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Broccoli: I am VERY much in favor of growing broccoli! This was my first year at it, and we had some Issues, but certainly intend to do it again next year! I started with 8 "stir fry" broccoli plants from Zamzows, which mostly died on me before actually making broccoli. One of them did survive, but I've been disappointed in how it makes tiny broccoli springs rather than a nice tidy broccoli head. Only now upon googling have I discovered that it's SUPPOSED to do that. Meh. Too late to eat them now, it's all gone to seed.
I got a 6-pack of "Lieutenant" bonnie-brand broccoli from Home Despot to replace the dying plants, and much as I am Generally Opposed to Bonnie (overpriced, few interesting varieties), the Lieutenant ones are doing VERY well. They are not inclined to bolt, and both the primary head and the "side shoots" are big and yummy! So probably going to do those again next year. And MORE of them. 6ish plants pretty much keeps us current in broccoli but not producing any extra to freeze.
Onions: one big bed of onions. Ugh I need to weed the onions (persistent state). Continued to have problems with onion seeds, so fell back on onion sets. They continue to be not very big (probably because they need weeding!). Some experiments with planting last year's onions - some split into interesting onion clusters. A couple I let go to seed (I am bound and determined to learn to grow from seed...)
Peppers: A full bed of peppers. Mostly King of the North bell peppers, interspersed with Anaheims that I bought to replace the spots that didn't take. DEEPLY PLEASED with my peppers! I am ACTUALLY GROWING proper sized bells this year, and a lot of nice Anaheims. Am particularly happy with the bells as I grew them from seed. The secret to bell peppers is apparently the deeply obvious DON'T PICK THE PEPPERS. And then they get bigger! Huh. I think we will end up with slightly more peppers than meeting current needs, but definitely still will buy a few cases from Blue Barn to freeze enough to get us through til next year.
I will note, however, that even my peppers doing Quite Well by pepper standards, I had a couple volunteer Roma tomato plants in this bed that COMPLETELY overwhelmed the peppers they were planted near. Poor peppers. Happy tomatoes.
Potatoes: potatoes are SAD PANDA. They were going gangbusters til about mid June when they all fell over as if end of the growing season. I am not sure what their problems was, though I am finding they are smallish but still split as if overwattered. Deeply mysterious. I'm still digging them up as I need them, though presumably they aren't growing anymore.
Tomatoes: Oh how I love thee. Please don't take over the world.
Something about my garden pen grows absurdly rigorous tomatoes. I am pleased! This is good! But AUGH it is nearly solid masses of tomato plants and actually a bit difficult to pick because I can't hardly get to the interior of the plants. I'm picking about a 6-qt bowl of tomatoes every day (or two, if I wait a couple days). It's a lot of tomatoes.
We need to do SOMETHING different next year regarding tomato cages. This year's attempt of pole-and-wire for the two main tomato beds (4 rows of 8) is really not worth the time. It sorta works for the cherry tomatoes, who can be persuaded to climb them. However the various flavors of Big Tomatoes are so heavy they are pulling the wires down, or just giving up and flopping on the ground. I've been wrangling with string to try and tie them up to the wires, with limited success. We really are talking bear sized tomato plants here.
In the auxiliary tomato bed (over by the lilac bush), I used the Very Large cone shaped tomato cages, and they are mostly working. There are 8 Better Boys over there, which aren't getting TOO big (nice and compact bushes about 2' across, 3-4' tall - respectable! No world domination plans.). They actually seem properly spaced (18", which is the same as the other tomatoes! It just works better for them), so I can actually get to the whole plant. One of them has managed to uproot their cage and is now propped up by 2x2s, but the others are standing fine on their own. This bed is suffering slightly from blossom end rot, where none of my others get it, but I am mostly pleased at the accessibility.
