Eugene Roth, a winner in the vegetable class in the Westlake in Bloom contest, has more projects going on around his property than two full-time gardeners would be able to finish in a year.

Award-winning vegetable garden offers culinary delights
By Thea Steinmetz
Insights
Published Aug. 25, 2010

It is not every day that the mere sight of a vegetable garden will make your heart beat faster. Eugene Roth’s garden, a winner in the vegetable class in the Westlake in Bloom contest, had me smiling for the whole length of the interview. The sheer number of wide-ranging vegetables takes time for the mind to process.

Where to look first? Roth, now retired, has more projects going on around his property than two full-time gardeners would be able to finish in a year. For the past 30 years, he has had a vegetable garden toward the rear of this location. In the past, there was more sun, but as trees will do, they grew over many years and brought more shadow. Now, certain vegetables, such as corn, show the effect of fewer hours of sunlight.

The deep property offers possibilities that most gardeners could only dream of. On the way to the vegetable garden, one must pass two ponds. The first one came about when a huge tree came down and left a big hole. The area was enlarged, and Roth bordered the pond with stone. There is a small waterfall, and it is a favorite with birds.

The second pond is elevated. That came about when a neighbor dug out a basement and Roth used the material left over from the excavation. The elevation is roughly 3 feet above ground level, with a lower part recycling the water from the waterfall. It is an unusual configuration, and it is evident that the owner enjoys working on these kinds of projects.

After enduring the deer claiming a great deal of produce from his raised beds, Roth spent last year building a 7 ½ foot fence for the 50-by-60-foot vegetable garden. The only downside, as he sees it, is that raised beds dry out faster as they do not retain the moisture as the ground does. Now, the deer are no longer a problem, even with the neighbors’ misguided idea of feeding them. The groundhogs are another story. No fence will keep them out. The only way to deal with them is a “Have a Heart” trap, and it seems to do the job.

Large beds with asparagus greenery suggest there was good crop for the table this spring. The asparagus is planted in the ground while at least 15 raised boxes with various diameters are home to a host of vegetables. Large heads of cabbages are ready for harvest. The Savoy cabbage, with its crinkled deeper green leaves, looks especially good, ready for its close-up picture. Chinese cabbage was sown on July 15 and shows new growth. The tag that displays the date was cut from an old Venetian blind. These handy markers are everywhere, displayed with the crop and visible throughout the garden. There never is a question of “what is it?” or “when was it planted?”

The New Zealand spinach, carrots, radishes and French beans are young plants, growing toward a fall harvest. Beets, cauliflower, eggplant and tomatoes are ready for a trip to the kitchen. All of the 32 tomato plants are producing well. One unusual variety is the green zebra stripe one that will stay green and retain its green stripes.

Roth has the opinion that there were fewer cucumber beetles and squash beetles around this year to damage the plants. He feels that our unusual weather might have something to do with this. He also has a helpful hint for dealing with peppers. As soon as the pepper plant flowers, spray it with a solution of one tablespoon of Epsom salt mixed with one quart of water. This will set the flower and keep it from falling off when setting the peppers.

Right in the middle of the garden one of the more unusual sights and not ready to win a beauty contest, is an old refrigerator carton planted with potatoes. Roth bought 5 pounds of seed potatoes and stuck them in tubs inside this cardboard box. Then, as the greenery became visible, he filled the spaces in between with compost and leaf mulch. The leaves look healthy, but there is no telling how many pounds of potatoes will be harvested from this carton. It is an interesting experiment.

At the west end of the garden are enormous plants taller than the fence with only greenery and nothing else happening on them. They are Jerusalem artichokes, and a crop is expected later on. The name seems to be a misnomer because it is not at all related to an artichoke. It is closer to a sunflower. It also does not come from the Middle East or Jerusalem, but is a native of North America. It is a tuber and looks more like a potato. It can be a pestiferous weed and should always be planted where it can do no harm. That might be the reason it is so seldom seen in vegetable gardens.

This garden is a culinary delight and a pleasure for any visitor.

AS OUR GROWING SEASON is beginning to wear down, Dean’s Greenhouse in Westlake scheduled a third salsa-canning program due to the enormous interest shown. Originally, the agenda was only one class. This last session for the summer is on Sept. 4 at 2 p.m.

Also, if you still have herbs in your garden that are doing very well, you might want to know what to do with them to preserve them for the winter. There are so many more possibilities besides drying them. Several suggestions will be offered at this useful program, also at Dean’s Greenhouse, on Sept. 4 at 11 a.m.