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

Rainy weekend update

The rain finally came. We had a week and a half of beautiful, sunny, 70-degree weather. While I am never one to complain about perfect weather, it did force us to start watering the gardens with the hose. Especially the veggies. I left them for two days without watering and nearly ended up with a garden of dead plants. Veggies are not as tolerant of perfect weather as my perennials.

It started raining yesterday and we are due for rain on-and-off all week. I'm actually happy; all my newly planted flowers and veggies and seeds will benefit. But because of the rain, and a short-napping toddler, I didn't quite accomplish all my gardening goals this weekend.

Here's what I did get done:

* Bought 15 strawberry plants from Home Depot and replaced my non-growing crowns in the garden. The plants already have flowers and some have baby fruits on them.

* Planted three burning bushes, a butterfly bush, an azalea bush, and a blue lace cap hydrangea.

* Bought and planted a small basil plant. I love basil and don't have the patience to wait for the seeds to sprout.

* Fertilized the veggies and roses.

Here's what I need to do ASAP:

* Finish de-grassing my herb garden. I want to plant hostas along the border (by the fence that we'll be putting up this summer).

* Plant my baby herb plants that are still growing in their tiny peat pots: rosemary, chives, and mint. The other seedlings didn't survive the hardening off process. I need more practice at that! I need to start over with the cilantro, lemon balm, dill, and parsley.

* Till my third veggie box, plant eight more tomato plants, and sow my summer veggie seeds: corn, zucchini, yellow squash, scallions, and okra.

* Plant my three remaining burning bushes.


Update on veggie progress:

* My cucumber seedlings have just poked through the soil. No sign yet of my string beans. I used last year's seeds that I had left over...they may not have been viable. I'll give them another week.

* The peas. The ones that had started to yellow look like they might be coming back, though they are still looking pretty sad compared to the bright green ones I sowed directly in the garden.

* I thinned out my row of radishes. They might be ready next week. The beets will need to be thinned soon, as well as the carrots.

* The spinach and broccoli seem to be hanging in there. I haven't noticed much growth, but they are green and sturdy, so I'm still hopeful.

One final note. Thank you Hubby for laying down a weed-block blanket and covering it with wood chips in paths surrounding each of my veggie boxes.

A beautiful Mother's Day weekend

What a treat—we had two beautiful day's in a row. The perfect gift for Mother's Day. And I accomplished a lot in the garden as well. Here's the update.

**I planted nine 14" terra cotta pots with red and white impatiens to liven up our deck. In a couple weeks the flowers will be overflowing the rims.

**Also newly planted: two baby Brigitta blueberry bushes, 12 sprigs of tall red phlox divided from my neighbor, two double cone flowers (a kooky variety of echinacea), eight 4 O'clock flowers that I grew from seeds indoors, and a packet of zinnia seeds sown directly in the garden (I'm crossing my fingers).

**In addition, I planted four astrantia roots. BUT, I forgot that I ordered them for my shade garden, and planted them in full sun. So now I have to go dig them up this week before they sprout. A frustrating task, knowing it's my fault for not reading the planting directions before I dug my holes.

**Other updates: One of my two new rose bushes has died. The stalks have all turned brown. The other has tons of swollen buds and is beginning to leaf out. I will have to call the company this week to get a replacement plant or refund. But on a more successful note, the cosmos seedlings I sprinkled in the dirt surrounding our raised veggie beds seem to be sprouting. Yeah! AND, I just discovered three gladiolas poking out of the ground. They are not supposed to be winter-hardy in zone six, but looks like at least a few survived!

**For Mother's Day, Hubby woke up early to get a truckload of wood chips for the paths between the veggie beds. He is laying down the black weed-block and will finish spreading the chips this week. It's starting to look "pro" around here ;)

Garden goals for the upcoming week:
1) Plant butterfly bush, azalea, hydrangea and burning bushes
2) Move astrantia
3) Fertilize all beds (believe it or not, I've never fertilized!)
4) Weed and mulch
5) Remove grass and weeds from the herb garden area so I can sow seeds and transplant my seedlings.
6) Identify the plant that has overtaken own of my borders. I'm hoping it's a flower, but probably not likely.
7) Plant hostas in the shade garden
8) Plant gladiolas bulbs

As always, to be continued!

More spring photos

Here are some shots of the garden this weekend.

Close up of open tulip. Becky, this is the color for you!

Tulip patch...the side the groundhog didn't eat.

I love the focus on the water droplets!

Close up of the flowering ajuca groundcover.

Lamb's ears with ajuca in background. (And a dandelion, arg!)

Garden Buddies=Free Flowers!

Lysimachia punctata

I have five garden buddies and counting. The first, Sonia, gets a big shout out because last year, when I mentioned that I might want to start a garden, she enthusiastically volunteered to dig up her own plots and divide out a bunch of perennials for me to transplant. I left her house one early spring weekend in 2010 with two buckets filled with dug-up bulbs, roots, and baby shoots, including day lilies, oregano, forsythia, lamb's ears, and my favorite, lysimachia punctata, which produces a abundance of yellow flowers all summer. Funny story about the lysimachia—her mother-in-law actually dug these up when on vacation in England some years ago, and their life has now spread to at least three different families on the East Coast. Thanks Auntie Sugar! That's one of the best things about gardening—the sharing! But back to Sonia, without her, my garden may never have gotten off the ground.

Second, Edwin and Joan. They thinned their garden as well, and gave me two more buckets of day lilies and lamb's ears (have you noticed the day-lily-lamb's-ear trend in my recent posts) as well as my starter plot of daisies. All of these have thrived and spread, even despite a deer invasion last spring.

Third and fourth are my two neighbors (on two different sides), John and Paul. Paul's landscaping is to die for—he's my go-to expert on perennials of all kinds! If I have a question, he knows the answer. AND, every time he divides his plants, he brings me wheelbarrows full! He has single-handedly helped me fill giant spaces in my landscape with lilies, phlox, lilac, astilbe, and irises.

John, in addition to sharing plants, is my true garden buddy. My social garden buddy. My get dirty together garden buddy. My "here-I-went-to-the-nursery-and-found-this-pretty-plant-for-us-to-try" garden buddy. My moral support garden buddy. He's the one I can cry to when the deer eat my hostas or when yet another March snow storm kicks in and covers up my crocuses (yes, that happened today.) He's the one who understands my joy when I get my first rose of the season. He shares my passion and we are two peas in a pod.

And finally, there is my mom. She's my 1000-mile-away garden buddy, but every time I visit, I admire her garden (and her ability to grow all her annuals from seeds each year, which is something that I'm trying again, but so far hasn't worked out so well for me). And every time I visit, I dig up chucks of her plants to smuggle onto the plane. The Black-eyed Susans, echinacea, and sedum are not only beautiful new additions to my collection, but they are reminders of "home" and family.

More than half of my garden was obtained free of charge with the bonus of friendship, love, and support. Gardening shouldn't always be solitary, though it is nice to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature without a two-year-old hanging on your leg. Bum off your friends. Compliment your neighbors (and then go dig up their gardens under the shelter of night.) Wait. Wrong. Please ask them first! Any gardener worth the flowers they grow will be happy to share their petals with you.