Moving to a new community garden this year, I have been eager to get my hands dirty for a few weeks.

I have rented a community garden plot each summer for probably about five or six years now, and each year once May arrives, I want nothing more than to be outside and get everything planted.

Of course, in Minnesota, it’s not always wise to plant before Mother’s Day or even sometimes after that for a few weeks, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get out and start buying seeds and such.

Over the weekend, I bought all of my seeds and got started planting those.

My gardening space is bigger than it ever has been this year, as I have two gardens — one at the community garden off of Margaretha Avenue and one at a friend’s house from my church.

I am excited to have a successful year, and because I have more space, I am trying some new things.

I have only tried planting corn one time previously — without success — so I decided to give it another try, along with popcorn, which one of my co-workers has done in the past. I also plan on planting several items that I have had in years past, including lettuce, carrots, potatoes, green beans, onions, tomatoes, peppers and zuchinni, to name a few.

I had a lot of fun planting pumpkins last year, so I also plan on doing those again this year, even though they take up a lot of space.

In the past, I’ve had issues with everything from deer and rabbits chewing down my plants, to having aphids on my pepper plants and worms on my broccoli. There always seems to be something going on, but that is why I am looking forward to a new space — with hopefully fewer problems.

Last year, I purchased a liquid deer repellant that smelled awful in hopes of keeping the deer away. It did not work quite as well as I had hoped, and somehow it ended up spilling in my trunk.

Needless to say, I was not happy, and my car smelled of the repellant all summer.

I’m now staying away from that stuff if at all possible.

Growing up, I always helped my parents with a garden in our backyard. My love of gardening must have begun at that time. My family and I share photos of our gardens

Somewhere around here there’s a photo of me from many years ago next to some giant sunflowers that grew in the garden.

Remembering that photo, I decided I’d like to try it out with my children this year.

We were given some sunflower seeds, so the next sunny day we get, we’re going to try to plant them. I’m excited to pass on the tradition.

 

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her columns appear every Tuesday.