yellow annuals symbolize good luck and happiness.

Marigolds add bright color to gardens and also attract insects so they are typically planted near vegetables so they can keep aphids and beetles from eating crops. They are popular because they bloom all summer long.

Plant from Seed: Marigolds are tolerant of wet to dry soil but do best in well-drained, fertile soil. Pick a spot with full sun, once the soil is warm in the spring it’s time to plant. Dig soil 6 inches down to loosen. Moisten the soil and then plant seeds 1 inch deep, 1 inch apart. Seeds can be started indoors or outdoors. The seeds should sprout within a week.

Plant from transplants: plant directly into loosened soil, at least 8 inches apart. Water each flower as you plant. Choose a sunny spot where the soil drains well.

Taking Care of Marigold flowers: water at the base of the plant when the soil is dry. Pinch off the tops of the growing plant to make the flower bushier and promote more blooms. If the blooms are dead, pinch off the flower to the nearest leaf.

Varieties of Marigolds: these flowers come in a variety of colors ranging from creamy white to golden orange. Some are larger than others. French marigolds, American marigolds and African marigolds are the most popular. The French variety are smaller than the others.

Using Marigolds: Marigolds can be cut and added to any flower arrangement but they are commonly dried because of their ability to keep their color. Hang the cut flowers upside down until the flowers are dry and they can be used for fragrance to homemade soaps, oils or lotions. They can also be kept as a dried bundle.

https://www.almanac.com/plant/marigolds

Overview: Eggplant fruits are usually a dark purple color, but can also be white, pink, green, or black. An eggplant can grow to be a variety of shapes and sizes. Similar to tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers, eggplants are part of the nightshade plant family (Source: Almanac).

Harvesting Advice: An eggplant is ready to harvest when the inner flesh is cream-colored, the fruit is firm, and there are no visible seeds. Leaving an eggplant to harvest too long may cause a bitter taste, tough skin, or large seeds (Source: Gardening Know How).

When it is time to harvest, cut a short piece of stem above the cap attached to the top of the eggplant. The best place to store eggplants is at room temperature, or in a pantry.

Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

This non-fry sheet-pan eggplant parmesan is less oily and more delicious!

Ingredients: 

• 4 tablespoons olive oil 
• 2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 
• Kosher salt 
• ⅓ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus more torn leaves for serving 
• 1 medium-large eggplant (about 1 ½ pounds), sliced into ½-inch-thick rounds 
• ⅓ cup all purpose flour 
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup italian-style breadcrumbs 
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced 
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan

Cooking Directions: 

Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Step 2: Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic in a large skillet and place over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Stir in the chopped basil.

Step 3: Line up 3 shallow dishes; fill one with flour, one with the beaten eggs, and one with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle both sides of the eggplant slices with salt. Dredge an eggplant slice in the flour (tapping off excess), then dip in the egg, and finally dredge it in the breadcrumbs.

Step 4: When all the eggplant slices are breaded, carefully remove the heated sheet pan from the oven and brush it with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place the eggplant on the sheet pan in a single layer. Bake until the undersides are crisp and browned 8 to 10 minutes, then flip the slices and continue baking until they are golden on the second side, 8 to 10 minutes more.

Step 5: Top the baked eggplant with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan. Return the pan to the oven and bake, rotating halfway through, until the cheese melts and browns and the sauce is bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Top with torn basil before serving.

Written By: Natalie Calkins

Seed starting: Bell peppers will perform better if their nutritional needs are met. These seeds are often started indoors, around two months before the last spring frost date. Bell peppers prefer a more shady, rich soil. In order to grow your pepper at it’s best ability, keep your ground conditions well-drained and warm. 

