Ed Smith, Patron Saint of the Vegetable Garden

Ed Smith, Patron Saint of the Vegetable Garden

Posted by Heather Harris

Three times a week I get forty-five minutes all to myself. Forty-five beautiful, usually interrupted, minutes. Luke, my four-year-old takes and nap, and my six-year-old takes a "play nap". What is a play nap, you ask? It is an incredibly brilliant invention of my mine that requires my daughter to stay in her room for forty-five minutes, doing whatever her weird and creative mind would lead her to do, as long as A) I don't hear it, B) It doesn't make a mess big enough that I need to come and deal with it, because God knows it will make a mess, and C) She doesn't come out of her room asking me for anything. Almost always one of these conditions is not met, but I'll take what I can get.


The first five minutes of freedom are spent getting tea ready and scrounging some piece of chocolate out of the pantry, or a kid's treat bag. The next thirty minutes are spent reading a devotional. This week I read one about Francis of Assisi. That is one weird dude, but for some reason I really like him. Maybe because I'm quite certain he would appreciate a good garden. He might even preach to my stubborn carrots. The last 10 minutes are spent daydreaming, planning, or pinning about my garden. This week I returned to my dear friend, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. The cover has nerdy Ed Smith, holding a bountiful wicker basket of vegetables, in a button-up short sleeved shirt, denim jeans, and a straw hat with a vaguely wild fabric band, indicating, perhaps, that there is a little uninhibited side to Ed. He has helpful section headings like, "Some Kernals of Wisdom with your Kernals of Corn." Like Francis, I'm inexplicably drawn to Ed and his WORD system: Wide Rows, Organic Methods, Raised Beds, Deep Soil. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Amen, preach it Ed! 

Since I am very near the start (dare I hope for this weekend!?!) of peeling back the sod from my vegetable garden plot and finally getting the project going, I dusted off my old trusty friend for a refresher on the basics of preparing a garden site. I crossed my fingers and prayed that I had selected a location that Ed would approve of.  Here' his advice:

1. Let the Sun Shine In: My site is pretty much in full sun all day, although the neighbor's collection of rare and bizarre trees block the late afternoon sun. I don't think I can cut those down though.

2. Judging Which Way the Wind Blows: Seeing as we are on the east side of Portland now and everyone talks about "The East Winds" I'm guessing that that is the direction the wind comes from, although to me, when our huge Norway Spruce is blowing like an angry harpy, it would seem the wind comes from every direction. If it is from the East, then the plot has no protection, but when the harpy tree blows, I don't think a wind break is going to do much good anyway. However, Ed does say that a site that slopes to the south, which mine does, will warm more quickly in the spring. Hear that, tomatoes?

3.Nobody Likes Wet Feet: The slope also leads to a lot of water at the southerly end of the garden site, (hence the overabundance of my mortal enemy, the buttercup) but I think it is just beyond my last bed and I'm hoping that raised beds will take care of any soggy problems. 

4. "A Bird in the Hand..." This heading title, while very Francis of Assisi, is a bit of a metaphorical stretch. I think what he means is that you want your garden close to your house, or at least within view, so that you think about it and enjoy it. My garden could be in East Idaho and I would think about and enjoy it, so I don't think this one is a problem, but luckily for me I have a full view of the site from my sliding glass door. 

Thank you Ed! Once again you've assured me that everything will be alright. And now, if this blasted rain would just let up so I can get going!