OK - so for two years I had great hopes and expectations for my garden that turned to discouragement and despair....
2008 - The year of the GROUNDHOG - I had the best success ever in 2008 with seed starting...got my plants out, got the direct seeding done and was eating the best salads ever from my garden...the weather was good and the plants were growing strong...and then CHUCKY made an entrance and kept on breaking in all season. The plants were either eaten or stunted from his tunnels and I got next to no harvest of anything once the varmit got started around the begining of July.
2009 - The year of RAIN - I started out container gardening and eventually planted the garden mid-July after securing a 1/4 inch mesh fence at a right angle outward from the garden fence. I did harvest some beans and a squash or two, but because of the wet and lack of real heat most plants suffered. We had NO tomato harvest at home or at our CSA.
2010 was the year of perseverance and superstision. I was supersticious of posting ANYTHING about my garden here this year....but I persevered and did plant.
I started seeds...they did ok...not great...but ok. I planted in some containers.....and got seeds/plants in the garden by June.
I put out the surviving tomato, pepper and tomatillo plants, onion starts, planted beans (yellow, purple and chinese noodle, kholrabi, leaf cabbage, basil, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli raab and swiss chard. Then I crossed my fingers...
The swiss chard and broccoli raab never came up...
The kholrabi did...and I got some kale out of that row as well ( I guess that seed company doesn't have very good quality control)
I weeded and watered; and weeded and watered; and weeded...which really wasn't great for the onions, but they did OK...not great, but OK.
I replanted radishes when I harvested the onions.
The cucumbers and squash grew...the tomatoes and peppers and tomatillos grew...the cabbage and beans grew...the basil grew (with extremely frequent shavings!!!).
The cucumber plants looked healthy one day and were dead within a week...around mid-late July...I had harvested about 8-10 fruits.
I continuously harvested/thinned kholrabi and kale throughout the summer and fall. The largest were probably a couple of inches in diameter and made tasty sweet pickles.
I got a decent amount of squash both green and yellow, not what I would call an overabundance, but enough.
The tomato plants were ok. I got some from each plant, not a lot, but some. The exception was the Amish Salad tomatoes - largish cherrys - that were abundant and delicious.
The only surviving pepper plants were anchos and they were also fairly abundant. I got a decent harvest of tomatillos, enough for 1 nice sized green sauce.
My regular beans were one of the big successes this year. I planted late enough that they had not yet put out flowers when we got our first hellish heatwave, and they gave me abundant harvests for 6 weeks...until the stink bugs damaged the plants too much for further harvest.
The chinese noodle beans came up - I think I picked 3 beans and then the plants disappeared.
The cabbage leaf....did well, but was unharvestable due to bug dammage.
The radishes did better than I've seen before....I actually got some to grow roots as well as leaves this year...and had a small harvest.
At this point I've got some lessons learned, and some pesto, squash, kale and onions in the freezer (although the bean harvest was great, we managed to eat all of them!!!), and had some delightful fresh dishes from the garden all summer!
This weekend I pulled what remained out of the garden and left the gates open so that my husband can fill it up with the autumn leaves. Next spring I want to re-work the configuration of my very small space. (10X10) so that there is less garden path and more planting space.
The leaves should help renew the ground.
Hope you have had a reasonably good gardening year too!
Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts
Fall Harvest!
It seems as though the 1/4 inch mesh metal fencing placed at an outward "L" away from the upright fence has kept chucky at bay.
If you remember from an earlier post I had planted squash and beans and had hoped to plant some additional items...that never happened, BUT the squash and beans have done well.
I have harvested a meal's worth of beans from both the lower garden and the window boxes every week or so. I have also harvested about a half-dozen squash and there are more on the way, and about the same number of cucumbers.
The pepper harvest has been ok, but modest.
There was also a tomatillo plant that I had transplanted in the lower garden that took off like a weed. It has produced a bizillion flowers and many empty husks. I don't think there's enough warm weather left for actual fruits.
The window boxes have still been giving me lettuce, beans and herbs. I have plenty of sage dried for winter roasts and bread stuffing. I have also been harvesting an abundance of parsely.
My biggest problems in the lower garden have been weeds/grass and slugs.
