Garden Evaluation: Herbs & Veggies

 

This year my garden was actually all built from the beginning of the season.

It was amazing!

 

Overall, it was a decent year for the garden.

Like usual, some things were winners and some...not so much.

We'll talk about that as we go.

 

youngest son's plot, mid-June

 

The biggest change was allowing my kiddos to have space for gardens of their own.

Although it cut into some of my prime real estate (especially since I gave them the spots on the bottom terrace), it was great fun to see their little plots prospering through the summer.

They seemed to enjoy picking their own veggies and flowers, too.

 

I also tried pea sticks! And pole beans on bamboo supports.

 

So, for a little recap:

 

I got the spring veggies put in late April (4-23), and planted potatoes (including a random sweet potato that was growing leaves in my potato bin), peas, swiss chard, beets, and spinach.

 Onions went in about a month later.

 

Summer veggies were planted earlier than usual, by May 24.

We put in tomatoes, thyme, basil, marigolds, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, mini pumpkins, and three colors of beans. Also, some zinnias.

 

Challenges and Successes:

Bring on the Heat

 

Cukes and zucchini loved the hot weather!

 

We had hot weather come early this year. Where usually it's stays fairly cool until July (temps in the 60's and 70's), it was already blazing hot by mid-June.

All of the spring veggies, with the exception of the potatoes, really suffered from the heat.

Peas did the worst: they were spindly, and didn't even start producing until mid-July. When they did, it was a few pitiful (but delicious) handfuls. They simply wilted!

Beets did better than last year, but still not great. We had some grow bigger this year than before, and had enough for some meals inside, as well as some for making canned pickled beets.

The kids got some spinach and swiss chard from their plots. Mine were only about 3 inches high when they bolted, so I yanked them out and replanted with beans.

 

Also due to the heat, the basil went to seed way early, before I could get out there to harvest it for drying. Surprisingly, the sweet potato didn't do as well as I thought it would, even with the high temps.

 

 

On the plus side: With the heat we had a great year for cucumbers and zucchini, as the picture above can attest. Also, every time I pulled out struggling spring vegetables, I replanted with beans. The beans did great! We harvested enough to eat at meals, and even were able to freeze several quart bags worth.

 

 

The marigolds apparently couldn't get enough of the heat either, as they were vibrantly bushy and gorgeous all summer long, as well.

 

The Great Cosmos Takeover

 

Yup, this is about right.

Be afraid, little pumpkin vine, be very afraid.

 

So, I had all of these volunteer cosmos come up, bless their feathery little hearts.

They pretty much took over the middle terrace. They crowded and shaded the poor pumpkin vines, so that our production was very low: 2 small pumpkins, and about 3 minis.

 

On the plus side: they were so darn beautiful, that I just sighed happily every time I saw them. What pumpkins?  Perhaps next year they could be transplanted to the cutting garden early on...

 

Poor Soil in the Top Bed

 

tomatoes, basil, marigolds

 

I'm blaming it on the newer soil in the top bed, where we planted the tomatoes, basil, and marigolds. When I rototilled in the spring, the layer of clay soil was much closer to the surface than in the other beds. The tomatoes didn't grow very tall, and the fruit was quite small, as well.

Extra compost and rototilling probably need to go onto the top bed next spring.

On the plus side: we did have enough tomatoes to eat fresh, once they started producing

Not enough for salsa or other kinds of processing, though.

 

Trellises and Staking

Okay,  let's talk about trellises and staking for a moment. I had all kinds of variety going on with that this year, some much more successful than others.

I loved the pea sticks. Far easier than stakes and string, and bonus! the aspens shoots I used really were dead, so I did not end up with an aspen grove in my vegetable patch. Also, they just looked pretty darn cool.

 

The stakes and netting for the cucumbers worked okay. There were so many vines, that many of them still ended up running along the ground, but I guess at least some were growing vertically.

