Posted: 8/22/2009 8:22:18 AM EDT
I'm posting this thread not for discussion (though that's always welcome ), but as a place for me to make notes about our garden this year........things that worked, things that didn't, etc. I know that, come next January, I will have forgotten some of the things that are currently on my mind.
I'm marking this thread "no archive" so feel free to jot your thoughts on your garden and then come back here next Winter as you plan and execute your 2010 food production plans. 
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reserved for later
Tomatoes Tomatoes have to move, maybe behind the house. Probably would be smart to plant fewer than we usually do as there's not much sense in investing heavily in the crop until we see whther we've cleaned up after the blight. Squash Need to research organic attacks against the borer. Consider Nema-ject in combo with the traps mentioned later in the thread. Corn Don't be lazy, plant some different varieties. Beans Potatoes Onions Plant MORE Kandy onions. Consider planting heavily where the tomatoes were. Pests MUST either solve te grass collection issue or put down plastic mulch. MUST. Look into organic pre-emergent herbicides. |
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Soaker hoses are the way to go. No wasted water. The upfront investment is worth it in time, water savings and efficiency. Drip systems are fine if you plan on planting with the same spacing every year. I may go with drips on wide space stuff like zucs and squash next year.
Weeds are weeds, deal with it. I could have spent endless hours as I did in the past weeding 3500 feet of garden. This year I did the minimum and still got the same harvest. I think the soaker hoses had alot to do with the amount of weeds this year since they like water also. More sun, better harvest. The neighbors may get more than an eyeful when my front yard becomes a corn patch next year. 
It doesn't hurt to put the word out to other gardeners (that don't can or have canned all they need) that you will take their left overs. I picked 10 dozen ears of corn from a patch that the guy was through with. Last year's experiment with dry weather bush beans was to drown them for two days before picking. This year I added a step to pick them and then soak in clean water overnight before snapping. The crispness factor really went up. Succession planting is the key to extending the season. I just put in my third planting of bush beans for harvest at the end of September. |
Good idea. This spot reserved for later.
Things I forgot to plant. Dill for pickles Cilantro for Salsa Jalapeños for Salsa Onions Try a different variety, plus plant 4x more. (See Salsa, dummy) Potatoes Find cheaper place to buy certified seed. Look for ways to increase yield. Got nice looking spuds, but not worth the seed price. Tomatoes Plant more Roma's. Heirlooms suck. Cukes Planted more than enough to pickle, but remember to plant a second, later (and smaller) crop. Maybe 3 weeks. 1'st crop gone by the time the tomatoes are ripe. Nothing left for salads. Critters Keep killing the coons. Put deer and rabbits in freezer. Electric fence and charger. Seeds and plants Remember to order extra for follow up and late plantings. All off the shelves by July 15th here. 
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Plant some wilt resistant hybrid squash and cukes, use more DE around my squash or start raising guineas to eat the damn squash bugs.
Place a gallon milk jug next to all my tomato plants and squash plants for quick root watering. Replant squash when the lettuce/spinach is done. Try to cover my sweet peppers for the first month with a light plastic dome to encourage growth while it is still cool at night. Have all my peppers grow up through a suspended trellis at about 20". The two beds that did grow up through none have fallen over. Plant 3 times as many radishes because they seem to get eaten so quickly by everyone. |
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Quoted:
Squash Need to research organic attacks against the borer. I can save you a lot of time: There are no organic methods to combating the borer. The only thing that you can do to protect the plant is to use a Row Cover. Depending on how big you want the plant to get than this could be a good option. You could also use the Borer Trap but the ones that get away still get to the plants just not as many. |
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Quoted:
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Squash Need to research organic attacks against the borer. I can save you a lot of time: There are no organic methods to combating the borer. The only thing that you can do to protect the plant is to use a Row Cover. Depending on how big you want the plant to get than this could be a good option. You could also use the Borer Trap but the ones that get away still get to the plants just not as many. Thanks.
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Tomatos Space them suckers farther apart we had a jungle.
