Hello green beans,

I read that May is likely named after the Roman goddess Maia, who oversaw the growth of plants. Sadly, I think she must be very busy because I fear she’s missing my feeble attempts, year after year. I will try again this season because I really want to plant some herbs and veggies, plus I want to attract bees and butterflies to my yard. Would there be anything better than to visit someone and bring them produce from your yard or maybe flowers that you grew? A friend brought me garlic the other day, and I was over the moon. And they were the biggest cloves I have ever seen.  I made garlic pucks out of them – so easy. You put the garlic buds and virgin olive oil into your blender and make a paste-like consistency. Then mould them into discs and flash freeze them on a cookie sheet. When they are frozen, you can put them in a freezer bag, and when you need garlic for stews or soups, you just pop in a garlic puck. As for my garden, it’s a new season and I will think positive. The following are some tips to follow:

I obviously did a lot of googling, plus I managed to find a serious gardener, and she is going to help me. These are the best plants to grow in Nova Scotia, so these are some of the ones I’ll try:

Lettuce: Butterhead, Boston, Loose Leaf. Lettuce can thrive in cold springs and cooler fall months; they are very hardy. They are low maintenance; all they need is water once a week and can be planted in any soil.  And lettuce can be harvested all year, the more you harvest, the more they grow. Salads here I come!             

Kale: Like lettuce they are fairly low maintenance and you can grow both in pots, which is what I might do. Both prefer some shade.  And kale happens to be very pretty.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes love the heat and they are also great for vertical gardening. I personally don’t have a huge yard so I will make sure my garden has trellises for peas and tomatoes.

Squash: Zucchini, Acorn, Butternut, Spaghetti. It’s one of the most versatile vegetables. Some varieties can be grown in both warm and colder weather. You’ll obviously have to do some investigating. But make note they need a lot of room to grow. That might make them less appealing for me but we’ll see what my gardener friend suggests😊

Just a few ideas, more to come in June. I will adopt a can-do attitude this year. And remember:

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill

Stay green!