 

The bamboo poles for the pole beans were a bust. The beans had absolutely zero interest in climbing them, even when I tried to wrap them [gently] around. I should have just used twine and tied them to it a couple of times, perhaps. Anyway, unsupported, the beans proceeded to take over the tomato cages nearby and make a big tangled mess on the ground. Not awesome.

 

Speaking of tomato cages, they worked fine this year, though it was due to all the plants being so small, rather than any innate goodness.

 

The smaller tomato cages were also helpful around the pepper plants we grew.

Win some, lose some.

 

Best and Worst

 

Best:

 

Onions!

 My reluctance was overcome by this success! Having planted them further apart (more like 6 inches), they grew into big beautiful slicing onions with little to no effort on my part. Even the cosmo jungle didn't seem to effect them. Win!

 

Beans--they sprang up happily wherever I plunked them in, which this year was in any open space I could find.

 

Cucumbers also did quite well this year, with consistent production for a couple of months.

 

Honorable mention: bell peppers

I have never had success with peppers turned red before frost, except for this year. The kids' plants did the best, and we harvested some sweet red peppers to eat fresh.

 

Middle of the road:

Carrots. We got enough to process some for winter, but I kept feeling like for as much seed as we put out there, we should have had a whole lot more carrots to show for it. We did the 'Rainbow Blend' again this year, and mostly got yellows and oranges.

 

Oregano. About what it has been the past several years--we dried about a quart and a half from the trimmings.

 

Potatoes. Seemed healthy, didn't harvest as much as I expected. Hardly any Yukon Golds, which are my favorite kind. Again, maybe the hot summer to blame?

 

Worst:

Peas (as mentioned above). Hardly any harvest.

Spinach. Bolted way early.

Pumpkins (blame it on the cosmos, as discussed)

Sweet potato--we ended up with fingers, not potatoes, though they sure tasted good roasted in the oven.

 

What I want to change for next year: 

 

1. Get the spring vegetables in end of March, beginning of April. It's usually super wet around that time, but find a dry spell somewhere in there, rototill, and get to work! I think my spring stuff would have done fine, had they been already producing in June, rather than still getting going.

 

2. Perhaps not let the volunteer cosmos (if there are some again) take over the whole world. Transplant most down to the cutting garden.

 

3. Heavily amend top bed. [I wonder how onions would do up there?...]

 

4. Perhaps try for corn or lettuce. No pole beans or swiss chard. More onions and tomatoes. Perhaps more cucumbers for pickling.



Mid-June Vegetable Garden

It's already heating up and the warm-weather crops are starting to come on!

Spring veggies are struggling.

 

Overview.

My daughter's garden.

Oldest son's garden.

We've been harvesting beets, spinach, and swiss chard from the kids' plots.

This oregano has since been chopped back, and the stems/leaves dehydrated.

1 1/2 quarts this time.

spinach, carrots, beets

Our unseasonably hot June has meant that these are struggling.

I did finally put down compost between the rows, which has helped some with water retention in the heat.

Potatoes looking great and starting to flower.

 

Middle Terrace:

These pole peas are also struggling.

My mini pumpkins coming up.

 

Regular pumpkins starting to get some growth, as well.

The feathery plant in the background is a self-seeded cosmo.

 

Onions, more volunteer cosmos, plus a few zinnias just starting to poke through.

 

My youngest son's garden patch:

beets, carrots, and peas, looking bushy and healthy

 

I think the cucumbers are going to love this hot weather!

They're starting to climb the trellis.

 

After getting some new seed from a friend, I finally have a few zucchini growing.

 

 

Top Terrace:

Tomatoes, basil, thyme, and marigolds.

Starting to fill out a little.

 

This is strawberry season, but I have not gotten any pictures of it.

We have not had as good a harvest as last year, but have had some.

Vegetable Garden Update

 

Finished planting vegetables yesterday.

It's about a week ahead of when I usually do it, but we've had such a warm spring, I think it'll be fine.

I've got some new things I'm trying this year, and plenty of old favorites.

 

Overview

The right-side of the bottom terrace are my 2 oldest kids' garden.

