Park Seed Memories

Gardening with Daddy

At lot of us have great memories of being in the garden with our fathers, or hearing our fathers tell stories of the gardens they had when they were kids. So to honor all the great gardening Dads out there, here's a delightful email and poem that I received.

Since it's GARDEN SEASON, I wanted to share a poem I wrote about my Dad who passed away in 1990. It has been displayed in a frame at our WV State Fair in the vegetable section several times. It hangs in my dining room every Spring. Hope you enjoy it.
~Elizabeth Mitchell~

             ~Gardening With Daddy~

My moments in the garden, I will always treasure
No matter how hard, Daddy made it a pleasure.
We'd start in February, discussing all our needs
Who we'd get to plow, make a list of the seeds.

Talk about the mistakes, we'd made the year before
Did we get too much rain, was the ground too poor?
We rehearsed the planting, until Spring had come
Anxious to find out, if we had a green thumb.

Like "The Little Red Hen", who'd help plant the corn?
They'd all run and hide, winter had them worn.
So we'd get out the tiller, and tune it up right
Then we'd soak beans and corn, in a can overnight.

We'd load up in your truck, to the garden we'd go
A file in your back pocket, to sharpen up the hoe.
With plenty of cold pop, and tobacco to chew
Ready for a days farming, it was just me and you.

After we arrived there, with our seeds and fertilize
You'd stand at the garden, looking with squinched eyes.
You'd start off with plowing, the tiller jerked you around
I'd offer to take over, you'd cuss Hobert the hound.

Then we'd throw out the rocks, and cuss the crab grass
Run the soil through your hands, to see if it would pass.
When I'd lay off the rows, I could hear your teeth grit
That meant they were crooked, from where you would sit.

You'd drop the fertilize, and I would drag the hoe
Then we'd sort through the seeds, to find the lettuce to sow.
We'd sip on our co-cola, under a big shade tree
Every now and then, we'd have us a Hershey.

The taters would be next, you could never stand
Dryness from the peels, left you spitting in your hand.
The onions were dropped, then set up straight
You liked them so well, but they were never ate.

When evening shadows fell, the frogs would hollar
We'd go home for supper, feeling a bit taller.
Our vegetable garden, was then sprayed and weeded
Sometimes every day, whatever was needed.

And what a big harvest, we'd have in the fall
Our backaches forgotten, it was worth it all.
Now that you're in heaven, and in God's care
I'm sure there's a garden, waiting for you there.

I will miss you Daddy, supervising me this year
I just keep believing, a part of you is still here. 
           
Written by:
Elizabeth Mitchell 
Shady Springs, WV 

Thank you SO much for sharing, Elizabeth! Here at Park Seed and Wayside Gardens, we appreciate and admire fathers everywhere who share their love of gardening with their children and plant the seeds for more generations of great gardeners! Send your family gardening memories, pictures, and poems to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com and I'll proudly post them here for all to enjoy.

Who's the Lovely "Lady of the Hibiscus"?

Yesterday, I returned to work after a few weeks away to have my hip replaced (yes, this is other hip!). Boy, was my email inbasket full! And nestled amongst the spam and enewletters and internal memos, I found a few Memories-related gems to share with you. Today, I have a note from a reader and former Park Seed employee who has the solution to a question that I raised back on November 7, 2006.

In that early blog post, I shared this wonderful picture of a woman fully enjoying some rather large hibiscus blooms. The only clue to that woman's identity was a note writtern on the back of the photo: "Kim Rosa's grandmother in the trial garden." But having no knowledge of who Kim Rosa might be, I was stumped as to how to find out more.

Well, as oft times happens on the Internet, a bit of serendipitous searching led the actual, elusive Ms. Kim Rosa to my earlier post. She was pleased to see her grandmother's picture on the blog, and sent me this wonderful message:

Hello!
I was looking for something else on the site and found this in the memories link. http://www.parkseedmemories.com/2006/11/kim_rosa_grandm.html. Yes, employee, I worked in Wholesale, Drop Ship Dept in 2000-2003

My grandmother was a gardener her whole life and lived in PA, she loved to come visit me at work and tour the gardens. The Giant Hibiscus in the seed trials this pic is from when we had the 2 or 3 plots of them we used for seeds, I think it was summer '02 when this pic was taken. We took several pots home to her she was determined to make them grow at home.

