Notes to the Future

Basil had a good year. Small amount of insect damage, no disease. Lasted well into cooler weather.
Chives: common, garlic and Chinese chives did okay. Chinese chive plant not thriving; consider researching soil and replanting next year.
Chamomile didn’t self-seed, so needed to buy seedlings. May need to be started from seed next year.
Cilantro didn’t have a great year. Experimented with rows in 3-sisters bed, but plants didn’t get enough sun and space. Consider growing in (fennel side) herb bed again or in raised beds.
Fennel was spectacular!
Lavender is getting old and woody. Took stem cuttings, rooted and planted two in garden in early fall. One chewed by critters, but hoping one will survive winter to become new main plant.
Lemon Balm did well.
Lemongrass not as robust as last year. Only grew one plant in herb bed. Difficult to divide for harvest; bring serrated knife for the task next year.
Lemon Verbena seedling had a rough start, but recovered and grew quite well.
Lovage didn’t reach normal height this year, but looked fine.
Marjoram did well.
Mints: peppermint and spearmint both did well.
Parsley produced really well again, all 4 plants. Left in garden to overwinter.
Rosemary did great. Grew a new seedling and an overwintered plant (which was well hardened off). Both bushed out and were the same size by mid-season.
Sage did great. Pruned back to about 6” high in early spring.
Savory (Summer) did fine, though seemed to end the season early.
Savory (Winter) doing well. Removed old woody plant and substituted a volunteer seedling from last year.
Sorrel did fine, though not as robust this year.
Stevia grown from (donated) seed this year as an experiment. Probably not started early enough, but produced a bushy little plant.
Tarragon died mid-season. Research varieties and soil requirements, then buy a new seedling next spring.
Thyme did really well again; tried all season to take over the saffron bed.

Bush Bean experiment with starting seedlings indoors worked well; make sure there are enough seedlings for the whole bed next year. All bush beans finished early (even those seeded in garden). Dragon Tongue did best, finished earliest. Green variety did well. Look for better-quality purple variety (Amethyst, Celine, or Velour?).
Fava Beans were the best ever! Repeat the same timing and techniques (in journal post) next year.
Lima Beans new variety (Christmas Pole) grew really well and produced lots of pods, but needed more time to mature than we can provide here. Though seed was planted early, most pods were still immature at the end of season. If growing limas again, choose a variety better suited for New England.
Peas (spring planting) generally did great. Mammoth Melting Sugar seed didn’t present as a snow pea; get that seed from a different source next year.
Peas (fall planting) planted twice. First planting (Cascadia) barely germinated due to hot soil and predation. Don’t provide a sheltered location for critters next year. Second planting (leftover Mammoth Melting Sugar) germinated well, but didn’t have time to mature. Plants were beautiful, but harvest was meager and late. Select a faster bush pea variety, watch weather to avoid hot soil and cover soil with folded insect screen to retain moisture and deter critters.
Pole Beans all had good germination, but a short harvest window. Kentucky Blues were stunted in proximity to Jerusalem artichokes. Purple beans did great. Garden of Eden Romano beans were better than Spanish Musica, though both did well.
Runner Beans were a new variety than last year; vines weren’t as long (didn’t cover top of arbor) and flowers not as decorative. Possibly planted too densely. Beans were nice quality and large, but mostly came late in season. (Our growing season may be too short.) Sadly, some were stolen by critters.
Shell (3 Sisters) Beans all did well. Grew mostly Good Mother Stallard, along with some donated black Succotash beans. Supports were added when corn began collapsing later in season.
Soybeans produced well, but were shorter than usual: could be starting indoors, variety, or weather.

Eggplants had less insect damage this year, companion planted with low marigolds. Very good, do again.
Ground Cherries did well, despite usual critter predation.
Peppers had the best year ever! Plants large and super productive. Consider starting Habanada, Hot Lemon and Thai Dragon earlier. Some insect damage in summer; subsided later in season. New marigold variety worked well in bed. Some plants topped, but productivity not tracked – repeat and track next year. Substituted varieties (Ajvarski, Lesya) didn’t do as well. Two Habanadas was one too many. Thai Chili was not as large and productive, maybe in shade of taller plants. Corno di Toro plants were amazing!
Tomatillos looked like two different varieties this year. Staking was only somewhat effective for support. Consider pruning and using tomato cages next year. Squirrels took lots of the early fruits, but later yields were normal.
Tomatoes had a productive year, despite heavy critter predation in peak season. Experimented with ways to cover fruit, found plastic mesh bags simple and effective. Mountain Magic was amazing! Strawberry Fields was good. Lemon Boy not so good. Sart Roloise was pretty, but not super productive. Green Zebra was first to die from disease (heirloom). Plum Regal not as good as Plum Perfect (more determinate, short-lived). Black Cherry and Lemon Boy were better, but didn’t last as long as the others. Sun Gold, Supersweet 100, Juliet, Fourth of July, Cloudy Day, Ramapo, Sart Roloise, Strawberry Fields, Mountain Magic, and Damsel produced well into November!

