This year has been an insane travel year and as a result, I never got into sync with my vegetable garden. By that I mean that I didn’t plant new vegetables in a timely way, I didn’t re-plant vegetables such as radishes, once I’d harvested, I missed the winter and spring planting season altogether, and I didn’t get to enjoy the summer delight of harvesting for our meals. My vegetable garden was “unmanned” this past year, which made me crazy as my vegetable garden is my favorite part of the garden.
Enter Anton. While touring gardens this summer with Barbara in preparation for our 2019 Garden Conservancy Napa Valley Fellows Tour, I ran across an extraordinary vegetable garden in St. Helena – the Marciano property. I learned that a local named Anton was caring for it and I was immediately curious about him and what exactly he was doing.
Romanesco with its netting freshly removed, now that it’s large enough & safe from critters
I contacted Anton as soon as I got home and met with him to discuss my own vegetable garden. I knew my garden had greater production potential with its 17 8×4 beds, but I wasn’t finding the time to realize its potential. So I decided to work with Anton to see if he could help me take it to the next level – and he already has.
My favorite bed this season with beets and carrots – a beautiful combination!
Anton has tended our soil, making sure it is as nutritious and healthy as possible by adding products to the beds as needed. He immediately began planting fall and winter seeds in my available beds – in September – and turned over the summer beds as they faded. This is fully 4 months before I’ve planted winter crops in the past! And it was all from seed – not starts, which saved money.
The beauty of having a person onsite is that he can watch for critters who may be interested in the various starts before they consume your entire box. We definitely have “visitors” such as raccoons, ground squirrels, birds and voles who are interested in what we’re growing or just the worms in our beds. So he adds netting and sun protectant covers where needed, to protect our produce and beds.
He regularly harvests our produce, often at younger stages than I tend to harvest. I’m learning to harvest my vegetables when they’re smaller and more tender. He turns the beds more often than I usually do. For example, this arugula bed is about to be completely harvested and then replanted after being in place for only 6 weeks. I typically would have left it to produce all summer long.
This will be the first year that I plant peas correctly – in the fall. And look how healthy they are! I understand that we will be enjoying mountains of peas at the end of November. Peas are a favorite of mine so I am very happy about that.
Our winter crops are now planted and I’ve never had robust plants in my boxes at this time of year! We are enjoying lettuces earlier than we ever have before. (I normally plant lettuce in January, but he planted it in October). Another learning… And I love that all of our beds are now beautifully labeled.
As a result of regular care, I fell more connected to my vegetable garden which is really important to me. We are able to enjoy our vegetables on a regular basis now – throughout the year, and there is plenty to share with friends :).
