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I am late in reflecting back on the 2021 garden. Ideally, I would have done this in October while the garden season was fresh in my mind. But, better late than never! I always try to take a look at my garden successes and not so great things to make improvements for the next season. I like to capture what varieties did well, what I planted too much or too little of, including the specific names before I forget. I am forever trying to make the garden more productive and enjoyable. I also like to make notes of what I want to learn more about over the winter.
Here are my reflections on this year's garden............
Overall
In general, the garden did well in the spring, was very slow to start producing summer veggies, and my fall and winter seed starting was not stellar. We actually had a real spring for the second year in a row. Usually, the season changes from winter to summer like a flick of a switch. This year, we had a couple of months of actual cool temperatures before the 80's kicked in making it a banner greens season.
This year, I was gardening exclusively in the back ornamental bed because we are having an addition put on the house. This garden is in mostly shade so it was interesting to see how well sun loving crops would do. It is likely one of the reasons my summer veggies were slow to get going.
I had wondered if you could garden in the shade and get enough to eat fresh and put away for fall and winter. The answer was "Yes". I'd say the
There were high points and not so great turn outs for the season. Just your typical edible garden season!
The good
The cultivated dandelions, figs, strawberries, raspberries, tarragon, sage, bay laurel, lettuce, Chinese Hilton cabbage, sorrel, eggplant, peppers, Egyptian walking onions, Genovese basil and celery including the new pink variety did well. Greens were the standouts in the spring and New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, and eggplant in the summer. Butter King and Bronze Beauty were stand outs in the lettuce category.
I planted Hilton, a Chinese cabbage, for a second year in the garden. It has large leaves that you can use in place of bread or tortillas and it is sweet enough to use in place of lettuce in salads all summer long.
I had many eggplants that showed up that I did not plant and vining squash and cucumber for a second year in a row. I pulled the vines in the garden bed and transplanted the volunteer eggplants to pots. Definitely had a bumper crop of eggplant this year! I made baba ghanoush, a dip kinda of like humus, and froze it to preserve the extras.
The Ancho pepper plants and sweet pepper plant from saved seed both did fairly well in pots. I was able to make a pint of chili powder to use for cooking over the winter and many pints of frozen peppers to use in salsa for game days. The chili powder was much milder than in the past. Likely the effect of being in a shadier, cooler spot than years past.
The okay
Green beans and cucumbers did okay. I went with Blauhilde purple pole beans that are resistant to fungal disease this year. I also tried a couple of Kentucky heirlooms. The Purple Podded did well, the heirlooms produced very little. I had enough to put up several quarts of frozen beans.
One cucumber vine is all I need to have enough for snacking and to make pickles. I'll stick with one vine from here out.
I learned that hickory trees have the same effect on vegetables as walnut trees do. Their roots exude a substance that kills other plants. Guess what I have shading my back yard ornamental garden? Yep, you got it, hickory trees.
The bad
The garlic and tomatoes did not do well this year. I didn't even get enough garlic to pickle this year. Almost none of the cloves I planted came back in the spring and the cloves that did did not grow very big. There are a few things working against the garlic-shade, hickory trees and voles.
I only had one tomato plant that was in the garden bed produce well and it was a Chocolate Pear tomato. It was also the one that got the most sun. I replanted tomatoes that I purchased at Lowes into pots around the 4th of July. They did okay on the northwest side of the house, but this location is not the best for summer, sun loving vegetables to thrive. I got plenty of tomatoes to put up around 60 quarts of frozen tomatoes to use in recipes and make the rest into sauce next fall.
The squash plants in the garden bed got disease from squash bugs. I didn't keep a close enough eye out for them and treat for them in time. There were volunteer squash that showed up in the garden bed that we transplanted to potato boxes. We did get several winter squash fruits from them. They shredded like spaghetti squash so I will use them in place of pasta this winter.
I didn't have the best luck in starting lettuce and spinach in pots this summer and fall. I think the slugs got them. They would sprout and then something would come and eat them to the ground. I had a few lettuce I was able to transplant into the pots that I'm covering in the portable greenhouse to keep the salads going into spring.
Next year's garden
We are hoping to finish our addition before summer this year. We will be putting our mixed edible and ornamental garden bed back on the south and west sides of the house which gets much better sun and is well away from any hickory trees! We saved the garden topsoil so we could put the organic rich soil back so we are not starting from zero. Fingers crossed!
Here is my garden plan for next year:
Blauhilde pole snap beans and Christmas speckles lima beans around one trellis
Red Burgundy and Heavy Hitter okra
5 tomato plants-large paste (Italian Pear), slicers(Cherokee Purple and an orange/yellow), a small fruit (Chocolate Pear) and a storage tomato (Yellow Keeper)
3 eggplant-Casper, Rosa, and a green variety
1 pickling cucumber
1 summer squash-Trombetta since it is resistant to vine borer
1 winter squash-Spaghetti
Perennial onions-potato onion type
Potatoes in the potato boxes
Snow peas in pots with peppers and eggplants
Dragon Tail radish in pot
Hilton Chinese cabbage (1)
New Zealand and Malabar spinach in pot (1 each)
Lettuce (Royal Oakleaf, Grand Rapids, Butter King, Bronze Beauty, Celtic, Forellenschluss, Giant Blue Feather) and spinach in pots
Greens that stay sweet in summer-Orach, Amaranth, Chard-Perpetual Spinach and Fordhook, Chinese Multicolor Spinach, Purple Stardust Iceplant, Komatsuna
Herbs-Dill, Basil (Nunum, Genovese, Cardinal), Cilantro, Lion's Ear, Rosemary
Sweet and hot peppers-check at end of winter to see if I need any
No cantaloupe, watermelon, beets, heading cabbage or broccoli
Flowers-zinnias, alyssum, marigolds, Cock's Comb, peach hollyhocks, Pride of Madeira, blue morning glory
I have to be stern with myself about what I will not plant. This past year, I planted much less than usual and had plenty for fresh eating and preserving. My eyes are always bigger than my space or need!
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