Beets were perfection!
Daikon was okay, but not as perfect as last year. Make sure to give each plant enough space next year.
Jerusalem Artichokes grew well, with only one flowering period this year. Possibly still too close together. Harvest just okay. Consider starting with fresh stock next year.
Potatoes from Fedco were disappointing (we’re experimenting with holding over Hutchins fall potatoes until spring). Adirondack Blue did well. Other 2 varieties didn’t all come up and didn’t have impressive yields. Less insect damage this year.
Radishes first crop had long harvest season (planted in 3 stages). Second crop did great, but should have been planted in stages to spread out harvest. Wasabi type just did okay, not all matured (maybe too close together).
Rutabagas started out ok, but did not reach full size. Had some mildew and late aphid damage. Maybe plants too close together. Consider fertilizing more.
Salad Turnip first crop had uneven germination, possibly didn’t get watered due to planting along edge of bed not being noticed. Consider marking with colored string. Second crop was amazing, very little root damage.
Sweet Potatoes were not as vigorous overall. (Didn’t try to take over the garden.) Purple variety not as productive; standard type most productive. Tubers were clean and very few fingerlings. Harvested before any critter damage.
Turnips were good, but a little smaller than usual. Were hit with mildew.

General notes: Consider reordering the cucumber bed: Honeynut | Watermelon | Slicing Cucumbers | Pickling Cucumbers | Pumpkins. For all squashes, get organized early to treat borers and mildew regularly and systematically. Consider switching trellises for winter and summer squash to better access radishes in front of cucumbers.
Cucumbers did better than last year, but still suffered from wilt. Experimented with planting summer radishes to deter beetles; may have helped (not as many seen this year), but certainly didn’t hurt.
Honeynut squash failed this year. Seedlings were fine, but they produced few squashes, which were small and all taken by critters before fully mature. If growing again, cover squashes with mesh bags.
Pumpkins were hit by vine borers and mildew, produced 1 pumpkin per plant.
Watermelons were better this year, good quality and reasonable size. Sprayed with Serenade for mildew. First harvest was early, and harvest lasted 9 weeks!
Winter Squashes did not have a great year. Squash Vine Borer eggs started appearing in June and continued through the growing season. Experimented with hand pollination. Critters nibbled at squashes; covering with mesh bags helped. Sprayed w/Serenade but didn’t keep track… try to be more systematic next year. Research different squash types and varieties to grow with butternut.
Zucchini and Yellow Squash did well and were productive. Both plantings got off to a good start and the first crop lasted into November! Planted seedlings in a soil basin to retain water. Vine borers were less of a problem due to lots of work: early removal of eggs on stems, injections, and surgeries. Dunja plants did better than Success; consider only growing Dunja next year? Try experimenting with upright supports to keep plants off ground.

Our embrace of the whole gardening season (such as it is in New England) puts us in the true Yankee gardener camp. We start many crops indoors to get a head start on the season, which opens up some of our garden space mid-summer for late season crops.

We grow early and late season broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, starting our early crop indoors and our late crop in a nursery bed in early June, following our spring spinach. On our 7-foot high trellis, we grow tall spring peas followed by fall pole beans, the first of which were picked today.

We follow our garlic, onions and shallots with root crops: turnips, daikon, radishes and salad turnips. Our first fall radishes were also harvested today. We slip in two plantings of bok choy, kohlrabi and mustard with almost effortless success. And we plant a crop of late peas after our spring fava beans, though they’re often stymied by trying to germinate in the hot mid-season soil. Sigh.

A few crops are grown successively. Our first two crops of lettuce are started indoors, followed by several direct-seedings through the end of August. (The last went in this morning.) Several plantings of arugula alternate in two small plots. We plant our carrots in three batches, the last going in after our beets, which we start indoors. And we squeeze in a smaller, second crop of zucchini after the first crop of broccoli comes out.

The garden soil is busy supporting crops almost continuously until organized gardening comes to an end in mid-November. Some years we have enough young lettuce plants to keep growing under low row covers through mid-December. And last year, our kales and collards were left in place over winter and survived to give us a spring harvest!

[The photos at right show the fall broccoli, cabbage, pole beans and our first harvest of radishes today.]