“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Audrey Hepburn’s words are perhaps the most popular of garden quotes. Planting for the next season is a forward looking act of optimism. 

No matter the craziness in the world or any personal storms we may endure, no storm lasts forever. We're firm believers that there is always something for which to be grateful, and when we focus on blessings over bothers, the blessings multiply. A positive attitude of gratitude makes a difference.

We also firmly believe in focusing on what positive actions we can take rather than lamenting over things we can't change.

Towards that, we're focusing on perennials as well as planting future crops now.

NUTS!

The nut trees planted seven years ago, likely have at least another seven years to go before producing. That’s believing in a multitude of tomorrows!

RAMPS!

We just planted a bunch of ramp bulbs in our woodland habitat. It’ll be 3-5 years before we obtain any major harvest. Although we can begin carefully harvesting a few of the vibrant green leaves by next spring, most will need to stay on the plants to absorb solar energy to feed the roots.

Still on track to grow more perennial vegetables, we just planted 50 ramps (Allium tricoccum), and have ordered 100 more!  

Ramps AKA “wild leeks” are an early spring crop that sports bright green leaves beneath the hardwood forest before the trees leaf out. Appalachians have been foraging them for centuries. In WV, civic clubs and churches celebrate the season with “ramp suppers”. 

Ramps have also become a gourmet delicacy served in the finest restaurants and this could be their undoing. Those seeking to make a buck are overharvesting entire patches of this plant, with too many leaving none behind to recover. 

Now, there’s a GardensAll article about ramps along with a video demonstrating how to plant ramp bulbs. One of our principles is to apply our own skin in the game so that you are getting the practiced experience-not just the theory. We gardeners are mostly hands-on types anyway, which is also why we enjoy sharing the experience of our readers with others.

GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION to CALLIGRAPHY ARTIST, MARTHA GROW

We're most grateful to Martha Grow for sharing her wonderful calligraphy art creation about ramps. It's beautiful, creative, clever, entertaining and informative!

If you’ve any interest or experience in foraging or raising ramps, please reply with that info. The same goes for the wider arena of perennial vegetables and growing crops under trees, AKA forest farming, agriforest, foraging... or any other kind of gardening.

We always enjoy your gardening stories, tips, insights, photos and questions.

Let's keep on growing!

Coleman & LeAura Alderson