They deserve a separate post, which is coming soon!

 

spring veggies (& oregano!)

So you can see my spring stuff is up but most of it is still very very small, with the exception of the potatoes.

 

 

Here are my 'Green Arrow' peas.

They must have gotten washed under the oregano a bit; I know I didn't plant them that close!

 

I didn't take a picture of the middle stuff--the swiss chard, carrots, beets, and spinach.

They're still so small I don't think they would show up very well on camera yet.

 



potato patch

 

These lovely beauties are doing grand.

They doubled in size with the rain yesterday.

 

This just came up within the last few days.

Can you guess what it is?

I had forgotten I had planted it.

I stared at it for at least 5 minutes trying to figure out what it could be.

The leaves are so different, but I know it's not a weed....

It's a sweet potato!

There was one from the grocery store that was practically growing leaves in the potato bin in the kitchen, so I plopped into the ground on a whim.

Here she comes!

I'm super excited about it, actually.

 

Middle terrace

 

sugar snap pole peas + pea sticks!

These are doing the best out of all the spring stuff so far!

Look at them go!

 

I just planted some bush beans along in front of them.

Next down on this terrace (not pictured because it's still just dirt right now), I put in 9 mini pumpkins around the legs of a tomato cage, "pumpkin on a stick," and one hill of jack-o-lantern pumpkins with plenty of space on either side to ramble.

I'll let you know how the tomato cage trellising works out.

Then come the onions, also not pictured, and I planted 'Cut and Come Again' zinnias between the onions and the little walkway.

Ok, here what's next:

 

Adam's garden in front, plus burpless cucumbers along the trellis, and one mound for zucchini in the back to finish off the terrace.

 Top Terrace

 

The berries will get their own update, so here's what we planted over the last couple of days:

 

View towards the neighbor's

 

pole beans 'Kentucky Wonder'

common thyme: Thymus vulgaris

Italian basil

marigolds

5 Cougar Red tomatoes

2 Sun Sugar tomatoes (both looking very sad and droopy at the moment) 

 

view towards the strawberries

 

I think I've got more types of staking and trellising this year than I've ever had!

The pole beans are a new one to try. I grew them once in Missouri, but haven't ever done them here.

The bamboo poles were 8 feet long, so probably about 7' now that that they're in the ground. I hope that's tall enough!

 

My plan for the herbs is to dry them and perhaps make our own Italian seasoning at the end of the summer. Our oregano is so prolific, we need to do something with it!

 



Spring Veggies In!

I have no pictures for this post, because all you would see is bare dirt, at this point.

I'm only a week ahead of when I got everything planted last year.

I guess we'll get to see if that weeks makes much of a difference!

 

I planted the spring veggies in our bottom terrace.

Left to right, here's what I put in:

16 hills of potatoes

I had already chitted them, so next I dug a hole and planted the whole potato. They are spaced at least 12 inches apart. I will report back on this method at the end of the summer.

They were a mix of Yukon Gold, Viking Purple, and russet.

 

4 rows (front to back) of Rainbow Carrot blend [new seed]

supposed to be purple, white, yellow, and red

 

3-4 rows of Detroit Dark Red beets [new seed]

 

3-4 rows of Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' [new seed]

I've never grown (or eaten) swiss chard before, so this will be an adventure.

The seed packet suggests the small leaves are good in salad, and the larger leaves can be steamed or stir-fried. Cook stalks as you would asparagus.

Begin harvest when plant is about 8" tall. Pick outer leaves first or harvest entire plant.

A spring planting will produce all summer if it is kept picked.

Also: thin to 12", and should grow 36" high.

 

2 rows of spinach 'Olympia Hybrid'

[last year's seed]

 

2 rows (doubled seeded), 6 inches apart shelling pea 'Green Arrow'

Grows about 30" high, should not need staking. 

 

My plantings stopped at the oregano in the middle.

I've got more peas to put in, but I'll have to do that tomorrow. It was time to make dinner and you know, be the mom and stuff.

