Carrots germinated well and produced well but all came at about the same time, planted late crop after beets, consider staging the planting next year with last planting in beet bed.
Celery was spotty this year, germination wasn’t great, reseeded indoors but plants didn’t survive after transplanting in the garden, blanched plants late July, some plants from first seeding were our best celery ever.
Parsnips germinated better this spring, plants did well despite butterfly caterpillar predation, chitting seed not worth doing but digging and sifting soil is – the best roots came from well prepared soil. Some plants that were very close together did really well – thinning may not be necessary or desirable.
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2022 Flowers, Grains, etc. (end of season notes)
Asparagus growing really well, super tall and bushy, needed to replace one plant that didn’t survive the winter, cut back to 12” and mulched on last day of season.
Corn variety was new but was short again (@4’), matured too early, was not sturdy and produced only a handful of kernels total.
Ginger was a semi-successful experiment, producing some fresh ginger for harvest along with some standard ginger, but was a lot of work and expensive from Fruition (none of the ginger from H Mart survived to harvest). Find a cheaper source and streamline the process if growing again.
Nasturtiums did great again, started harvesting capers this year!
Okra plants all matured again (no losses after transplanting), grew tall and were very productive.
Saffron did great, our best harvest yet!
Sunflowers were awesome!
2022 Greens (end of season notes)
Arugula first plantings came up well and bolted (as usual) in the heat, July and August plantings (as usual) lasted through the end of the season.
Bok Choy spring seeding did okay before bolting, fall crop germination was just barely enough for bed and could have been more robust (make sure it gets enough nitrogen).
Lettuce was a mixed bag again, first planting was perfect, second planting indoors was a week too late and had terrible germination (soil not sterilized?), summer plantings were better than most years, nematodes appeared in soil in late summer throttling the roots, late Aug & early Sep plantings had poor germination and needed transplanting to produce small heads by Nov.
Malabar Spinach did well in raised beds on entry arbor; went all the way to the top!
Mustard both spring crops did well, fall crop of green did better than red, seedlings were transplanted to even up the bed and did well through the end of the season.
Perpetual Spinach needed some transplanting to fill in bare spots, was well thinned and productive, hit by small dark-rimmed holes in leaves in late summer, recovered for good harvests through end of season.
Spinach spring crop seeded indoors did better than outdoor seeding (plan to start enough indoors for the full bed next spring), insect cover – with a sticky trap inside – worked super well; fall crop was mostly eaten by critters and was planted at least a few weeks too late, but could definitely work .
Swiss Chard started strong, was well thinned, not covered for leaf miner, had a productive mid-season, hit by small dark-rimmed holes in leaves in late summer, didn’t fully recover.
2022 Herbs (end of season notes)
Basil variety with disease resistances did great, lasted into November!
Chives: Chinese very weak this year. Common didn’t survive winter; new division from Lisa doing well. Garlic weak this year.
Cilantro had a good first crop; second crop bolted; third crop was beautiful (plant just a bit earlier?)
Fennel was in an off year; only young plants.
Lavender did fine.
Lemon Balm did well.
Lovage recovering from dividing and transplanting last year, but looking healthy.
Marjoram was overwintered indoors; did well.
Mints: Peppermint not robust, maybe give fresh soil next spring. Spearmint doing okay, could also benefit from fresh soil.
Oregano doing better in new location, though not robust.
Parsley (only grew flat-leaf, bought in a 4-pack) did great.
Rosemary didn’t flourish after wintering over; consider planting fresh seedling next year.
Sage was woody and cut back hard in spring; came back beautifully!
Savory (Winter) grew well; divide and prune heavily next spring.
Sorrel doing well, despite transplanting last year; divide next spring.
Tarragon doing well after being moved last year.
Thyme didn’t survive winter; new plant settling in nicely.
2022 Legumes (end of season notes)
Don’t forget the inoculant next year!
Bush Beans had lackluster year (no inoculant) all had less than 2 months production; purple needed reseeding & produced the least, green produced most reliably, dragon’s tongue had best yield but hit with rust.
Fava Beans were disappointing again; consider starting indoors, research varieties , don’t spray for aphids.
Lima Beans (pole variety) grown in soil for first time this year, grew well and produced good beans, easy to pick.
Peas (spring planting) had incredible germination; shell type was very short but was productive and was easy to tell from other varieties, snap and snow types did great, seed packet sizing was very good – do again.
Peas (fall planting) used Sugar Snap seed, good germination under multi-layers of shade cloth, about 5’ tall, hit by mildew, okay harvest.
Pole Beans had good germination, struggled with new trellis (find a way to string down center, rather than the front), didn’t last as long as expected (@ 1 month); green and purple did great, Romano type disappointing compared to Garden of Eden. Sigh.
Soybeans had spotty germination (no inoculant), thinned/transplanted seedlings, overall harvest just okay.
2022 Nightshades (end of season notes)
Eggplants did great again after a slow start (maybe too much water from doubled soaker hose?); some flea beetle damage but marigolds seemed to help again with small insect holes in fruits, great yield again.
Ground Cherries – very good, do again.
Peppers had a reasonably good year, plants generally strong and productive, leaf chewing was treated successfully with Neem oil, larger sweet peppers still needed to be picked green to avoid rot from insect holes, marigolds didn’t work to keep them away.
Tomatillos were unusually floppy, characteristically late to produce and had lots of small fruit at first frost, but not hit by striped potato beetles this year!
Tomatoes grew well on support structure updated with more secure stakes holding the strings, mulching around base of plants with garlic mulch worked great, pruning to double leaders on 6 plants worked great, and the drought caused predation problems in peak season; Seiger got wilt and failed in July, Bodacious had some large fruit but plant stopped producing early, plants in raised beds (Jaune Flamme, Plum Perfect) may have suffered from a soil nutritional deficiency.