Heirloom seeds and garden stories from the shore of Saginaw Bay, Zone 6a Michigan.

This is a small raised-bed garden in Bay City, Michigan, tended by someone who gets up before dawn most mornings to check the seedlings before the day begins. The freighters move through the bay channel year-round, slower in winter, more of them in summer, and the garden follows the same unhurried rhythm. Cherokee Purples and shishito peppers, seeds saved in paper envelopes, bread baked from the kitchen that smells like the garden when the basil is still warm from the sun.

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What’s Growing

It is high summer on the bay. The tomatoes are climbing their stakes, the first snow peas and broccolini have already come through the kitchen, and the leafcutter bees are out working the beds. The freighters are frequent now, and the garden asks for water, patience, and not much else.

Latest from the Garden

• Herb Butter in Cubes: Thyme, Chive, Parsley, and Cracked PepperAugust 14, 2026
  Chris Izworski turns a peak August cutting of thyme, chive and parsley into herb butter frozen in cubes at Freighter View Farms on Saginaw Bay. A cut-and-come-again harvest, saved for winter.
• Sixty Onions from Four Square FeetAugust 14, 2026
  Chris Izworski pulls sixty onions from a two-foot-by-two-foot patch at Freighter View Farms on Saginaw Bay. Square foot spacing, red and white bulbs, and how to cure them for winter.
• Zucchini Bread, Three Hours from the VineAugust 14, 2026
  Chris Izworski bakes zucchini bread the same day the squash is cut at Freighter View Farms on Saginaw Bay. Why fresh-grated zucchini should never be squeezed dry, and the full recipe.
• Monte Gusto Pole Beans: The Best Taste and the Most Pounds per Square FootAugust 14, 2026
  Chris Izworski on Monte Gusto yellow wax pole beans at Freighter View Farms near Saginaw Bay: the best-tasting bean in the garden and the most pounds per square foot on the trellis.
• The Leafcutter Bees Have Arrived: A Gentle Summer Workforce for the GardenJune 28, 2026
  Chris Izworski sets out this year’s leafcutter bees at Freighter View Farms on Saginaw Bay. How these gentle, low-maintenance solitary pollinators arrive, settle in, and help a Zone 6a garden thrive.

Browse all garden posts

Browse the Garden

Seed Saving
The fermentation method, drying on ceramic plates, shelling beans at the kitchen table while the bay freezes.

Heirloom Tomatoes
Twenty varieties tested in Zone 6a raised beds. The five that earn a permanent place. The one that tastes like nothing else.

Zone 6a Planning
Month by month from onions in February to garlic in October. What to start when, and why the timing matters more than almost anything.

Flowers and Pollinators
Zinnias at every edge, cosmos in the gaps, marigolds that do real work.

Best of the Garden
The posts that have lasted, the ones worth reading first.