How does Milton grow green?

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by Jonathan Copsey / Appen Newspapers / Video By Accessmilton.com

MILTON - How does your garden grow?

Milton is known for its rural nature, and there are plenty of people out there who take advantage of this very fact to take the agrarian route on their properties – they grow crops. And with the Milton Farmer's Market coming up in July, it only makes sense to take a look at what might be for sale from local growers.

Tim Enloe, a 30-plus year Milton resident, sits on about three acres of land. A large portion of the back yard has been tilled and sports little – and sometimes large – shoots of green, which will eventually yield everything from tomatoes to watermelons.

"There's Crooked Neck squash, that's used for shish kabobs, here's some zucchini. These are peppers," said a proud Enloe as he pointed out each row of plants.

"These will be Parks tomatoes," he said, pointing to a nondescript row of mostly earth. "Anytime you see a picture of a tomato in a fast food joint on the wall? It's a Parks. Big and juicy and meaty. Great for hamburgers."

Cucumbers, okra, bush beans, Super Fantastic Tomatoes as well as cherry tomatoes also will be grown.

Enloe has been growing vegetables in his yard for as long as he can remember. His mother used to grow as well and, while much of the crop would be eaten by family and friends, some would go to the local market for sale. Enloe still does this, giving a lot of his veggies away while selling some in the Farmer's Market.

But the veggies are secondary to what he's looking forward to most – the sunflowers. Easily half the garden is dedicated to sunflowers. While most have yet to come up, some of the plants are already a few feet tall. When fully grown, the sunflowers will vary in size from 2 feet tall to a whopping 15 feet, organized in a stair fashion, with smallest variety in front, getting progressively larger as one looks to the rear.

There's even a variety called the "skyscraper" sunflower. "It's almost like a Christmas Tree version of a sunflower," said Enloe. "The branches all go out and it'll probably have 20 sunflowers on it."

Before too long, the plants will be ripe and ready to pick and sell on the market. The Milton Farmer's Market begins July 10 and will run every Saturday from 9 a.m. Till 1 p.m. until the end of August. It will take place in downtown Crabapple, near the Olde Blind Dog pub.