Many beans have been eaten by the slugs - so I guess next year I'll be needing to look for organic control methods.
And let me say that again, NEXT YEAR!
I am so happy to be ending this season with hope for next year's garden. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to plant peas, broccoli, cabbage and other early cool-weather items since the fencing is now secure!
If you remember from an earlier post I had planted squash and beans and had hoped to plant some additional items...that never happened, BUT the squash and beans have done well.
I have harvested a meal's worth of beans from both the lower garden and the window boxes every week or so. I have also harvested about a half-dozen squash and there are more on the way, and about the same number of cucumbers.
The pepper harvest has been ok, but modest.
There was also a tomatillo plant that I had transplanted in the lower garden that took off like a weed. It has produced a bizillion flowers and many empty husks. I don't think there's enough warm weather left for actual fruits.
The window boxes have still been giving me lettuce, beans and herbs. I have plenty of sage dried for winter roasts and bread stuffing. I have also been harvesting an abundance of parsely.
My biggest problems in the lower garden have been weeds/grass and slugs.
Many beans have been eaten by the slugs - so I guess next year I'll be needing to look for organic control methods.
And let me say that again, NEXT YEAR!
I am so happy to be ending this season with hope for next year's garden. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to plant peas, broccoli, cabbage and other early cool-weather items since the fencing is now secure!
August in the Garden: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
I can't believe that it's been so long since my last post.
The summer living is not slow and easy here in northern New Jersey, it is HOT and WET and it's been moving at a breakneck speed this year. With all of life, and the garden has been sort of neglected.
So I give you this past weekend's asessment:
The Good
The fenced garden with groundhog proofing has successfully keept out the groundhog for 6+ weeks now. YAY! So, hopefully next spring I'll be able to get an earlier start there and keep it going all summer.
The windowbox lettuce has been wonderful as have the windowbox bush beans...the beans that did well were a specific variety for container gardening.
And, The herbs always do well in containers.
The squash, cukes, and beans I planted in the fenced area are doing well and should produce a decent fall crop. (fingers crossed)
Onion sets I shared with my garden buddy, Kim, also did well in the fenced garden(not as good as hers, but she's a more attentive gardner) and the leeks were AWESOME.
The Bad
The topsy turvy hanging tomato things didn't do so well...I'm not completely ready to give up. It was a weird weather kind of year...so, maybe next year they'll do better.
I kept planting what I thought was cilantro in containers, and it turned out that most of it was parsely. Oh well...
I still need to plant some autumn greens. Hope I get the chance before it's too late.
AND, the weeds OMG!!! With all of the rain we got this year, the weeds in the garden beds have been horriffic. It has been impossible to keep up with them.
The Ugly
Tomato blight...there, I've said it...
The same disease that created the Irish Potato Famine is taking out tomato crops in the NE USA. Organic and Biodynamic farms are hit hard.
I couldn't grow tomatoes this year for love or money. My seedlings didn't do well...I begged some from my friend Kim, but the weather stunted them.
Then I purchased some plants from the local Lowes...which died within a week...a dry week.
So I took them back and re-purchased...and those plants have barely hung on. (still trying to figure out if I took blight home.)
But in the back of my head I knew my CSG (Community Supported Garden) would take care of me. That we'd get distributions of tomatoes and there would be some "pick your own" patches.
Alas, that is not to be. We received word this week that the blight hit them hard and they had to destroy the tomato fields. It is an especially hard hit as they usually save seed and will not be able to do that either.
So here it is...the last week in August and NO TOMATOES! I'll probably be able to hunt some down at a farm stand somewhere....eventually....but it is not the same as eating as you pick from your own garden or watching your kids pick and eat...or bringing them home from the farm we've supported for 10 years.
The summer living is not slow and easy here in northern New Jersey, it is HOT and WET and it's been moving at a breakneck speed this year. With all of life, and the garden has been sort of neglected.
So I give you this past weekend's asessment:
The Good
The fenced garden with groundhog proofing has successfully keept out the groundhog for 6+ weeks now. YAY! So, hopefully next spring I'll be able to get an earlier start there and keep it going all summer.
The windowbox lettuce has been wonderful as have the windowbox bush beans...the beans that did well were a specific variety for container gardening.