In the main tomato bed I have a number of Random varieties from the tomato sale at the fruit stand. I have 8 labeled "lg red rnd" which I believe might be Abe Lincolns. They make HUGE tomatoes but the plants are quite short, and they seem EXTREMELY opposed to trellising. I would need something much, much, MUCH sturdier for them. I'm losing some of them to bugs and being on the ground, since they are just flopped about, so have taken to picking them rather underripe and ripening them on the windowsill.
Also in that bed are "sweet 100s", which I am decisively meh about. They're all right for a cherry tomato, but nothing special. I'd much rather grow Juliettes again.
The other main bed is full of randomness. I have 3 "sun gold cherries", which are yummy and pretty if not particularly prolific. There is a weird teardrop shapped one which is purpleish that I think is a Russian Zebra Cherry that I am also not impressed by (partially because it's a pain to tell when it's ripe). There are salad sized gold and red tomatoes which are doing fine though hard to tell because they are quite drowning in other tomato plants. Bumblebee cherries are pretty but also not particularly holding their own in the tomato jungle. Then there are the Cherokee Purples, which are the biggest contributor to the jungle! DEFINITELY growing these again. With better spacing. And cages that can contain a lion. They get absolutely enormous, and even though they are a beefsteak they are almost solid meat inside, not all ooze and seeds like most of the big red tomatoes I encounter.
To round out the tomato herd, I have the aforementioned 2 or 3 Roma's volunteering in the pepper bed, that I am amazed how large they are considering they were (unintentionally) grown from seed right in the garden. Then I have 3 of unremembered variety growing on the end of the onion bed that are still all green but nicely filling out their cages. Another 4 are "patio golds", a nice salad sized tomato, 2 actually in containers on the porch (which are sadly tiny, like 16" tall, but they have each produced a tomato or two), and 2 which I plopped in the failed asparagus bed that are ENORMOUS plants but haven't made anything ripe yet.
Yes, I have tomato plant problems. Mostly that I can't turn them down. But 50 seems to be about the right number to make it through the year in tomato products!
Cucumbers: I have belatedly discovered I am not a cucumber fan. Which is a problem as I am producing them in QUANTITY. LARGE ones. I originally planted little pickling cucs but they didn't come up. So I got starts but of course they were all ordinary sized cucumbers. I thought I could just pick them small for pickles, but apparently they don't grow that way! So now I'm up to my ears in cucumbers, and they've also gotten all up into the lilac bush so I'll randomly come across a leg sized cucumber. The chickens get the big ones and otherwise I'm giving them away. Maybe I'll make some relish or something.
Beans:. Beans are fun! And prolific. And I haven't bought seeds in AGES because they save and start so easily. The DebbieBeans (bush) are splendid for picking and canning, I've got about 4'x10' bed of them. I didn't particularly keep up with picking them the past few weeks so yesterday I went out and picked a half bushel, most of which I will dry and shell as they are TOO BIG to eat. But I've still canned a couple dozen pints this summer, plus given many away and eaten as many as we want.
I also have a bed of about 4'x6' in pole beans. I can't quite figure these out - no matter how early I pick them they seem too tough to eat. So I'm just letting them go and will dry/shell them later. I'm all on board with dried beans, though will need to figure out a more effective way to shell them in quantity. Also a more effective way to provide poles - I bought a 24 pack of 6' bamboo poles which work quite well, but would clearly not be the optimal solution for growing these in quantity. I'm vaguely imagining a pole-and-rope setup for next year, like what people use for hops.
Things that didn't happen:
Asparagus - I made an asparagus bed! I planted them! But quite late, and I think they all died.
Squash/Mellon bed:. I attempted to convert the rocky area downhill from the auxiliary chicken coop into a vining plants bed. It didn't work.
Zucchini - I don't know how one fails to grow zucchini, but I did. Planted two hills, nothing made it.
Melons: didn't come up. But they were old seeds.
Winter squash - planted a couple hills of old pumpkin seeds, not too surprised they didn't come up. But also planted about 10 hills of butternut squash with this year seeds, and only one came up! It's puttering along, but the whole plant is only about 18" across so clearly not actually going to DO anything this year. Maybe the area is too shady. Or something.
Next year: better spacing on tomato plants. More peppers, more broccoli. Maybe attempt a bulk dried beans area. Clearly I'm going to need more garden area :D. Also have plans for some winter glazed beds, and would like to actually grow salad.
I got a 6-pack of "Lieutenant" bonnie-brand broccoli from Home Despot to replace the dying plants, and much as I am Generally Opposed to Bonnie (overpriced, few interesting varieties), the Lieutenant ones are doing VERY well. They are not inclined to bolt, and both the primary head and the "side shoots" are big and yummy! So probably going to do those again next year. And MORE of them. 6ish plants pretty much keeps us current in broccoli but not producing any extra to freeze.
Onions: one big bed of onions. Ugh I need to weed the onions (persistent state). Continued to have problems with onion seeds, so fell back on onion sets. They continue to be not very big (probably because they need weeding!). Some experiments with planting last year's onions - some split into interesting onion clusters. A couple I let go to seed (I am bound and determined to learn to grow from seed...)
Peppers: A full bed of peppers. Mostly King of the North bell peppers, interspersed with Anaheims that I bought to replace the spots that didn't take. DEEPLY PLEASED with my peppers! I am ACTUALLY GROWING proper sized bells this year, and a lot of nice Anaheims. Am particularly happy with the bells as I grew them from seed. The secret to bell peppers is apparently the deeply obvious DON'T PICK THE PEPPERS. And then they get bigger! Huh. I think we will end up with slightly more peppers than meeting current needs, but definitely still will buy a few cases from Blue Barn to freeze enough to get us through til next year.
I will note, however, that even my peppers doing Quite Well by pepper standards, I had a couple volunteer Roma tomato plants in this bed that COMPLETELY overwhelmed the peppers they were planted near. Poor peppers. Happy tomatoes.
Potatoes: potatoes are SAD PANDA. They were going gangbusters til about mid June when they all fell over as if end of the growing season. I am not sure what their problems was, though I am finding they are smallish but still split as if overwattered. Deeply mysterious. I'm still digging them up as I need them, though presumably they aren't growing anymore.
Tomatoes: Oh how I love thee. Please don't take over the world.
Something about my garden pen grows absurdly rigorous tomatoes. I am pleased! This is good! But AUGH it is nearly solid masses of tomato plants and actually a bit difficult to pick because I can't hardly get to the interior of the plants. I'm picking about a 6-qt bowl of tomatoes every day (or two, if I wait a couple days). It's a lot of tomatoes.
We need to do SOMETHING different next year regarding tomato cages. This year's attempt of pole-and-wire for the two main tomato beds (4 rows of 8) is really not worth the time. It sorta works for the cherry tomatoes, who can be persuaded to climb them. However the various flavors of Big Tomatoes are so heavy they are pulling the wires down, or just giving up and flopping on the ground. I've been wrangling with string to try and tie them up to the wires, with limited success. We really are talking bear sized tomato plants here.
In the auxiliary tomato bed (over by the lilac bush), I used the Very Large cone shaped tomato cages, and they are mostly working. There are 8 Better Boys over there, which aren't getting TOO big (nice and compact bushes about 2' across, 3-4' tall - respectable! No world domination plans.). They actually seem properly spaced (18", which is the same as the other tomatoes! It just works better for them), so I can actually get to the whole plant. One of them has managed to uproot their cage and is now propped up by 2x2s, but the others are standing fine on their own. This bed is suffering slightly from blossom end rot, where none of my others get it, but I am mostly pleased at the accessibility.
In the main tomato bed I have a number of Random varieties from the tomato sale at the fruit stand. I have 8 labeled "lg red rnd" which I believe might be Abe Lincolns. They make HUGE tomatoes but the plants are quite short, and they seem EXTREMELY opposed to trellising. I would need something much, much, MUCH sturdier for them. I'm losing some of them to bugs and being on the ground, since they are just flopped about, so have taken to picking them rather underripe and ripening them on the windowsill.