 

I have to say--the weather cooperated beautifully. It was cool and windy while I was rototilling and raking, then just as we started planting, it started to sprinkle. I think it's still raining some out there right now.

 

 



Garden Evaluation: Herbs & Vegetables

Overall, I was late getting just about everything in this year.

Spring veggies didn't go in until May 1, and with the garden expansion still going on, the summer veggies didn't get in the ground until the end of June.

Even so, we had some success.

Let's talk about it.

 

Oregano: Even with having divided this last fall, we still harvested quite a bit. I cut them back in June again, then we dried them. This time we dried the whole stems in the dehydrator, then stripped and crumbled the leaves afterword. It was much faster that way! We ended up with a pint, which I gave to a friend, since we still have a lot from 2 years ago.

 

 

Other herbs: I planted some basil and pineapple sage in a pot. They started out strong, but were done about mid summer. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any rosemary starts to buy this year. So we were a bit sparse on herbs.

 

Peas: I did 2 packets, one each of 'Little Marvel' and 'Oregon Sugar Pod II'.
We really enjoyed these this year. The kids got many big handfuls to snack on. Every year I think--we need more peas! I wasn't super thrilled with my trellising. I need to figure out a better way to do that this year. The peas had just about pulled it down by mid-season.

Potatoes: 5 hills 'Yukon Gold', 4 hills 'Viking.' Smaller harvest than anticipated this year. Once again we had some hills that just rotted without growing at all. However, I'm going to try Monty's (yes, first name basis with my friend Monty from Gardener's World,)  potato planting method next spring and see if it makes a difference. Namely, chit the potatoes first, plant the whole potato, and space them a little further apart.

 

Spinach: 2 varieties: 'Tyee' and 'Olympia Hybrid.' We were loving the spinach this year! I need to plant it further apart so we don't have to thin as much. Or start it from seed earlier in February and plant out when it's a little bigger.  

 

Beets: 2 varieties: 'Chioggia' (red/white striped) and 'Cylindra.' We got some this year! None were very big, and I'm not sure if we just picked them too early or what. We like the Cylindra best. Chioggia looked better raw, but by the time you cooked them, it was just kind of a dirty white color. I learned how to roast them and that was my favorite way to eat them. I want to try them again next spring.

 

Carrots: Our carrots struggled! First we did a Rainbow Mix and Scarlet Nantes, which I just scattered, but hardly any germinated. So next I did a couple furrows of Danvers Half Longs. We got some here and there, but didn't ever harvest enough at one time to process or freeze.
The multi-colored ones were very sweet and good-tasting. I want to try those again. 
Next spring I'm going to do rows. I just haven't decided if they're going to be all along the front, or several short ones going front to back in one section.

 Beans: I found a tri-color bean mix, with purple, green, and yellow beans. I had two separate bean patches going, which both produced a steady yield. Enough for snacking.

 

Tomatoes: Mostly 'Oregon Spring' with some 'New Girl,' and 2 'Sungold'. We had good yields this year. I made some salsa to can, and I also had enough to do several batches of homemade tomato sauce, roasting them in the oven with onions and garlic.
Marked difference from last year--I'm crediting the compost and manure we added before planting.

Peppers: We harvested several small ones, all green. Once again I am underwhelmed by the peppers here. I didn't do any kind of plastic cover on the ground, though.

Zucchini: Our one plant up top produced for us this year. It was nice! We had enough to make some zucchini bread and some to eat, too.

 

 

Pumpkins: The kids especially enjoyed these this year. We had enough for each one to carve one for Halloween. We harvested probably 8 or 9 minis, which were brought in as decorations. Eventually, we ate the minis.  There was one variety that was particularly yummy and one that was really stringy and not very good. I don't remember which was which. Darn!  The perils of waiting to evaluate things. I think next year I will plan a meal to eat the minis soon after Halloween.

Squash: We harvested 2 butternut squash. One we just ate a few weeks ago and it was quite tasty. The other got rotten in storage before we got to it.