Let me know if you are still with the company and still care! J

Kim Rosa

I was quick to reply to Kim and assure her that yes, I am still with the company and most definitely do care about solving this little mystery! I'm happy to report that Kim believes she has some more pictures to share, so stay tuned--I look forward to learning more about Kim Rosa's generations of great gardeners!

Do you have photos of your family sharing good times in the garden? We love swapping stories and pictures here! Just email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com.

Happy New Victory Garden Year!

Well, I'm back from the holidays, refreshed and reinvigorated! You know, one of the joys of spending time with your family is that you sometimes learn new things about the people you've known the longest. For example, this year, we had an impromptu Fields family reunion at my father's home in Smyrna, GA. Mind you, this is a small, select group: my father, his brother, me, and all our spouses. (That's my father and me in a picture from Father's Day 2006 at lower left.)

Frankly, I have never put myself in the ranks of the "generations of great gardeners" that I so love to write about here. Indeed, I joke that I am part of Park Seed Company's diversity hiring program for the horticulturally impaired! The only gardening I recall from my youth involved the occasional tomato plant that my parents attempted, and some summer vegetable gardens of my own first when I was in high school. I'd usually just make a little squash patch. And for my mother, I'd throw in one row of cucumbers. Which always delivered enough cukes to feed a small army! (Too bad neither my dad nor I will eat them.)

In any case, I was really surprised during a family bull session when my father mentioned that he remembered his folks having a Victory Garden during World War II. This really caught my attention, because at Park Seed, we've been talking about the resugence of victory gardens for a while now.

As he tells it, his family had an open lot next to their home, and it was his job to help turn the soil to get things started. He was only 12 or 13 at the time, so that was pretty tough work for a young fellow. (Hmmm...maybe that's one reason he never got interested in gardening as a hobby!) On the other hand, it was the sort of work that seemed like a very tangible way to defeat our enemies, and it was something that even little kids could participate in. Then, as now, you can't beat gardening as a way to learn about science, nutrition, and the great returns you can get on a little investment of time and energy!

Did you help your family with a Victory Garden in the past? Are you growing one now?? Tell us about it! I'd love to hear your stories and see your pictures. Just email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. And don't forget to get one of these cool signs to let everyone know that you are Gardening for Victory today!

Kids in the Garden: Kyle

Few things are as much fun as watching a child discover the glories of gardening and the fun of flowers. Old friend Joan Wickersham was kind enough to send some great pictures of her granddaughter, Kyle, in response to the recent Park's News December newsletter.

Here's what Joan had to say in her email:

What a sense of accomplishment! Love the new pictures on the catalog front--more kids need to get to enjoy the feeling of planting and harvesting the food we eat.

Granddaughter Kyle (age 2) loves the flowers. We go daily to pick some for the table. She finds beauty in all kinds. We were even out this week to see if we could find any pansies in the snow. Keep up the good work--perhaps more kids will learn the joy of food and flowers. 

Joan Wickersham

Thanks, Joan! I must say, Kyle does look like she's having fun. At Park Seed Company, we believe in sprouting young gardeners--the earlier, the better! After all, our founder was only 16 years old when he starting harvesting and selling seed from his own backyard garden!

If you have pictures of the young gardeners in your family--past and present--please share them here. We treasure our generations of great gardeners, and love seeing them in action. Please email your images and stories to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com.

The Perfect Pumpkin

I can't let Halloween pass without sharing a little something to make you smile. I received this adorable picture of the perfect pumpkin via a family connection. This charming youngster is Isaac, and he is too cute for words!

I'm told that his folks scooped out the pumpkin and filled it with water before adding Isaac. Who would have thunk it--pumpkin as baby bathtub!

I don't know if this is a home-grown pumpkin, but I can't resist pointing out that Park Seed has long offered lots of pumpkin seeds, including Pumpkin Big Moon. Given that those guys can grow to be 150 pounds or more, I'm thinking they have great baby bathtub potential!

In any case, many thanks to Isaac's family for letting me share this sweet shot! Got any good pictures of babies or kids in pumpkins that you've grown? Send 'em along! Just email them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. And have a safe and fun Halloween!

