A Cooperative Learning Project
Eggplants: plants not robust, wormy fruit, poor yield – too much water? soil too cool?
Peppers: similar problems as eggplant, but not as bad, try growing a few in pots?
Potatoes: very good, do again
Tomatillos: did very well, some potato beetle damage, harvest later than usual
Tomatoes: not a great year, Green Zebra, Garden Treasure & Rutgers died early, Juliet & Sun Gold did well, leave more of the suckers? Try some plants in pots? Fertilize more?
Our seventh year of gardening year began with the January seed meeting, followed by some excellent research for new varieties in February. March saw the first seedlings started indoors and opening day at the garden. In April, the final 2 (of 12) main garden beds were double-dug, and our first seeds (and seedlings) went into the garden.
In May, we discovered a rabbit's nest in some knee-high winter rye, causing a delay in planting our bush beans. (All bunnies successfully fledged and eventually graduated out of the garden.) For the first time, we started sweet potato slips from our previous-year's tubers and experimented with row cover on the Swiss chard.
Drought was significant for most of the season. Watering seemed relentless, especially in early summer when many young seedlings were getting established. Our carrots suffered, tomatoes were once again a target for thirsty wildlife and (for the first time) our eggplants were targeted.
June saw a bountiful crop of peas, our earliest cherry tomatoes ever, and the best-looking spring broccoli and bok choi to date. Sadly, our okra seedlings struggled… and the seedlings purchased to replace them didn't fare much better. In July, we harvested our best-ever garlic, along with our earliest summer squash and full-sized tomatoes.
August was abundant, and graced us with another beautiful crop of bok choi. Yet, we suffered disappointment when our onions died off before reaching full size. September (always our most productive month) saw the additional payoff of our pelleted seed experiment, with our best crop of parsnips to date.
October saw our last harvests of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, and our first harvests of cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Garlic (reserved from our June harvest) was replanted in November, which also saw the last harvest for most crops. We enjoyed lettuce and arugula (under plastic) through mid-December and hardy collards and kale through the end of the year.
Eggplants: early critter predation (due to drought), staking important, Italian variety excellent, Orient Express quicker to harvest and larger plants, but less cold hardy than Ping Tung Long
Peppers: too many hot types (more sweet types, lose Anaheim & Jalapeno?, try Padron?, bigger Thai variety?)
Tomatillos: not as productive as usual, possibly due to following (alleopathic) Jerusalem artichokes, no beetle damage
Tomatoes: seedlings planted too far from stakes (try 4-5”), Garden Gem did poorly, Juliette did very well, Green Giant was strange
July always feels like a time of transition in the garden. The summer squashes, tomatoes and peppers have begun producing, the spring peas, potatoes and garlic are coming out and the fall brassicas, beans and turnips are going in.
Quite a few of the garden beds are transitioning from one crop to another: peas to pole beans, garlic to turnips, fava beans to cauliflower, potatoes to broccoli, and onions to salad turnips.
There are also succession plantings of the same crop in some garden beds: fall carrots have been seeded between the rows of spring carrots and bok choi has been replanted between the few remaining spring plants.
The least appealing aspect of this time of year is doing battle with the mid-season diseases and pests. Squash vine borers have made their appearance, along with the first signs of mildew.
And this year's drought has increased the wildlife damage to our tomatoes and eggplants. We seriously need some rain!
Eggplant: seedlings slow to get started in garden, Italian variety (Galine) perfect, white type did well, Ping Tung Long plants stayed small – try more productive variety?
Peppers: all varieties (including many new ones) did great, stake plants earlier next year, check seed source for poblano – not quite right, try Hot Lemon & Thai Dragon in pots next year?
Tomatoes: Heirlooms / disease-resistant Hybrids ratio good, Serenade experiment worth repeating – get a new sprayer
Cherry types: Sun Gold good, Matt’s Wild Cherry too small – go back to Super Sweet 100s next year
Sauce types: Juliet good, Tiren odd – try a different variety or just grow Juliet
Standard types: Most did well, Bolseno & Ramapo best, Cherokee Purple was bad, Green Zebra was lackluster
Tomatillos: crop survived and produced lots of small fruit, seedlings savagely attacked by 3-Lined Potato Beetles – move next year & use row cover on newly-planted seedlings
Elisabeth and I have developed a system for the seedlings we start indoors. She has a cold basement and a shady backyard. I have a warm basement and a good-sized sunny patch in my backyard. She starts the cool weather seedlings (like the brassicas) in her basement, and I start the warm weather seedlings (like the nightshades) in my basement. When the seedlings are ready to go outside, they go first to her backyard, and then to mine.
Today was transfer day for most of the warm weather seedlings, from her backyard to mine. My car was completely filled (the back, the floors, and all the seats except the driver’s seat) with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tomatillos. It did all fit, but barely.
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