Planting Directions:

1. Plant the seeds 18 to 24 inches apart in a sunny, well-drained spots. Plants need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight per day. (Source: bonnieplants).
2. Mix compost or other organic matter into the soil when planting. (Source: bonnieplants)
3. Water immediately after planting, then regularly throughout the season. Aim for a total of 1-2 inches per week (more when it’s hotter). (Source: bonnieplants)
4. Mix a continuous-release fertilizer into the soil at planting and replenish as directed during the growing season. (Source: bonnieplants)
5. Spread mulch (such as chopped leaves or straw) around the plants to help keep the soil cool and moist. (Source: bonnieplants)
6. Support each pepper plant with a stake or small tomato cage, to help bear the weight of the fruit once it begins to produce. (Source: bonnieplants)
7. Harvest peppers with shears or a knife, then store in the fridge. Be sure to pick all peppers before the first fall frost comes. (Source: bonnieplants)

Growing Advice: The best time to plant bell peppers, is in mid-March to early April at the latest. The best thing to do is to count back 6 weeks from when you want to plant your transplants into the garden, to determine when to plant the seeds. (Source: Nola)

Harvesting: Your bell peppers will stay green for a while, but once they start to ripen, they’ll change to yellow, orange, and or red. Your peppers will be ready to harvest 60–90 days after transplant, and once they are 3-7 inches long, and about 4 inches wide.

Your freshly picked peppers can do best staying fresh in many different ways. On your countertop, in the fridge (dried), freezer (removing stems in advanced), as well as pickled, canned, or dried. You can actually try eating the stem of the pepper which is completely safe! It does not have much flavor, and is considered very mild.

Recipe for Bell Pepper

Try this tasted Roasted Red Pepper Spread, it can be used in so many ways and has become a very popular dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 jar (12 ounces) roasted sweet red peppers, drained 

• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Baking Steps/directions:

• Place ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment

• process until smooth, while scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Red pepper spread can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks or frozen up to 3 months.

Nutrition Facts:

2 tablespoons: 16 calories, 0 fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 276mg sodium, 2g carbohydrate (1g sugars, 0 fiber), 0 protein.

Overview: Peppers can be found in a variety of colors as well as being effortless to maintain.

Seed Starting: Peppers prefer to be grown in a sunny, well drained spot. They can also be grown in containers, raised beds and in-ground gardens. Mix compost or other organic matter in the soil while planting. Another thing when planting the seed you want to plant them around 18-24 inches apart to allow room to grow. It’s also necessary for the pepper plants to get just about 6-8 hours of sunlight per day. 

Harvesting: Most pepper seeds will sprout after a week although superhots and others can take up to 6 weeks. Keeping the soil wet but not damp is crucial while they are growing. It’s been shown that bell peppers change from green to red when fully ripened and when you buy red bell peppers they are ripened to green peppers to keep in mind while picking them!  (Source)

Growing Advice: Sow seeds in late winter or early spring and no more than two months before there has been frost. 

Recipe for Bell Pepper Nachos!

Try this low carb easy meal to make for you and your friends!

• Cook ground beef thoroughly until cooked and stir in a packet of taco seasoning as well as a splash of water
• Cut the bell peppers in half, drizzle some olive oil on and place them on a baking sheet 
• Then spoon the beef mixture into the bell peppers 
• Add some shredded cheese on top and bake on 350 until cheese is melted. 

Madison Gagliano

Overview: Spearmint is the most common type of mint people can grow themselves. This plant has many uses such as flavouring in foods, cosmetics, essential oils and culinary. It’s one of the easiest herbs to grow and one or two plants will provide a ton of leaves if adequately taken care of!

Seed starting advice: Seeds should be planted 18 to 24 inches apart and ¼ inch deep in spring right after the last frost (Source) . This herb grows best in partial shade and adapts to any kind of soil but will produce a crazy amount in moist, well-drained soil.  

Growing and Harvesting advice: Seeds should be harvested from late spring and mid-autumn before the shoots die back over winter. For the plant to reach its full potential, make sure the top ½ inch of soil is never dry, the plant always needs water! Since spearmint tends to spread a lot as it grows, pull off large chunks of the plant as it spreads so it doesn’t get overwhelmingly big.