Cucumbers: These were a no-show this year. Died right off within a couple weeks of planting.

Watermelon: We actually harvested a few baseball size watermelons this year! They were good, but I think next year if we do melons I want to try cantaloupes instead.



Veggies and Berries Update

Almost everything is up! 

 

Potatoes

Since this photo was taken, I have filled the holes up to the top of the plants again.

 

Beets and spinach

The beets are about half up. I may use the extra space for spinach, as I have started thinning it out a bit and transplanting the seedlings.

Peas

I'm not sure why the ends are doing so much better than the middle.

 

Carrots are up in a few patches, but not much overall yet.

Berries

This is the raspberry patch, May 5:
 looking good, but nothing to write home about

May 5

 

Here it is just last week:

a solid wall of green.

 



They have filled out so much!

I think it's going to be our best crop ever.

 

And these little beauties are just covered with blossoms.

Strawberry season is soon to be upon us, and I for one can hardly wait! 

 

My 4 year old asked me the other day if she could pick some of the strawberry flowers.

"Ack! Nooooooo!"

At least she asked first, I guess.

 

Even my 'Blue Jay' blueberry bush has some blossoms on it.

Alas, nothing nearby can pollinate those blossoms, as the other two bushes have nary a flower to be seen. Good effort, though. Good effort.

 

Spring Veggies In!

Can I get a "hurrah!" for gorgeous weather?

I finally got my spring veggies planted and the weather was just perfect.

This is the latest I have ever been, in the 9 or 10 years that I have planted a vegetable garden.

It's kind of odd.

And oddly enough, I'm okay with it.

There was about a 2-day window a couple of weeks ago, which I missed.

It has been rainy, cold, and miserable ever since.

 So here we are, just skimming into May.

 

My husband asked if these would all be okay getting frosted.

Um, actually, they all coulda shoulda been planted a month ago. Ahem.

 

Once again, the garden will be expanded this spring.

So I put all these in on the right-hand side.

With the two terraces as options, I was able to rotate them all a little, at least.

 

Middle terrace, looking through the pea trellis.

So, we're going to have a whole mess of peas this year. I hope.

Rather than try for lines within my blocked-off area, my daughter and I just planted peas all throughout, about every 2 inches apart. Then I strung up 3 lines of trellising front to back in the terrace. I hoping that will take care of whatever comes up.

The front half is 'Oregon Sugar Pod II', boasting multiple disease resistance and heavy yields (seed from last year.)

Back half is 'Little Marvel Pea,' a shelling variety, new seed.

I think the shelling peas taste better, but the sugar pods are easier for the kids to munch on.

Neither variety claims to need staking, but I pretty much ignore those claims. Peas get to be such a tangled mess all over the ground otherwise.

Speaking of trellising, no pea tee-pee this year.

That didn't work out so well!

Instead, we put in some pavers as a little path front to back, for easy picking (and to avoid trampling other stuff that will be planted in a month.)

 

Carrots seeds were liberally sprinkled to fill in the whole block between the peas and the side of the terrace there. I expect to do a lot of thinning. That's okay, because the kids snap up those baby-sized carrots anyway.

The front half is 'Rainbow Blend': a mix of 'Atomic Red,' 'Lunar White,' 'Solar Yellow,' and 'Cosmic Purple.' The kids and I can hardly wait to see what comes up in front!

For the back half, I went with my favorite regular (i.e. boring) carrot: 'Scarlet Nantes.'

Even the baby helped sprinkle seeds for these.

Did I mention the thinning?

Yep, we'll be on top of that.

The bottom terrace has potatoes, beets and spinach.

 

I learned a few things about potatoes last year. Namely:

 

1. My kids won't eat the potatoes that have purple flesh.

Purple skin is cool, purple flesh--weird and yucky. Got it.

 

2. If the potato piece doesn't have actual roots coming out of the eye when you plant it, there's a good chance it will rot instead of growing.