"Looking Back" at the Radford Family Gardens

Through the miracle of email, today I have for you a wonderful story about the Radford family and their generations of great gardeners. Enjoy!

Looking Back                  
By Elizabeth Mitchell

Some of my fondest memories are those when I was a child. Being one of seven children in a two-bedroom house, we were very close. My father was a disabled WWII veteran, and my mother held down a full-time job to provide for us. Things were tight raising seven kids and believe me, appetites were growing as quickly as we were. My dad raised pigs that were butchered in the winter and stored in the can house. Unlike today's packaged meats, ours was cut up and laid out on shelves. Dad always slayed the salt to it for preserving, which kept it fresh all winter. I've yet to find any tastier bacon and rendered cracklings--great for bread sopping'--as what we had.

Looking back, although we weren’t starving by any means, my dad planted huge gardens. Yes, more than one. We had three just about every summer. It was always a ritual to get called out of bed every Saturday morning to go work in the gardens all day. Unlike most kids our age, we hardly ever got the opportunity to watch television on Saturdays.

We planted fields of potatoes; this main staple food was cooked every day in some shape or form. We had cabbage, corn, beans, turnips, hanovers, carrots, beets, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, parsnips, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. It took all seven of us, along with Mom and Dad, to complete the task of plowing, planting, hoeing and weeding the gardens. I remember a lot of times we had lunch in the garden, sampling all the fresh, crisp veggies, but by sundown we were exhausted and couldn't wait to go to bed.

We had plenty of good eating in the summer. We loved having roasted corn and potatoes in the open fire on a breezy summer night.  When harvest time came, my mother would can most of the beans, tomatoes, beets and carrots. The vegetables were very rewarding in the winter months, and you could appreciate all the hard work that went into it. The vegetables that weren’t canned were what my dad called 'Holed.' This was a procedure where you dig a 3-foot, circular crater hole in the garden and put down a bed of straw. The vegetables were placed on the straw, then tarped over and mounded until heaping with dirt. In the winter, you could go out and dig in the side of the mound with a shovel, which sometimes was hard to do, especially when the ground was frozen. With a flashlight in one hand, you would reach into the hole and pull out vegetables. We mostly holed the potatoes, cabbage, turnips, green tomatoes, pumpkins, and hanovers. They kept all winter in the hole that maintained a 50-degree temperature, and tasted fresh-picked. I often wonder if anyone still uses this type of storage.

Now that my parents are gone, my brothers and sisters have continued to traditionally plant a garden of their own, with their children and grandchildren.  Although I think it's slowly fading out with the next generations, I hope one of my three children keeps gardening going. Just recently I printed a free, 'Park Seed Planter's Guide' for my daughter as a Christmas gift. I believe she will use it and grow her own story someday.

I am endebted to Elizabeth Mitchell for preparing and sharing this fascinating look at her childhood gardening experiences and techniques. That's Elizabeth and her sisters in the picture at the top of the post, and the other picture shows her hard-working parents. If you have great gardening memories to share, please send them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. We love hearing from you!

Sharing Grandmother's Garden Favorites

My colleagues in the eCommerce Department work hard to create newsletters that tell a compelling story while offering great products. They did a particularly nice job of that recently with their "Grandmother's Heirloom Treasures" edition. In fact, they even got fan mail! Here's a lovely note and warm remembrances of another family celebrating generations of great gardeners:

Dear Claire,

Just a note to tell you that I much enjoyed the newsletter about Grandmother's garden favorites. The picture of Grandmother Park is so lovable. Is she still alive? With her silver curls and dignified black dress, she represents an age of quiet poise and dignity which I sometimes long for. Truly, these ladies loved their flowers. Seeing the flowers reminds me of them.

I have researched and collected antique varieties of flowers for many years. Some of those in the newsletter, like the double hibiscus, were not developed in grandmother's day. The Japanese single peony was also not common. I can remember when they became popular.

My Mother and Grandmother grew iris, roses, peonies, daffodils and tulips, lilacs, bleeding heart ferns, flowering quince, flowering almond, hollyhocks. My Mother's prize peony was a double white flecked with red called Felix Maximus. Another old-time favorite peony I had always wanted was Sarah Bernhardt,a shell pink favorite of the storied actress.

All around the house in spring wafted the scent of lilacs.I picked them in a two-gallon galvanized bucket and brought them inside to perfume the house.