Recipe for Refreshing Spearmint Tea

• 2 cups of water
• 15-18 fresh spearmint leaves
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey
• 2 lemon slices
• Chamomile flowers (optional)

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Remove water from the heat and add in the spearmint leaves and chamomile flowers. Steep for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add honey to the pot and stir.
4. Pour tea into mug and garnish with lemon slices.

Written by: Sam Lessick

Seed Starting: Tulips are actually not started from seeds; instead, they are started from bulbs.  It is best to purchase dry bulbs.  To plant, the bulbs should be covered with around eight inches of soil, about 5 inches apart (Source: Growing Tulips | The Old Farmer’s Almanac).  Water the tulip bulbs right after planting so that they can start growing.  Be careful, as tulips can be sensitive to wet soil, so they need good drainage.  Planting the bulbs in the fall will allow for them to bloom a couple of months later in the spring. (Source: How to Plant Tulip Bulbs | Martha Stewart)

Growing Advice: When it comes to watering your bulbs, you really don’t need to that much.  Weekly rain will be just fine for the bulbs, and they do not need extra water unless you are in a drought.  Some pests that will come for tulips are deer, voles, and mice, so make sure your tulips are protected from them! (Source: Growing Tulips | The Old Farmer’s Almanac)

Harvesting: Tulips can be harvested before they’re fully in bloom and only have a small amount of color on their outer petals.  The stems can just be cut and put into water with flower food.  Fresh tulips can usually last from 5 days to a week while still looking great! (Source: How to Grow Tulips – Floret Flowers)

(Carver Cranberry Bog’s)

As I pull back into my rocky driveway and see the blue light sky with the silky, milky clouds parting through the sky over the sandy pathways leading to childhood memoirs, a new world and an escape for what around us. As I return back from school, I rush to put all of my things away and toss my dirty laundry at my mother she has the best look on her face as the basket is overflowing with everything in my closet. But all my mind is on is my next adventure into my backyard. I quickly grab all my things and my sweatshirt because even though its a beautiful sunny day out the Bogs are known for they whipping winds that might make it feel like your ears are falling off. Im all ready to go I start my walk by leaving my yard I walk though the make shift “zigzag” pathways made by all the previous friends that’s have made this same journey into the bogs with me..! As the pathways end they opening to a sunny, magical sandy waste land filled with cranberries that have just been picked, tall grass, ocean looking like pond with the wind whipping making the waves fall over with white caps and memoirs that flood my mind an just might make a tear hit my eye.

Every time I come back and walk these bogs my mind is overwhelmed with the great childhood memoirs that I was given by this amazing place. Time with great friends enjoying times that we thought weren’t the best but damn weren’t we wrong..! Spending time in this amazing backyard of sand and berries was something we all took for granted, as we talk now we all know what those sandy wasteland like trails and ocean like res. did for our imganation it gave use a new world to explore without that we’d wouldn’t have made such memorable memoirs.

The full walk around the res. makes my legs feel like jelly know that me and my best-friend “Owen” don’t walk it everyday like we used too its about 3 miles fully around, plenty of time to rethink a re look at all the fun things we did out here. Ride bikes/golf carts, fishing tournaments, hunting, finding a game too play or even just walking our dogs from middle school to high school there wasn’t a week that I didn’t escape into the new world for a different adventure with my friends. the bogs gave use kids more than just food and cranberries “witch we took a lot off” it gave a use a new world and huge playground to explore and without that me and all my friends would be different people..!

As my walk comes too an end on this amazing sunny day the memoirs start to faded away, in the fare distance I see the vivid red pop off the ground with the many little flickers of sunlight reflecting off the crisp blue water of the flooded bog. “Cranberries” where left..! What an aiming way to end and amazing walk, I’ll some off these back home and my nana will make the best cranberry bread you could dream off..!

written by Brodin Benting