Rotten potato slime is one of the nastiest, smelliest substances ever.

 

So I ended up with 5 hills/holes of 'Yukon Gold' and 4 of 'Viking.'

Viking on the left, Yukon Gold middle and right.

Every hole has at least 3 pieces with roots already growing out of the eyes, and 1-2 pieces with eyes that have not started growing yet. Insurance, I hope, for all 9 to produce healthy plants.

 

Beets are next. Not too big an area for them, about 2' wide.

My seed is 1-2 years old, so I don't know if we'll even get any.

Front half is 'Chioggia,' which is supposed to produce red and white stripey beets (what is it about unusual colors of vegetables? I'm such a sucker for those!)

Back half is 'Cylindra', supposed to be uniformly 6" long for easy slicing.

 

Finally, the section next to the terrace steps is spinach.

I made about 4 rows within the section.

In front I planted 'Tyee' again, to finish off the seed from last year. 

It's supposed to be extra-slow bolting.

In back I put 'Olympia Hybrid,' a smooth-leaf variety.

You'll notice: I didn't bother with onions this year.

I decided to use the space for what we love more.

I'll be interested to see how the later (but warmer) planting date affects the growth.



My New Best Friend

Whoops, not him.

Although he's pretty darn cute.

Nope, not big sister, either.

Oh yes.

The mini tiller.

My first rototiller.

Yes, I have been digging out the vegetable garden by shovel every spring.

What was I thinking?!

It will probably get a name, but the right one is still eluding me.

It was meant to be a birthday present, but I was chomping at the bit to get outside and plant some spring veggies. So the Easter bunny dropped it off.  Surprise!

Then it rained for a week.

Today was the first time out of the gate.

I remembered to take the wheels off and put the pin in a safe place.

That's practically a win right there.

I was surprised at how much it bucked and pulled.

It took a firm hand, but in fairly short order we got 'er done.

[It took 20 minutes to till all the compost in to the middle terrace and another 20 to unwind the aspen roots from the rotors. Ha! Take that aspens!]

I have a feeling this will be our best year yet for the vegetable garden, and the beginning of a beautiful friendship for me and....Rhonda (?)

 

Have you already planted your spring veggies?

Does your rototiller have a name?

 Do your children beg you to ignore the warning sticker and just please, please let them try it?

This is going to be good. 

Pirate Treasure: Purple & Gold Potatoes (and a few onions)

My little band of pirates dug up some booty last week.

Well, I did most of the digging, and they picked out the treasures.

We had purple potatoes, of 2 varieties, and some Yukon Gold.

 

Digging up potatoes is one of the most kid-friendly garden chores.

We all love it. You get to play in the dirt!

And there's always the suprise of what you will find when you bring that shovel-full of dirt up.

Big or small, a lot or just a few; that unassuming patch of dirt could be hiding just about anything!

Those big purple beauties right on top were exciting to find.

Their bright skin just popped out at us from the dark dirt.

I planted 6 hills of Yukon Gold, and 3 of purples.

We got many more purples than golds.

In fact, we kept finding them way over in Gold territory.

Trespassers, that's what they were.

Don't worry, we snapped them right up and put them where they belonged--in the basket with the rest of the treasure.

 

 A couple of the pirates decided shoes were optional.

Captain Mama decided a bath was not optional.

 

Oh, the fun to be had in the potato patch!

We got done just as it started to rain.

Perfect timing.

 

I just found out from my dad, the master potato farmer (1200 hills this year!), that potatoes put on their most growth in the last 2-3 weeks before frost.

Oops. That could be why we mostly got small ones!

Good to know for next year!

 

The onions should at least get a mention, I suppose.

Anyone have tips on growing big onions?

Ours were all pretty small, which makes them a bit annoying to use, quite honestly.

You have to peel 4 or 5 to equal one regular-sized store bought.

 

Plus, they're not nearly as fun to harvest, since they're all just right there in plain view.

I'm afraid potatoes have spoiled us for above-ground harvesting for awhile.