Posted: 11/22/2010 7:14:45 AM EDT
| In the spirit of Feral's 2009 thread, here is a place for your 2010 garden notes. |
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2010 was pretty much a gardening failure for me. I planted some stuff and left it to fend for itself. I hope not to do that again.
SFG: The loose soil of the SFG boxes requires that most plants get supported. Peppers, basil, and asparagus planted in Mel's Mix were all toppled well before the end of the season. Seeds Saved: Clipped some basil and some garlic chives that looked to be ready to store. Early Gardening: The Red Pontiac potatoes and the Sugar Pod peas were successful. All of the greens were consumed by bugs. Long-term: Planted a couple of blueberries and rhubarbs at the end of the season to see if I can establish some perennials. Squash Vine Borers: Going to have to come up with a solution for SVBs. Those squash plants were looking great the last time I looked and all of a sudden they were dead. Deer and other critters: Going to have to work on exclusion of pests from the garden area. Found out deer like just about anything I plant, and the stuff they don't like they will trample. |
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Total failure for me to.
Transplanted plants then had rabbits eat everything. Replanted again only to hail flatten everything. Replanted again for the last time only to have rabbits repeat damage. Fuck it their is always next year. ps rabbit tally as of last week 11. |
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Link to the 2009 thread
Cucumbers: Plant even more next year for pickles. 14 Miss Pickler plants last year. Maybe double that next year. . Try using a lattice or something for them to grow up. Tomatoes: Be sure to treat for blight even as soon as transplanted outside. Serenade worked extremely well for blight treatment/prevention. Dad wants cherry tomatoes. Deer will decimate if outside the fence even if in cages. Carrots: One full row 35 feet long wasn't enough. Maybe plant two. (watch out of mole or mice eating top 2 inches. Peppers Plants were 4 feet tall and beautiful but produced very little. Next time add Epsom salts earlier. Maybe don't plant with extended release fertilizer. Lots of jalapeno and banana peppers to can. Start February. Also plant a hot variety for salsa. Potatoes Deer will eat tops!!! Maybe try to fence in. Think about getting new seed potatoes. Parsnips A row 15 feet long 1 foot wide was still plenty. Onions Get the candy onions. Order early. Costa's grocery sets worked really well. Sun flowers Try again for Mary Snow peas One row 35 feet long produced a lot. Plant same amount again next year. Sweet potatoes Try growing slips again but start in February. Use whole sweet potato! Don't cut in half. Broccoli Try growing again next year. About 1-2 dozen plants. Start early. Dill Don't forget to plant for dill pickles. Plant somewhere to try to allow to come up again next year. Pumpkin Got lucky and only one plant produced 3 pumpkins. 25lbs, 18lbs, and 15lbs. Start 6 seeds next year Asparagus Keep fingers crossed. Don't plant anymore. Currently 46 crowns planted. Fertilize heavy in the spring. Hope deer won' eat!!! Garlic Should have over 250 cloves planted. Might be enough to sell some. Think about trying to get another variety from Jeff or someone else. Spinach Plant more next year. Figure out way to preserve. Went to seed after a month. Chives Start some in Clermont for perment location using saved seeds. In general Get lots more canning jars when on sale. 15 more flats of pints. 5 more flats of quarts. More jelly size jars too! Try to fence in potato section. Leave garlic outside the fence. Work on driven well for water. This year water wasn't an issue. Won't stay lucky for long. Try winter cover crop next year. |
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It was way, way wet here this year, and gardening suffered from it in the long run (go figure).
Mediocre harvests of corn and tomatoes, and beans of all varieties were pretty much a total loss. Strangely, peppers seemed to do great - all came on late (some too late to mature completely), but overall a bumper crop of jalapenos, habaneros, poblanos and other odds and ends. Sadly, the Bhut jolokia's  didn't have time to fully mature, but even green they are the hottest thing in the pantry... have enough dried to last me for a while!
