I'm BACK! 2013 reflection + 2014 goals

It has been a couple of years since I last made a gardening post. But despite my online absence, I have been gardening and learning A LOT!

2014 begins my fourth year of my vegetable garden and this year my goal is to bring it from hobby to mini-farming. Last year was wildly successful in many aspects. I planted about half of our vegetables crop from seed—carrots, beets, leeks, arugula, broccoli, snap peas, corn, zucchini, cantaloupe, and bush beans. All except the beans grew fantastically! (I think I got a bad pack of bean seeds because not one germinated either by direct sow or indoor planting). As far as starter plants, I purchased tomatoes, brussels sprouts, sweet red peppers, basil, and red cabbage. With these I had mixed results, which I will explain shortly.

Long shot of veggie garden

Here is a short overview of each crop.

Carrots—These grew well, though I continue to have problems with removing the carrots from the ground. This year I will try to amend the carrot rows with sand to make pulling them easier.

Beets—My new favorite vegetable to grow. I planted an heirloom variety last year that was pink in the center and turned white when cooked. It looked strange to have pale beets, but oh my, were they delicious. I planted two rows last year (about 25 full-sized beets) and I will double the size of our crop this year.

Beets                                

Snap peas

 Leeks—I didn't realize how LONG these take to mature. I direct sowed toward the end of May and pulled them in late October. They were on the small size, but delicious none-the-less. This year, I will be starting them indoors as soon as my seeds come via mail. I planted one row last year, which, because they were small, made about two stock pots worth of potato-leek soup, which I froze. Amazing flavor. These suckers are a ton of work after harvest, removing the dirt from the onion layers. I will double my rows this year and freeze in stock-pot portions.

Arugula—I had received a free pack of seeds from somewhere and planted it. These plants were potent in flavor, bitter and spicy! A couple of leaves mixed into a big salad added a nice kick, but less was definitely more, and we had grown way more than can be used. Abandoning arugula this year and will use the space for something we enjoy.

Corn ears

Left: carrots

Right: baby leeks

Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, and Cabbage—It was the year of the cabbage worm and they were relentless. The cabbage worms/butterflies destroyed all three crops. I tried spraying the plants with organic insecticide, but it was too late. This year I must be vigilant because broccoli and brussels are our favorites AND easy to freeze.

Snap Peas—These plants need trellises and again I did not erect these correctly. Therefore, the plants produced only a fraction of what I'm sure they would have. Similarly, we continue to battle the groundhogs on our property and they got the better of our garden fence and ate two and a half of our four rows down to the ground. Regardless, these plants are easy to grow and easy to freeze and fun for the kids, so this year, I will make an actual trellis, secure the garden from the groundhogs, and hopefully reap the rewards.

Peppers

Corn—Unlike 2012, my 2013 corn crop grew well. We filled a 12 x 12 raised box with six rows. Almost all plants produced full-sized ears. However, sweet corn does not keep well on the plant—it must be harvested immediately or it becomes starchy. And harvest time happened to coincide with our vacation. We enjoyed a few ears that were ready before we left—sugar on the cob—but when we returned, the ears were bleh. Not terrible, but nothing mouth-watering. I will do my best to plant so these mature in late August this year.

Zucchini—Easy, easy, easy. We grew six plants between the corn rows and had so much we were having some sort of zucchini concoction nearly every day. And we were giving it away. And we were sick of zucchini by the end of the summer. I will be jarring a tomato/zucchini sauce this year to make use of all the excess.

Cantaloupe—We grew three cantaloupe vines that produced about 15 large succulent fruits—I've never tasted anything so delicious. We left a few on the vine too long and ended up with mushy fruit, so we will have to monitor ripeness with more conscientious effort this year. Similarly, we will be building a melon patch because the vines took over our entire garden, crowding out our brussels, tomatoes and broccoli.

  

Broccoli

  

Tomatoes

Basil—I planted four starter plants with ambitions of pesto and daily tomato-basil salad. And with our excess of both, I don't know why we didn't do this more often. For some reason, the basil got neglected, and it ended up flowering and stopped producing leaves.

Red Peppers—I planted three plants and each produced three or four peppers. Several of the fruits developed black spots on them; I'm not sure if these were bug problems? These plants grow slowly and it takes a while for the peppers to turn red. Delicious, but space/time ratio to product—not the best. But peppers are so expensive in the store, maybe I'll try one more year.

