The end of summer is almost near: It's sad, but at the same time Matt and I both LOVE Fall and can't wait for it's arrival. I'm excited to pull out all of my fall decorations and go to the farmstands and get corn stalks, mums, and pumpkins to decorate the front porch.
This post may bore most of you, as it is a post specifically for me: A record, if you will, of our veggie garden successes and failures in 2008.
Our garden was pretty much planted by June 16. I think that this is probably better than the traditional Memorial Day planting, even if only because we don't have as much frost by mid-June. However, it does make it more difficult to plant because a lot of the greenhouses are picked over after Memorial Day. We may just have to get our plants and keep them going in the house, until the frost-threat is over.
We will be making the garden bigger: Doubling it actually. The squash and pumpkin kind of took over most of the garden, or at least the pumpkin did. For all the vines we have there is only 1 noticeable pumpkin (8/19), that looks to be about the size of a soccer ball and is green. Hopefully we get a few more.
Eggplant was a lost cause: We only saw a few flowers and nothing that is looking like an eggplant. I think the Japanese beatles hurt them, but I don't think that was the only thing. I'm not sure what really went wrong with them. As much as I love them, I think it's probably easier to just buy one in the store when I want it.
Sugar Snap Peas were also a lost cause. I honestly don't know why. The plants never got very large (maybe 8-10" high) and we only got 5 or 6 beans. I may try these again next year, but I'm not sure. We do like beans, and would love to get some.
Yellow and Butternut squash did well and we have quite a few of them. I would like to try Acorn squash next year, I couldn't find the plants this year. I didn't plant zucchinni because my mother did and she had a ton, so we shared.
Tomatoes did very poorly this year! I planted them in the same spot as last year (planters on the back deck). My only guess is that I planted too many marigolds in the pots and that the soil was devoid of nutrients (after last year's planting). I also did water them with miracle grow last year, this year I didn't. I plan on replacing the soil next spring.
I did plant beets, which I love. I tried canning them last year, but my canning attempts were rudimentry at best. They did store, for the most part, but we didn't use them as much as I thought we would...I don't know why. The beets I planted look rather pitiful! I dug around one to see if there was anything and there honestly wasn't much of anything. This may be another thing that is easier to buy a bushel of beets and do them myself.
Our romaine lettuce did well, but by the middle of the summer it was bitter and inedible. I think it may actually be better to just cut them and try to use it as fast as possible. Rather than trying to get numerous cuttings throughout the summer. OR, to stagger plantings so that it's ready throughout the summer.
Kale is doing well. I love Kale! My mom thinned her's out in July, so that's how we got ours. I will definitely be planting a bigger batch of that next year. I'm trying to find out if it can be frozen.
Corn is doing surprisingly well: I've actually never had a succesful corn crop. The ears are still small (maybe 4"-5") and there are only a 1/2 doz or so out there, but they shouldn't be picked until mid-September anyways. Watermelon was a major flop, which I expected. I've never had luck with them.
Sunflowers did well. I plan on planting more of these in a cutting garden (if the yard gets fenced in).
Additions for next year: Once we make the garden bigger we are planning on planting a large crop of garlic, as well as asparagus if I can find it.
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