Also in that bed are "sweet 100s", which I am decisively meh about. They're all right for a cherry tomato, but nothing special. I'd much rather grow Juliettes again.
The other main bed is full of randomness. I have 3 "sun gold cherries", which are yummy and pretty if not particularly prolific. There is a weird teardrop shapped one which is purpleish that I think is a Russian Zebra Cherry that I am also not impressed by (partially because it's a pain to tell when it's ripe). There are salad sized gold and red tomatoes which are doing fine though hard to tell because they are quite drowning in other tomato plants. Bumblebee cherries are pretty but also not particularly holding their own in the tomato jungle. Then there are the Cherokee Purples, which are the biggest contributor to the jungle! DEFINITELY growing these again. With better spacing. And cages that can contain a lion. They get absolutely enormous, and even though they are a beefsteak they are almost solid meat inside, not all ooze and seeds like most of the big red tomatoes I encounter.
To round out the tomato herd, I have the aforementioned 2 or 3 Roma's volunteering in the pepper bed, that I am amazed how large they are considering they were (unintentionally) grown from seed right in the garden. Then I have 3 of unremembered variety growing on the end of the onion bed that are still all green but nicely filling out their cages. Another 4 are "patio golds", a nice salad sized tomato, 2 actually in containers on the porch (which are sadly tiny, like 16" tall, but they have each produced a tomato or two), and 2 which I plopped in the failed asparagus bed that are ENORMOUS plants but haven't made anything ripe yet.
Yes, I have tomato plant problems. Mostly that I can't turn them down. But 50 seems to be about the right number to make it through the year in tomato products!
Cucumbers: I have belatedly discovered I am not a cucumber fan. Which is a problem as I am producing them in QUANTITY. LARGE ones. I originally planted little pickling cucs but they didn't come up. So I got starts but of course they were all ordinary sized cucumbers. I thought I could just pick them small for pickles, but apparently they don't grow that way! So now I'm up to my ears in cucumbers, and they've also gotten all up into the lilac bush so I'll randomly come across a leg sized cucumber. The chickens get the big ones and otherwise I'm giving them away. Maybe I'll make some relish or something.
Beans:. Beans are fun! And prolific. And I haven't bought seeds in AGES because they save and start so easily. The DebbieBeans (bush) are splendid for picking and canning, I've got about 4'x10' bed of them. I didn't particularly keep up with picking them the past few weeks so yesterday I went out and picked a half bushel, most of which I will dry and shell as they are TOO BIG to eat. But I've still canned a couple dozen pints this summer, plus given many away and eaten as many as we want.
I also have a bed of about 4'x6' in pole beans. I can't quite figure these out - no matter how early I pick them they seem too tough to eat. So I'm just letting them go and will dry/shell them later. I'm all on board with dried beans, though will need to figure out a more effective way to shell them in quantity. Also a more effective way to provide poles - I bought a 24 pack of 6' bamboo poles which work quite well, but would clearly not be the optimal solution for growing these in quantity. I'm vaguely imagining a pole-and-rope setup for next year, like what people use for hops.
Things that didn't happen:
Asparagus - I made an asparagus bed! I planted them! But quite late, and I think they all died.
Squash/Mellon bed:. I attempted to convert the rocky area downhill from the auxiliary chicken coop into a vining plants bed. It didn't work.
Zucchini - I don't know how one fails to grow zucchini, but I did. Planted two hills, nothing made it.
Melons: didn't come up. But they were old seeds.
Winter squash - planted a couple hills of old pumpkin seeds, not too surprised they didn't come up. But also planted about 10 hills of butternut squash with this year seeds, and only one came up! It's puttering along, but the whole plant is only about 18" across so clearly not actually going to DO anything this year. Maybe the area is too shady. Or something.
Next year: better spacing on tomato plants. More peppers, more broccoli. Maybe attempt a bulk dried beans area. Clearly I'm going to need more garden area :D. Also have plans for some winter glazed beds, and would like to actually grow salad.