Tomatoes—I planted six tomato starter plants purchased from Home Depot, and they produced more tomatoes that we could both eat AND give away. We actually didn't have enough time to keep up with harvesting due to our summer vacation schedules and pounds ended up rotting on the vine or the ground.

Corn field

Why was the garden extremely productive last year, despite the few challenges with pests. I made a few beneficial changes from 2012. First, time. I spent time nearly every day in the garden. Second, I covered the raised beds in black garden fabric and straw to help cut down on weeding. This was a huge undertaking to start with—laying the fabric, cutting the holes, planting seeds, transplanting, and covering with straw...hours and hours. With two little kids, what could and should have been completed in one or two serious workdays took weeks of piecemealing. But, ultimately, this was hugely helpful. Third, consistent watering. I watered and watered and watered by hand. Arg. SO time consuming.

So upon reflecting, here are the goals for this year—it is a lofty list, especially since I'm working full time, but here goes:

1) Preserving the harvest—We have invested in a dehydrator will be purchasing a pressure canner, vacuum sealer, and deep freezer. Therefore, I will try to increase my yields in our highly-consumed foods—tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts, peas, beans, leeks, and zucchini.

2) Drip irrigation—I need to free up my time and that alone is worth the initial expense of the drip system. This is a spring weekend project for hubby.

3) Reconfigure the raised beds / build new plots—Right now we have three, 12x12 raised beds. We will reconfigure these into eight,  3.5x12 beds. This will allow us to completely utilize all the soil space for plants and avoid walking through the bed for harvesting and weeding. In addition, we will move the corn and melons into their own plots in different locations on the property.

4) Composting—I haven't amended the soil since inception, though I have fertilized each year. I will order a truckload of compost this year, but will start making my own to avoid fertilization costs.

5) Deer-proof the property, AGAIN—The deer and weather both decimated our property fence. We need to install and industrial-quality system this year. These critters are the bane of my existence.

6) Save seeds—This is the last priority, but we'll see if I can't figure it out.

Harvesting

Melons

In-house consultant



I am lucky to work at a school that also employs an expert horticulturalist as one of its biology teachers. He has a PhD in hortoculture from Cornell and prior to teaching, worked at the NY Botanical Gardens. Today I paid Ernie a visit with many questions.

1) My strawberry plants. As you know, I planted these about a month and a half ago and have yet to see an action--no greenery emerging from the crowns. He said these plants should have started to leaf out by now and likely my source of plants provided me with dead, not dormant, roots. Thanks a lot, Wal-mart (though I had an eerie suspicion about this even as I purchased the plants.) Since it is sort of late in the spring to plant crowns, he suggests buying starter plants (or bribing someone with a garden for their extra strawberry runners.) Off to the nursery this weekend, as I want to establish my strawberries this year to ensure a good yield of fruit next summer.

2) My peas. The peas that I started indoors and transplanted to the garden a couple weeks ago have begun to turn yellow. The cause? Since it is still mild in temperature, it's likely not the weather (peas need cool weather to thrive), according to Ernie. And I haven't noticed any spider mites or other bugs. Probably transplant shock, according to my consultant. The seeds that I sowed directly in the garden are growing well, bright green. Next year, he said, direct sow all seeds in the garden (which I couldn't do this year because we didn't have the raised boxes done yet.)

3) My newly planted herb seeds. A few days ago, I cleared my herb garden, again. Last year, I cleared the area and mulched the garden with four inches of mulch, knowing that I wasn't going to plant it at the time. But grass grew through the mulch and boy did it grow prolifically. In fact, I hyperbolize by saying there was more grass in my herb garden than in my yard. So I spent hours upon hours the other day de-grassing my garden bed. Laborous work, especially at seven months pregnant. But after ridding the garden of about 200 pounds of grass, weeds, and attached soil and mulch, I was ready to plant. First though, thinking I was so smart, I sprinkled Preen weed preventer in the garden bed, which prevents weeds from germinating (it does not kill existing weeds). And then I planted my rosemary, dill, chive, basil, lemon balm, parsley, mint and cilantro seeds.

I began worrying about the error in my ways shortly thereafter--what if the Preen prevents my herb seeds from germinating as well? Reading the Preen label carefully, it lists the weeds that it is supposed to prevent, and none of the herbs are on the list. However, it doesn't list any of the herbs among the plants to use this product around either. Ernie said, wait and see, but you may have to go by some starter plants if you want herbs in there this year (the Preen says that it will prevent germination for three months.) Boo.





4) My mystery plant. Remember the stranger that just appeared (and has overtaken) my border? The one that I thought might be coreopsis? Well, it is likely not coreopsis, but I may have my answer tomorrow. Ernie said he could probably identify it for me if I bring in a sample. I have a feeling I will be ripping it out this weekend, but I'm also curious as to what it is anyway. The fact that it has an herb-like smell and appears nowhere else on my property as a weed are two curious characteristics. I'll keep you posted.

 
5) Succulents. I recently read an article on succulents in Better Homes and Gardens and decided to start an indoor window box with these architecturally interesting plants. And Ernie has an extensive collection of succulents lining wth windows of our school hallways. He was generous enough to snap-off leaves for me, which will generate their own roots when I replant them at home. Here's what I snagged: Aloe ballyi, pachyphytum, crussula lycopodioides, crassula perfoliata, and haworthia (see pictures). Now I have to go buy a pretty little window box for my new babies!







This morning's garden photos

Spicebush swallowtail butterfly on dianthus reds.

Honey bee on zinnia.

Bumblebees on liatris spicata.

My hibiscus just opened today.

The two starlight lilies that the deer didn't eat.

Long view of the hillside garden, with mini-rose bed in foreground.

July garden pictures

Miniature hollyhock in front of daisies.

Being ready to deliver a baby at any minute has limited my energy and ambition for tending the garden. And since we've had no rain for two weeks—and little before that—most of my outdoor time has been spent watering, trying to prevent my plants from dying in the blistering heat. Therefore, the veggie garden (and every other bed) is being invaded by weeds, and though Hubby got me a huge pile of mulch over a week ago, I have not been able to spread it. Luckily, one of my garden buddies came over to help on Saturday and together we weeded and mulched a couple of sections, though to my eye, I still see the weeds before the flowers.

But what more can I do—I can hardly bend over!?

Brief update on veggies:
**Harvested my beets yesterday and roasted them for a beet, goat cheese, and arugula salad today for lunch. Yummy!
**The carrots are ready to go, but they are stuck hard in the ground. I can't pull them out without a shovel. Cavan loves eating them right out of the ground, washed by the hose, of course.
**The brussel sprouts have little sprout buds beginning. Hubby is very excited.
**Our broccoli plants each have excellent heads growing.
**The cucumbers are producing like crazy. We've eaten seven giant cucs this week and there are a ton more growing by the second.
**Picked our first cherry tomatoes today. Our tomato plants in general have TONS of green fruit. We are going to gorge in the matter of weeks.
**Only one pepper on the three pepper plants. Hmmm. Hoping for at least three per plant, so the plants pay for themselves!
**Two nice sized eggplants growing on the three plants. Again, hoping for more fruit to develop.
**Only seven of the 18 corn plants grew from seed. But those seven are doing great.
**We have our first zucchini to be ready in a couple days. Tons more flowers on the three plants, as well as our three yellow squash.
**The strawberries got destroyed by chipmunks, but came back none the less. No fruit this year, but that is to be expected for the first year.
**The peas are still producing, though the plants are turning yellow and dying in the heat. I'm surprised they lasted this long, as they don't like hot weather. Will plant at least two full rows of peas next year!

Cosmos. Just threw down a packet of seeds! Love them!

Flower update:
**My cosmos and zinnias are blooming profusely. LOVING both of these annuals that I grew easily from seeds. The zinnias I bought are neon pink and purple with three-inch flower heads. Awesome!
**The roses are slowly coming back from the deer buffet. Still not many blooms, but at least there are buds. Praying the deer stay away (but that is another post all together).
**Planted a new border of hostas, heuchera, lilies, rhodedendron, zebra grass, veronica, and phlox. The baby plants are not enjoying this hot, dry streak. I'm trying to water every other day. Hopefully they'll survive.
**My monarda (bee balm) bloomed, but the stalks completely flopped over and are laying on the ground.
**My four o'clock annuals are now blooming! Beautiful yellow flowers with pink streaks.
**All of my hydrangeas (except one) are blooming and doing great. I have a white/peach variety, a purple variety, and a blue variety.
**The lilies—all eaten by deer. Damn deer.
**The deer ate several of my cone flowers, but a few survived and are blooming. Can't wait till next year when they double in size.
**Crazy daisies! Fantastic!

