Month: April 2025

I planted garden seeds last week. I planted them inside to transplant into the raised garden bed when the weather is warmer. In the interim weeks, they will be very much like a houseplant — expect I’m starting from seed.

In a perfect world, I’ll have a dozen cabbage plants and three sunflowers to transplant. I’m aware of my gardening skills and hope that I have several cabbage and at least one sunflower to transplant. The sure thing — the chipmunks will not get the sunflower seeds — at least, not yet.

Only a dozen cabbage? The immigrants and early settlers in fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois would be appalled. While they often started cabbage at this time — in a cold frame often set on the sunny side of a building. (For shelter against wind and best advantage of the sun.) They planted more per person. After all, the garden needed to furnish enough to get them through a year. Storage? My ancestors turned much of the cabbage into kraut. Potatoes, onions, carrots and other root crops were stored in root cellars. Other items found their way into crocks — some pickled, others not.

In the sweet historical romance, New Dreams, one of Louisa’s tasks is working in the baker’s garden. Raised beds within a fence take up a good portion of the area behind the two-story building. Bakery downstairs, apartment upstairs with the outside steps making a physical divide between work and home.

Here’s a link to the Kindle edition of the book: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

April — a month of alternating rain and sun and generally warming weather in the United States. This is also the month when many gardens are planned and planted.

The garden shops open with sturdy plants fresh from the greenhouse. Be careful — are all the frosty (or near freezing) nights at an end? Have you read the back of the seed packet? Should you plant in sun, partial sun, or shade? Will you need to water? Can the plant tolerate dry after established?

Gadgets and tools abound. How many do you need? Which ones?

Shall we begin with the basics? These tools, relatively new, are closely related to garden tools used for decades and generations. A shovel to turn the earth in regular or raised bed garden. A rake to do some smoothing. A hoe to keep the weeds from taking over from the desired plants. And a hand trowel for transplanting and other fine work.

In fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois, during the 1850’s, many of the households kept a garden. The bakery was no exception. Fresh vegetables made for fine eating. And cabbages turned into sauerkraut and potatoes stored in the root cellar kept hunger away during a long winter. Can you name a common garden item today they did not plant?

Check out the sweet historical romance, New Dreams, for an introduction to Louisa and her eventful first year in America. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

Soon — or perhaps already — depending upon the climate where you live, gardening season will be in full swing.

Do you have your clothes ready? Head, hair, and eye protection in one garment for the ladies.

Is last year’s bonnet in good repair? Are the ties secure to the body? No holes to allow dirt and sun where they do not belong? Brim stiff and functional?

A well-dressed gardener in the mid-19 century would wear an apron over her dress while she worked. Sturdy shoes or perhaps wooden clogs (depending on her ethnicity) would protect her feet. In warmer climates, and on poorer gardeners, the feet may be bare and exposed to hazards both seen and unseen. She often wore gloves to protect her hands — perhaps those worn or patched and no longer suitable for church or a day of shopping.

Louisa Mueller, a young baker, in the sweet romance, New Dreams, begins her work at the bakery as a chore girl, including keeping the garden. She grabs the calico sunbonnet from the peg and slips into her wooden clogs before she opens the garden gate. Check out her story, center on her journey and first year in America by following the link. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE