Sauk County Gardener: Thankful
“The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us.” ~James E. Faust
As I look toward Thanksgiving, it causes me to look back over the past year to reflect on the many things I am thankful for in my life. Out of curiosity, I looked up the article I wrote last year and noticed my list has not changed much at all.
I’m so thankful that my garden was once again very productive. Once again, our freezer and pantries are full of produce that we harvested and preserved to enjoy and share this winter. I’m also thankful that I finally learned and came to appreciate the proper spacing of tomato plants. For once, my tomatoes were relatively disease-free. I also successfully harvested my first planting of garlic, enjoying the scapes early in the spring and a nice collection of healthy bulbs to eat, plus enough to replant for next year. I’m also thankful for the amazing growth I experience in my first year of my cutting garden. I started it so I could have enough flowers for my daughter’s wedding this past fall. We had such an abundance of flowers at the wedding, it made this master gardener very proud. This initial success encourages me to continue having a cutting garden next year for beautiful blooms. I’m also thankful for gardening failures as well. I not only was reminded that squash can cross-pollinate and create some very unusual squash, but also to remain humble. As master gardeners, we sometimes need to be reminded that we still need to continue to learn or improve our gardening techniques.
I’m thankful for my fellow master gardeners. They continue to provide a wealth of knowledge and enjoy sharing their love of gardening with me and others within our community. They strive to make a difference in the communities they live in, and it shows. Although COVID restricted our usual activities, we were still able to find ways to share our gardening knowledge. We worked with area schools to develop their school gardens, removed invasive plant species from a local prairie, helped restore and maintain several gardens for historical accuracy, provided gardening demonstrations at the Sauk County Fair, taught workshops on how to plant tomatoes and other vegetables and produced food for local food pantries. One of our master gardeners maintained a number of garden plots at the Reedsburg Community Garden just for the sole purpose of donating the produce. He also worked with his employer to donate their excess produce, resulting in a combined total of 1,649 pounds of fresh vegetables donate to feed families in the Reedsburg area. The demonstration garden that the Sauk County Master Gardeners Association, Inc. maintained in Baraboo Community Garden also donated lots of tomatoes to the local food pantries. This is just a small sample of the ways master gardeners contribute to their communities. I hope that in the future, you will consider becoming a master gardener volunteer and share your love of gardening with others in the community.
I’m so thankful for my family who enjoy gardening and going on my gardening adventures with me.
Although my granddaughter is now a senior and has a very busy schedule, she still found time to come out and help me whenever she could in the gardens. I’m thankful for my new gardening buddy, my 18-
month-old grandson. He loved being outside, exploring and eating tomatoes, beans, strawberries, blackcaps and just about every other vegetable straight out of the garden. He gave me a whole new appreciation of gardening, seeing it from his perspective. I’m thankful for my daughter and new son-in-law; they both enjoy gardening and are always willing to try some new plant in their gardens that I give them or help eat the extra garden produce. My son and daughter-in-law are not much into gardening, but they’re willing to take home the extra vegetables and never complain when I send their son home in dirty, stained clothes from spending time in garden with his Nana.
Finally, I am so thankful for my husband and partner-in-gardening, Scott. If it wasn’t for him, our gardens would not be nearly as nice (or as large) as they are. He’s always willing to help me with my latest whim; this past summer he helped build six 4x8 garden beds for my cutting garden. Then a couple weekends ago, he helped dig up all the dahlia bulbs in those same beds for winter storage. He’s always willing to dig holes, and then dig more holes when I changed my mind. He thins out my seedlings (those little plants worked so hard to grow!) and prunes my tomatoes as I either don’t get to them or I don’t prune enough. Scott is the perfect gardening companion in so many ways and I’m thankful he enjoys spending time in the gardens with me.
I am thankful for so many things. I hope this gives you a chance to reflect on all the good in your life and what you’re thankful for as well. Happy Thanksgiving!
Jeannie Manis is a Wisconsin-certified Sauk County Master Gardener volunteer. If you have any gardening questions, please contact the Extension Sauk County by emailing to trripp@wisc.edu or calling the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County office at 608-355-3250.