All in all, despite my inattention over the last few weeks and the constant deer damage, the garden looks pretty darn good. Lots of color right now, even without the lilies and roses. 

Broccoli heads.

Second garden bed: brussel sprouts, cucumbers, broccoli,
peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes.

Red cabbage in foreground. Carrots in background.

Endless summer hydrangea. This pic is a couple weeks old;
it is covered in flowers now.

Aster.

Lysimachia. They are no longer in bloom
but made June very colorful.

Deer management (welcome bowhunters!)

We are now taking up arms against the deer. We were hopeful that the deer could be deterred by the improved fence, which now stands at the height of nine feet. Apparently not. This morning I surveyed the new damage with depression and disdain. Over the last two weeks we have regularly shot the deer with our BB gun, but those smug varmints run twenty feet then turn and look as if to say, "That's all you got?" So arriving today in the mail is a slingshot with 3/8" steel ball bearings. The range won't be as long, but with us regularly catching the deer either in the garden or just on the other side of the fence, range isn't the problem. The deer are so accustomed to people that I have been wildly screaming and waving my arms trying to shoo them away and have gotten as close as ten feet before they mosey away. Hopefully getting whacked in the head with a steel ball will hurt enough to change their territory.

But, I've also been researching deer management programs that come to your property to eradicate the deer population. I emailed the Suffolk Archers and Bowhunters Club, located on Long Island, that advertises their Land Owners Assistance Program. We are a bit of a distance from LI, but they are still willing to research our property and at the very least, send up some hunters in October for deer season. In the meantime, I will be actively pursuing a nuisance permit that allows eradication throughout the year, though the state is apparently pretty stingy on granting these to regular landowner as opposed to commercial farms. Maybe I can start selling homegrown veggies in our local delis and farmer's markets!

Either way, the deers' days are numbered.

Mail-order mayhem

I was hugely disappointed last week with the mail order nurseries I buy from: Spring Hill and Brecks. I have had hundreds of dollars of plants that have been on back order, some from as early as April 4. I regularly checked their status updates all spring, and each time, the delivery date kept moving back by a week or so. The last time I checked was June 13, in which the estimated deliveries were all scheduled for mid-July. This seemed strange because these nurseries usually don't ship plants in the dead heat of the summer.

I called them up and they informed me that, "actually, these orders are all cancelled because the shipping season ended today and we are out of stock." Not a happy reaction from me. First, if the orders were cancelled, why did my order status show a summer delivery date. AND when were they going to notify me otherwise if I hadn't called. AND, now I have to keep track of receiving the refunds to my credit card. Arg. AND I have been saving space in the garden all spring, so now I have bare patches that I won't be able to successfully fill this year. Total disappointment.

So, here is an overview of what I ordered and what I did not receive. Thirty hardy geraniums, ten day lilies, and five cone flowers.  In addition, I was told the six rose bushes I ordered were out of stock as well. Same with the two garden grab bags ($200 worth of plants for $20).

WELL, a few days later I received six dead rose bushes in the mail. They obviously tried to get rid of some sickly plants just to fill the orders. I planted them anyway to see if they would come back, but no, they are, in fact, dead. I have requested a credit for these...yet another detail I have to keep track of. In addition, the garden grab bags surprisingly arrived this weekend. I found it interesting that they were "completely oversold and nothing could be done," until I posted a comment on their Facebook wall reporting my extreme disappointment with their customer service. For once I was the squeaky wheel that got greased.