There were two antique varieties of iris my grandmother grew which were still there when we inherited the property. One was a warm purplish lilac and the other a chrome yellow striped with dark brown--smallish, but lovely. There were baby blue eyes, a species of zebrina,and of course, roses. There was a velvet gallica and a stunning pink damask Grandmother had planted. My father grew hybrid teas, but I grew up with the older roses.

Since then, I have lived all over the country and have planted everything from cactus to figs. Still the older plants are the favorites.

Thank you,
Laura Peterson

Laura, thank you SO much for telling us about the gardens you grew up with! First, to answer your question, Mary Barratt Park, lovingly known as Grandma Park, passed away years ago. I will do some research and get an actual date. And in a future post, I'll also tell you about how she and Mr. Park met. It's interesting to note that she was actually the president of the company from 1935, when Mr. Park died, up through 1945, when her sons came back from World War II. Truly a woman of courage and dignity to have led the company through the Depression and war years!

Do you have stories about the gardens that your parents and grandparents grew? Share them here! All you have to do is email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. If you have pictures, we'd love to see them, too.

Three Generations of Parkers in the Garden

I've been harvesting customer letters from my friends in Customer Service again, and I just love this one. Mr. Grover Parker, from Foley, Alabama, was kind enough to share his positive experience with our tomatoes and even better, he sent along this delightful picture of an impressive crop! Here's what Mr. Parker has to say:

Dear Park's:
Last year, I planted Parks' Whopper CR Improved Tomato for the first time. It was the best tomato crop I've ever had. I planted them again this year, and this crop is even better. Some of the plants had 45 tomatoes and some had over 50 tomatoes per plant. This is the best tomato I have ever planted. They not only made a bumper crop, they are a delicious tomato.

I'm sending you a picture of one of my Whopper plants with three generations of Parkers enjoying the bounty of Park's good seed. With me is my son, Jimmy, and his two sons, Jessie and Zack. Park's has the best seed money can buy.
Thanks,
Grover Parker

That's a fine crop of Parkers, for sure--congratulations on your beautiful family! At Park Seed Company, we are always delighted to see generations sharing the fun of gardening together. If you have pictures of your family in the garden, please send them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. We'd love to see your picture posted here!

Magical Marigolds from 1980s Seed

Not too long ago, I shared with you a story about 25-year-old space seed that still grew, even after all that time. Today, I have another success to share concerning some surprising marigold seeds. My thanks to the Customer Service team and to long-time customer Stuart from Tucson for this lovely letter:

Dear Park Seed,
Over the years, I have placed orders with Park Seed Company and have always been very happy with your product. I live in the dry deserts of Tucson, Arizona, and it certainly can be a difficult place for a home garden. It also has a few advantages, such as Tomatoes in December!

With all the day-to-day responsibilities, unfortunately, our garden was put on hold. One of those responsibilities being a new baby boy born in Septmeber 2003. Last year, I decided it wast time to introduce him to gardening and take it up again myself. While in the process of starting a new garden, I came across an opened packet of Marigold seeds from your company that I bought over twenty years ago. I thought it would be fun to experiment and see if they would still produce flowers. Not being a risk-taker, I set aside a small area of the garden just for the marigolds. I'm thrilled to say they produce big, beautiful marigolds!! My son and our whole family has had a lot of fun with our little garden, and I thought you might enjoy hearing about the 20-year-old seeds.

I also wanted to let you know how I discovered your company. It was via a PBS series called "Square Foot Gardening." The host of the show was Mel Bartholomew. He introduced his audience to the Park Seed Company and even had an interview with a representative of your company. I wish the Square Foot Gardening show was still on the air. Forturnately for our family, I still have a handful of those shows on video tape, and my son will also grow up knowing both Mel Bartholomew and Park Seed Company.

Many thanks,
Stuart M.

For those of you who remember Mel and "Square Foot Gardening," or if it sounds interesting and you'd like to explore it, I'm happy to report that we are currently offering the latest edition of the book, "All New Square Foot Gardening," on the Park Seed website. Check it out! It's a great technique for getting maximum gardening into minimum space.