Peppers Need to put cages around the Bananna and bell for support Corn Plant more and plant 2 -3 times to get more harvest time Watermellons Put them in the fenced part deer killed the crop Beans More frequent harvest of pole and plant mutiple times spaced = 2 weeks apart for longer harvest. Dont put pole beans near corn as they overtook some of it. FUNGUS Spay before it gets to the plants, Preventative is far easier then control. We had a wet late season and wiped out the maters, apparently everone else also Late Blight Collards, broccolie Plant ealier next spring mabey you will get a better (any) harvest, Taters Try the cage/ tire way More to come |
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Stuff actually grew! (first year with a garden)
Even my small fence kept the bunnies out. Too much water can be a bad thing. I couldn't control Mother Nature, but when it did start to dry out, my water barrel and drip lines worked well. I think I need 2X as deep of "Mel's mix" as I have now. Several plants grew sideways when they got bigger; squash, broccolli. More peas, green beans; I didn't have enough peas or beans ready to eat at the same time. Start earlier, it'll be easier next year; I won't have to build the beds and stuff. |
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I tried my first real garden this year. I made four 4x4 square foot garden boxes. I planted beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers to grow vertically, then a variety of other vegetables throughout. I suppose here are my notes:
Zucchini: This will go in a seperate bed next year, not in my SF garden. The plants took up too much room. They did very well, in fact they did so well that they choked out lots of my other plants. Tomatoes: Same as zucchini. They did so well that next year they will not be welcome in my SF garden, they will be in a bed of their own. Beans: I'm switching to bush beans rather than growing vertically next year. I was unimpressed with scarlet emperor beans. Peppers: The peppers in my SF garden got crowded out by the zucchini and tomatoes. Next year I will try peppers in containers rather than in my SF garden. On a side note, I really like the purple beauty peppers. Kale: It did great in the SF garden, and there it will stay. Broccoli: It got crowded out by the tomatoes, I will try them again in the SF garden next year. Swiss chard: My spring/summer planting got crowded out. I recently planted a fall crop in the space I made by pulling one of my zucchini plants. We'll see how it does. Beets: Are currently planted for a fall crop. Carrots: I did not thin enough, so the carrots were all fighting each other too much to develop a good vegetable. Radishes: Same as carrots. Worms: I started a couple of worm bins as an experiment a little over a month ago. It's too early to tell definitively yet, but I think I may be expanding my operation considerably next year. My plans for next year depend on whether or not my wife lets me get rid of our pool. If so, and I'm feeling very ambitious, I think I might make four 5'x20' deep beds. Otherwise I will keep the four SF gardens and add beds for tomatoes and zucchini. I am also thinking about trying to grow potatoes in a similar manner to that tire method I read about a while ago. I definitely need to try growing onions, garlic, peas, and a large variety of peppers. I also will be starting much earlier next year. |
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Reserved
General: Complete build out of raised beds. Tomatoes: Potting works but probably needs more water. Keep em thinner by trimming out the fluff. Black krim - Worked pretty well. Still have to counter ripen. Mix in more lime. Peppers: Worked in the cinder blocks. Move further away from the tomatoes. Zuccs: Plant them out front. Not in pots. Cucumbers: Plant out front. Not in pots. Apple Tree: Spray it! |
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Tomatoes: I need to move them as they all got hit with late blight. The cool, wet summer didn't help either. The grape and romas fared the best.
Green Peppers: Didn't grow nearly as well as in prior years until August when it warmed up and dried out. After that - bumper crop. Strawberries: Did ok for the first year. Remember to harvest them daily (everbearing variety) or the bugs and chipmunks get them. Acorn Squash: also a first attempt, did better than expected. Will add butternut squash to the garden next year. Cucumbers: anther first attempt, did better than expected. Raspberries: planted this year, not much expected of them. They look to be setting up nicely for next year. |
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Early seeding- Plan to winter sow a bunch of stuff; Also have a couple of 5 gallon buckets of worm castings to mix as part of seed starting media. Scoop up more worm castings as it becomes available!
Tomatoes- Wife preferred the heirlooms she scrounged from the Farmer's Market; Romas and Cherry plants did best this wet year. Planted tomatoes way too late. They did fine after the heat of summer was past. Dried Romas worked out great, need to do more in future. Expect to plant Romas again next year to dehydrate and will start heirlooms inside from free seeds for the table. Strawberries- Add a bunch more. The rabbits and slugs have got to go. Also need to thin the deer population or fence the garden area. Vine- Would like to try cucumber or pole beans or similar vining plants to trellis under the eaves on the West side of the house; anticipate shade and food dual purpose. Possible place for bird house or basket gourds. Herbs- May re-build the raised beds and use specifically for herbs. Grapes- Quit talking about it and get some more started. Begonias were still green at the tubers when I went to weed the beds in January. Potted them and moved them inside where they flowered up a storm by March. Divided them like crazy and put them back outside in June. They are still looking good mid-Oct. Highlights:Got lots of rain this year. As usual, zinnias were the hit of the summer flowers and are still going strong here in mid-October. |
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Peppers: Worked in the cinder blocks. Move further away from the tomatoes. Could you describe the "cinder block" method, and how close to the tomatoes they were? Why move them away from the tomatoes? Sure. I took some cinder blocks and turned them so the holes were vertical and I filled em with dirt and a pepper in each hole of the block. Think concrete pots with two per block... I used the blocks originally for erosion control/a wall and instead of just being a block, they now house peppers. It's not a large scale thing but rather something a small citylot backyard grower, such as myself, did to maximize my limited space. I will expand on this in the next year for my hebs. I think herbs are generally more delicate than other veggies/flowers so giving them their own concrete bunker should help. It also brought me back to my childhood lego projects. Think depth, design, height and general odd ball ways to plant something where you couldn't before. My Tomatoes got huge and crowded the peppers so they should be moved a bit further out. |
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Rotate peppers next year.
