Monday, August 17

My Garden

I know, how scary do I look?the flourishing garden.......we made that trellis that the beans were supposed to climb,
they didn't.
Yes, I grew this stuff!
I know that there are several weeks left to harvest from my garden, but hey I don't have much left worth harvesting so here is the report.
I have learned so much from doing it. I have a ton of questions for other gardeners in the area, and I found that I liked my low maintenance garden...the fresh produce was all worth it.
What I learned:
I learned that I need to plant the cold weather veggies sooner. So what if there is still snow on the ground or if it snows after you have planted, when they tell you so many weeks before the last frost that is when you should plant if you want any produce from those plants......when is the last frost?
I love our garden boxes...it is small and manageable and virtually weed free. next year we need to add more soil mix and make it deeper.
I learned what to and what not to plant for next year, where to plant what, what areas of the garden get the most sun or shade and how much is too much water.
I found that I needed to put up a fence to keep my dog and other curious animals out, that birds will eat the seeds so watch out for them....and replant if you think they have eaten your seeds....sadly no melons.
I understand the why and need to thin the veggies.....can you say carrot knots?
I want to ask others who garden in this area what grows the best for them and what tastes the best?
My Semi-Successes and Failures:
I planted 4 tomato plants, one died, probably from to much water, one has produced excellent tomatoes....I hope the variety is in my garden notes, and two are decent looking plants but they haven't produced any tomatoes. I can't remember seeing any blossoms.....crossing my fingers, hoping for more. Tomato Story- I don't like the texture of a fresh tomato so I have never been a big fan of garden fresh tomatoes, however Megan and Gary love them....I decided to try them again because everyone is always telling me how fabulous tomatoes fresh from the garden are....I tried, I really did try to eat it all by it's self....and the flavor was wonderful, I don't have a problem with the flavor, but the texture.....well it made me gag, so I just hid it in something else and finished it. Yes, the flavor was delicious. We will want to plant that kind again.
My cucumbers are interesting, some are beautiful, long and straight, but others are round. If I let them grow a little longer they seem to get a little straighter, but then they get to big and seedy. So I would like to know what are the best variety of cucumbers to plant.
The other really promising veggies are the beets...yumm, carrots and radishes, where they were thinned, leaf lettuce, which was very good when it was young, and some kind of squash, probably zucchini......
The Green Beans did poorly, I barely got enough of them for dinner....others I have talked to said that their beans were also bad, so maybe I got the wrong kind or this was a bad year for beans? The Peppers are still struggling, but it doesn't look as if we will have anything from them this year. The Peas were planted too late....don't know when the last frost is or how to cunt back......but I did get a few. Everyone tells me to plant them again right now for a fall harvest.......I might try it.

Next year I will plant earlier, I will plant less of some things and a whole lot more of others.
I think I have figured out the water and sun thing so that too should help. The fact that I am even planning to do a garden again next year is promising.......maybe I'll even get enough produce to share?

MCC

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