And, The herbs always do well in containers.
The squash, cukes, and beans I planted in the fenced area are doing well and should produce a decent fall crop. (fingers crossed)
Onion sets I shared with my garden buddy, Kim, also did well in the fenced garden(not as good as hers, but she's a more attentive gardner) and the leeks were AWESOME.
The Bad
The topsy turvy hanging tomato things didn't do so well...I'm not completely ready to give up. It was a weird weather kind of year...so, maybe next year they'll do better.
I kept planting what I thought was cilantro in containers, and it turned out that most of it was parsely. Oh well...
I still need to plant some autumn greens. Hope I get the chance before it's too late.
AND, the weeds OMG!!! With all of the rain we got this year, the weeds in the garden beds have been horriffic. It has been impossible to keep up with them.
The Ugly
Tomato blight...there, I've said it...
The same disease that created the Irish Potato Famine is taking out tomato crops in the NE USA. Organic and Biodynamic farms are hit hard.
I couldn't grow tomatoes this year for love or money. My seedlings didn't do well...I begged some from my friend Kim, but the weather stunted them.
Then I purchased some plants from the local Lowes...which died within a week...a dry week.
So I took them back and re-purchased...and those plants have barely hung on. (still trying to figure out if I took blight home.)
But in the back of my head I knew my CSG (Community Supported Garden) would take care of me. That we'd get distributions of tomatoes and there would be some "pick your own" patches.
Alas, that is not to be. We received word this week that the blight hit them hard and they had to destroy the tomato fields. It is an especially hard hit as they usually save seed and will not be able to do that either.
So here it is...the last week in August and NO TOMATOES! I'll probably be able to hunt some down at a farm stand somewhere....eventually....but it is not the same as eating as you pick from your own garden or watching your kids pick and eat...or bringing them home from the farm we've supported for 10 years.
What to do with the Green Beans You're Harvesting
It seems that even though some garden plants (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers etc) aren't real happy with the weird weather we're having in NJ this year, the beans like it just fine.
I've picked up 3 lbs at the CSG we belong to, harvested some of my own widow box bounty, and have accepted overflow from a friend's garden.
So, now, what to do with all that bounty....
I've posted a couple of asian-inspired recipes over on my food blog.
Click here, and here.
Of course, you can substitute beans in my friend Leana's squash recipe or just make that with the squash that is also becoming abundant about now!
There's also pickled green beans or 3 bean salad...or blanch them and freeze them for use when you need to taste the summer again.
Happy harvesting, happy eating!
I've picked up 3 lbs at the CSG we belong to, harvested some of my own widow box bounty, and have accepted overflow from a friend's garden.
So, now, what to do with all that bounty....
I've posted a couple of asian-inspired recipes over on my food blog.
Click here, and here.
Of course, you can substitute beans in my friend Leana's squash recipe or just make that with the squash that is also becoming abundant about now!
There's also pickled green beans or 3 bean salad...or blanch them and freeze them for use when you need to taste the summer again.
Happy harvesting, happy eating!
Autumn Gardening
Over the past few weeks I've been cleaning out the fenced garden space, collecting seed pods (marigold, petunia and pinks) and planting.
I've got 6 varieties of garlic planted, and I've planted a bunch of crocus, and scilla (another early spring bulb).
Now it's time to start thinking about next year's garden!
I've got 6 varieties of garlic planted, and I've planted a bunch of crocus, and scilla (another early spring bulb).
Now it's time to start thinking about next year's garden!
The End of the Harvest
First frost this year was forecast for Oct 29/30, so as friends and family gathered to celebrate Halloween this weekend, we also harvested the last of the ripe and green tomatoes.
We also started pulling out the tomato plants and moving them to the compost, and started saving the abundant supply of marigold seeds.
My friend D and I have plans to experiment with Green Tomato Relish and Fried Green Tomatoes - look for recipies to be posted on Renee's Recipies...
We also started pulling out the tomato plants and moving them to the compost, and started saving the abundant supply of marigold seeds.
My friend D and I have plans to experiment with Green Tomato Relish and Fried Green Tomatoes - look for recipies to be posted on Renee's Recipies...
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