By the way, the images on this page are taken from the Park Seed 1984 Spring catalog. I'm guessing that Stuart and his family might have ordered their seed from these very pages! Thanks so much for sharing your happy gardening memory with us, Stuart. We would love to hear more about what you are raising out there in Tucson. I spent two wonderful years living there myself. It's a wild and beautiful place.

Memory--and a Great Recipe--from the Morgan Family

My pals in the eCommerce department just wrapped up the Summer Grilling Recipe contest, and are already busy with another one. Something about tomatoes coming out of our ears?!? In any case, I particularly enjoyed one Summer Grilling entry that tucked a happy family gardening memory in with the recipe. So enjoy Patricia Morgan's message along with her terrific eggplant side dish that you can make on the grill tonight.

"Dear Folks at Park's,
"Please consider my recipe, below, for your Summer Grilling Recipe Contest, Category: Side Dish.

"My family has been ordering from Park's for years. I grew up on a farm on eastern Long Island, NY, and we always had your commercial catalog--and of course, your seeds!--around the house. I now carry on the tradition with your home offerings.

"It's nice to return the favor and send you something for a change. When Mom and Dad were still among us, they both enjoyed earlier versions of my dish.

"Best regards,
"Patricia Morgan"

Thanks so much, Patricia! And now, here's her recipe:

Grilled Lemon Eggplant with Lemony Herbs

Ingredients:
Eggplant, 1 large of 2-3 small; use Eggplant Park's Whopper Hybrid, Eggplant Lavender Touch Hybrid, or Eggplant 'Prosperosa'
Olive oil, for brushing
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon, plus zest, divided
Kosher salt (about 1 teaspoon) & freshly ground pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon), or to taste
Garlic Italian Late, 2 cloves (one split in half lengthwise, the other thinly sliced)
Basil Lemon Sweet Dani, 6 or 7 leaves (or to task), divided
English Thyme, or golden lemon thyme, 1-2 teaspoons, divided
Italian flat-leaf parsley
Lemon Balm (optional)

Preparation:
Have ready a (minimum) 9x13" glass dish or non-reactive baking sheet to hold the eggplant. Also have ready a small bowl with olive oil for brushing. Wash and dry eggplant and lemon. Zest the lemon, taking the surface yellow part only and avoiding the bitter white pith underneath; set aside. After zesting, cut lemon in hald and set aside. Split one garlic clove in half lengthwise; slice the other thinly; set both aside.

Cut eggplant into 1/2" to 5/8" slices. Place in glass dish or on baking sheet. Work quickly to avoid possible browning. Rub cut slices with split garlic clove, then brush lightly with olive oil. Squeeze lemon over exposed side and sprinkle with salt* and pepper to taste. Repeat on the other side. Sprinkle about 3/4 of the total lemon zest over the eggplant slices, reserving about 1/4 for later garnish. Scatter sliced garlic over the eggplant.

Reserve 2 Lemon Basil leaves for later garnish. Stack the remaining 4-5 leaves atop one another and roll tightly into a cigar shape. Thinly slice the "cigar" crosswise (chiffonade), then fluff with fingers to separate the thin leaf strips. Sprinkle over the eggplant slices.

Strip the Thyme from the twigs. Sprinkle over the eggplant slices, reserving about 1/2 teaspoon for later garnish. Turn over the eggplant slices to evenly distribute zest, garlic slices, lemon basil, and thyme on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinate for about an hour. Halfway through, turn slices once more.

Grill over medium to low heat for a total of about 20-25 minutes, or until done, turning once after about 15 minutes. Texture should be softened, but still holding together, with nice grill marks. Remove to serving platter and cover loosely to retain heat. Garnish: chiffonade the remaining 2 lemon basil leaves and scatter over eggplant, along with reserved thyme and lemon zest. Also garnish with chopped parsley and (optional) lemon balm, if desired.

*Notes on sodium

• Be careful not to over salt; lemon mimics the "feel" of salt on the tongue, so you can use much less
• Kosher salt is flakey, so a teaspoon contains less sodium that most other (denser) forms of salt

If you like Patricia's recipe, be sure to check out all the other great food ideas on www.SuccessWithSeed.org, including the winner of the 2008 Summer Grilling contest. Look for Recipes in the left navigation column. And if you have memories of you and your family using Park Seed seeds, by all means, send them my way! Email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com, and don't forget to attach some pictures. We love to see smiling faces and gorgious gardens!