But despite receiving the grab bags, I'm not completely happy with the contents because four of the plants I received are not even perennial in my zone. Best grab bag items: Two perennial mums and two sunburst gaillardia! Excellent. Moderately interesting grab bag selections: three thornless blackberry bushes and three forsythia bushes. I'm not a huge fan of forsythia when its not in bloom, but those three weeks in the spring when it is bright yellow is pleasing, so I'll plant them off-to-the-side on our property. Blackberries are yummy, but again, not a visually interesting plant. I would have never bought either of these bushes by choice, but for a grab bag, not terrible scores. Ho-hum selection: American bittersweet vine. This plant produces red/orange berries in the winter. We have a stone house, it might be interesting to see this climb the exterior, but again, never would have purchased it myself. And I certainly didn't want EIGHT plants! I gave two away already, but even then, the person I gave them to wasn't that excited about trying them. But what am I going to do with eight--which would cover 480 square feet of wall if all of them grew full size! I don't want my house to look like the jungle! And the completely worthless selection: Crassula lycopodioides. A) These are succulents and can only be planted outside in zones 10 or 11. They are interesting as potted plants for your windowsill, but I already have one; I certainly didn't need FOUR MORE! I guess I will pot them up and try to give them away as gifts. Oh well. One can't expect to like everything in a grab bag.

But regardless of receiving the grab bags, I have reconsidered my devotion to Spring Hill and Brecks. Up until this point I have had good luck with the plants I've received, and if any of them have died, they did replace them promptly or give me "store credit" for other purchases, which I have taken advantage of. But this latest experience with their customer service has given me fuel to look for more reputable mail order nurseries. I'll keep you posted, but as you already know, I am a plant junkie, so I may have a change of heart next time I receive a super-savings catalog!

Long overdue update: Part 1—Veggie Garden

Cavan admiring the biggest radish
plucked from the garden.

Peas—I didn't stake them this year and most of them
have flopped over. Now I know for next time.

Here's what's up in the veggie garden.


**Peas—We've plucked eight DELICIOUS pods off the sugar snap pea plants. They are still flowering so I hope we'll get a yield that could at least fill a stir-fry rather than just an outdoor snack. I have nine plants, but it is late in the season, so keeping my fingers crossed.

**Strawberries—Almost all the plants produced pea-sized fruits last week. The were red and super sweet, but were so small they didn't even look like strawberries. As the plants mature I'm sure the fruits will be bigger and actually resemble berries. Cavan had a blast picking them though.

Brussell sprouts—Notice all the holes from the cabbage worms.

**Radishes—All have been harvested. We had some giant cherry bombs and some the size of blueberries. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the size difference, but since Hubby is the only one that likes radishes in the family, I was not concerned. Again, Cavan loved pulling them out of the ground and we played the game "big or dud?"

**Tomatoes—Most of the plants are flowering, but we've had a week of cool weather, so I doubt any of the buds will set fruit.

**Eggplants and peppers—These also started flowering this week. Eggplant flowers are a beautiful purple. This isn't so unexpected considering the color of actual eggplants, but I was still surprised having never seen one.

**Carrots and beets—I thinned the carrots for the final time this week. The plants I pulled showed thin, spindly carrot roots. Speaking of purple, I forgot that I bought purple carrots, and the baby roots I plucked were indeed purple. Exciting. The beets. These seem to be growing much slower than the seed package said. I plucked one to see the progress and there was not even the beginning of a root bulge. They probably won't be ready for a month??!!

Garden bed #2—Left to right: Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers,
broccoli, Brussell sprouts, and the small things in the back right
are cucumbers and beans.

**Broccoli, cabbage, and Brussell sprouts—Attacked by cabbage worms!   I noticed the chewed leaves a week or so ago but couldn't see any signs of the pests responsible. Finally, I found a bunch of worms and squished them, but I also sprayed these plants with Sevin, a vegetable and flower pesticide. I have avoided spraying any of the edibles, but it couldn't be helped with these, if I want the plants to actually survive.

**Zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and corn—All of the gourds have sprouted and are growing successfully. The four rows of corn I planted have only revealed a couple of seedlings so far. I used seeds from last year...I hope they were still able to germinate.

**Cucumbers and beans—Growing but nothing of interest to report.

Cavan modeling a radish mustache.

**Herbs—The cilantro, chives, basil and dill seeds I sowed directly in the garden are all growing but really slowly, especially the basil. The parsley seeds sprouted but don't appear to be progressing. The mint, basil, and lemon balm I bought as starter plants all look good, but the recent cool weather is not accelerating their growth either. 

**Other—I still have some space in the beds, so what to plant? A couple more beans, another row of carrots, and some scallions and okra. Just got to get around to it!