Add more Romas, in place of beefsteaks. Won't grow tomatillos again until I have a garden in the country. These plants get huge. Get row covers for raised beds (probably thick plastic and heavy gauge wire for hoops) and start herbs & greens earlier. Once weather warms up, make a dedicated worm box for the rabbit poop. I have no luck with corn in the suburbs. Radishes are almost a pest plant. |
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Thanks Feral. This is a good idea.
Don't plant pumpkins in with the corn. Vines tend to grab the corn stalk and bend/ break it. Don't plant zucchini and summer squash nest to beans. They tend to over grow the beans and kill the plant. Plant onion sets a bit deeper next year. Plant more potato's and read up on increasing their yield. Forget cauliflower and broccoli. They didn't grow worth a damn. More tomatoes. |
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Peppers
Plants from Jeff were great and produced lots of peppers (planted when a foot tall in May). Jalapenos were great get almost a black color when ripe. Next year plant all varieties in February (keep warm or else growth stunted). Keep planted together instead of half haphazardly in case tomatoes get blight again. Will be able to till up ground with tractor. Garden salsa peppers only get hot when red. When red = REALLY HOT!! Green = Bell pepper Cages worked well and needed when there are lots of peppers. Tomatoes Lost them all to blight. Hope next year is better. Try to get Roma's to plant. Plant inside around mid-late March next year. Plant 30-40 plants Parsnips First good success with them. Be sure to thin out plants more to get bigger ones. When tops are around 2 feet tall they are ready to dig. There is a limit to how much you can do with parsnips. A double row 30 feet long is plenty. Carrots Planted two rows about 20 feet long. Plant at least double that next year or more. Snow peas 1 row 15 feet isn't enough. Bamboo stakes worked pretty good. Next year maybe 2 rows 30 feet enough and try to can them. Dead plants had much sweater peas that were still on the plant. Bush Beans Next year leave 26" apart. Be sure to pick often, to many beans can tip the plant over snapping it off at the base. Try to can next year. Plant 16. Onions Had some rot trying to get big ones. Try at least two different varieties. Try variety Feral used. Watch for rot when tops die. Two rows 35 feet not enough. Try three rows. Potatoes Potatoes can rot in the ground when it is to wet. They smell god awful when rotten. Try to get some certified stock (mine possible blight contamination). Deer will eat tops! Didn't seem to hurt the potatoes size but tops weren't eaten until August. Might need to fence in next year. 7 rows 35 feet long is a lot of potatoes. Whites = 1 bushel per row Reds = 1.5 bushes per row Corn Need to plant more. Needs lots of sun. Do not plant at camp because of bear. Side closest the pine trees did not germinate. Possible bad soil conditions. Plant early. Butternut squash Plant some next year. Pumpkin 2 plants per mount with 2 mounds is enough. Cucumber None germinated. Plant lots and try canning next year. Try to have a trellis for them to climb up. Radishes Don't let go to seed it isn't worth it. Tops get huge. Are ready in around a month. Spinach Try some next year. Asparagus Think about planting some next year Lettuce Try two varieties next year. Be sure to keep cutting it. Garlic Planting in early October works perfect. Italian much bigger than Greek. Cut off scape and try to cook next year. Don't worry about weeds to much. Try to weed when soil damp. Zucchini 3-4 plants are enough Sweet Potatoes Try to plant again. Grow my own slips from a store bought potato. Try to start growing slips around early April General Fence on the ground with little tomato cages works great to protect little plants from deer that are outside the fence. Plant row across hill to help use water better Add on more fence post in the middle of each side Fence is getting pretty damaged after 3 years. Consider replacement (8 feet tall). Consider grass catcher for Kubota. $500 Work on driven well for water. This year water wasn't an issue. Won't stay lucky for long. Jeff used large party plastic ups with 3-4 1/2" holes drilled in the bottom for peppers and tomatoes. Try winter cover crop next year. |
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Bump so we can read notes from last year. Someone should probably start one for 2010. I wish I'd read this about a month and a half ago. And I think you were right about heirlooms sucking, Waldo. My indoor starts are pathetic. Hopefully the directly sown crop does better. |
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A link to the 2010 Garden notes thread
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=19&t=641226 |