'taters and garlic rotted in the ground. Okra came on gangbusters but got big and tough before we had time to pick it all... saved a lot for seed, though (open-pollinated variety). Using my favored cardboard mulch method of gardening was probably the only thing that kept the whole thing from becoming just another part of our field, though. Better luck next year! |
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Extremely dry this year, the soaker hoses saved what I had planted for a while then just couldn't overcome the heat and dry clayey soil, We seemed to get about an inch of rain every 3 weeks or so but the temps in the 90's for so long was a butt buster.
I counted at least three sets of mater blossoms that didn't set. Everything seemed to suffer with BER even with a lot of bone meal added for calcium. My zucs and squash only lasted until August 9th. I lost two plantings of bush beans to the heat and finally got a good third planting. The insects gave me fits this year, especially on my maters. On the other hand the sweet taters, running okra and regular okra loved the heat and sun. This year the garden was really easy to keep weeded since the weeds didn't have any water either. 
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Sweet potatoes rock, great yeild, minimal labor (harvest excluded)
Okra did great, ants were a problem for the first time. spring and summer garden did very well. Cabbage, brocoli, kholrabi, chinese cabbages, spag squash (big hit!), yellow and zuch squash, peas, limas, and others did well. borloto beans did O.k. as did jap, poblano, and bell peppers. Tomatoes sucked! Fall garden was all eaten by peacocks and pea hens  . Finally got clearance to control the bastages from MIL and former owners of now feral birds. I've got a few recipes lined up and everything. I'll have to find out if Chef knows any preparation secrets. I will probably go after them over Christmas. I need them out of the way by Feb.
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Beets: For the second year in a row I did not thin them correctly, and therefore got very small beets. I will remember, I will remember, I will remember in 2011.
Beans: More pole beans, less bush beans. Or maybe just more of both and can aggressively. My beans didn't do well. I tried doing some dry beans this year (calypso) and only got about as many as I planted. I probably won't bother this next year. Broccoli: More, planted further apart. See notes on SFG at the end. Cabbage: More, planted further apart. See notes on SFG at the end. Carrots: Same as beets. Tomatoes: I need to stay on top of tying them to the trellis. I let the vines get ahead of me this year. They bent over and got so heavy that I was afraid to try to move them further up the trellis, so I only used about half my vertical space. Peppers: Support them this year, and plant a lot more of different varieties. My first try with hot peppers was a resounding success, while my sweets were mediocre. Try more Hungarian types. Radishes: I need to stay on top of the succession planting. They came in two large waves instead of a steady supply. Potatoes: I didn't keep up with my 4x4 boxes very well, so I don't think my data is sufficient to evaluate the technique. I will likely try again this year, but will not bother with Yukon Gold. Red Pontiacs seemed like they did decently well. Squash: Zuchinni and yellow squash were overpoweringly successful. Move them further away from other crops and try more varieties. Try winter squash in 2011. Cucumbers: Successful in 2009, didn't plant any in 2010. Plant pickling varieties in 2011. Onions: A complete failure in all regards this year. Try leeks, yellows, and reds in 2011. At least the wild chives on my property kept me going somewhat this year. Greens: Japanese red mustard did ok this year, I plan on trying several other varieties of Asian greens in 2011. Chard: Plant a patch on its own. The only thing that slows my chard down is when the squash smothers it. Peas: More. Remember innoculant in 2011. Melons: Retry Tigger melons with a larger batch of transplants to ensure that a few reach healthy maturity. Sweet potatoes: My parents proved this year that they can be successful in this region, so I need to try in 2011. I've been doing SFG for two years now. I think I want to transition some crops away from SFG and into row gardening or deep beds. Having all my plants so close together seems to lead to three successful crops (this year tomatoes, squash, and peppers) choking everything else out. My current property will have trouble supporting something more ambitious than my current garden, but I have my house on the market and hope to have a lot more space soon. I also haven't bothered getting things like asparagus beds or rubarb patches started yet as I plan to move. Hopefully 2011 will be the beginning of a large-scale home operation in perennials like those and small fruits. |
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Just wasn't into it this year. Too many things going on to maintain a full garden. Need to remember in the future that I don't have to plant the whole thing full if I think I won't have time for it all. Let a lot of stuff fend for itself, and had reduced outcome because of it. Also in general going to plant a bunch of cheap flowers and whatnot around the garden to draw in more pollinators. Will work on putting down weed barrier and a more permanent mulch solution in the walkways to give me one less thing to need to weed.
Cucumbers: Really need to find some sore of fungicide or treatment for whatever went on. Need to figure out a different way of watering them. Both beautiful raised beds of plants got wiped out in about two weeks' time from some sort of ailment that I ended up spreading around with the sprinklers. Squash: Beautiful plants, but I know that I crowded them together too much this year. Poor pollination rate, and almost no produce. The larger plants shaded out the smaller ones really quickly. Beans: Should have have a second, third, and maybe even fourth planting. Just not enough time. Should have left out some other more 'exotic' things to leave time to tend things like this that we eat a lot of. Peas: Get them started a lot earlier next year. Like, say, late January. Got too hot for them before they produced too much. Onions: Poor outcome, but I actually put my transplants down in October this year, instead of putting them in early spring. I expect a much better crop of bulb onions. Also actually put in garlis this year, so we'll see how that goes. Okra: Left it to fend for itself just as it was getting started. Did end up with a couple good pods full of seeds for next year, though, so not a total loss. Tomatoes: Planted an insane amount of plants this year. I am absolutely done with large, beefsteak type tomatoes. The Romas and cherries did wonderfully, as always, and would have done even better had I been able to fertilize them more often than I did. The large tomatoes are just more of a pain in the butt than they are worth. They quit producing much earlier, as the heat increases, and are far, far more prone to splitting with our rain cycle. I can't get the soil to drain well enough to make them happy, so they go. Peppers: Hot peppers did just as good as ever, in spite of me ignoring them. I'll give the bell peppers one more shot next year, to see if I can figure out why the hell they don't produce well. If no improvement, they're gone. Potatoes: The growing potatoes 'up' in a container thing didn't work well at all. Won't be doing it again this next year. Eggplant: Probably going to skip this next year. We don't eat it often enough, so end up giving most of it away. Also, only about every other fruit is worth eating. Haven't figured out why one will be big, shiny, and perfect, and the next one up the vine will be a little, off-colored, unhealthy thing, and so on. It seems totally random. Also bothered to get a decent fall/winter crop of greens going this year, for the first time. Going to see how that turns out for me. Overall, I ruined lots of stuff by planting more than I had time for. But I did gain interesting insight into just how long things can tend to themselves. Realized that I've been over-parenting some things in the past; that's time that can be used on pickier plants. |
| Also, an update on my vermicomposting attempt this year: I tried a control bin taking diligent care of the worms as described several places, and a second bin that was my experiment. The experimental bin I just filled up with piles of organic matter and a half pound of worms. I put a lid on it, put it in a sheltered spot outside, and ignored it for four months. Afterwards the bin was half full of vermicompost and plenty of live worms. I think the control bin was far too much effort, I hope to make a bigger bin to use the experimental method again. Easy cheesy. |
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Plans for 2011: Concentrate on long-term plantings.
Plant a couple of peach trees. At about $50 per bushel for fresh peaches, it won't take many to pay for the trees. Still want to get some grapevines started. Need to pick a variety and get them ordered. Also plan to add perennial kitchen herbs. |
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Total garden failure this year –– worst in 15 years. Very wet April -> June, then only 1.5" of rain, total, from mid-June to October. Raccoons ate every ear of corn, Tomatoes puked from the heat and lack of water. By late July, walked away from it and let the weeds take over. Planning for next year, and hoping for better weather. -Slice |
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Quoted:
Cucumbers: Really need to find some sore of fungicide or treatment for whatever went on. Need to figure out a different way of watering them. Both beautiful raised beds of plants got wiped out in about two weeks' time from some sort of ailment that I ended up spreading around with the sprinklers. For the watering, only water the base of the plants. Try not to let the water splash up on the plant. Just let it soak into the ground. As for the fungicide: I use milk. I spray the leaves once a week with a 10-40% milk to water ratio. Use only low fat or skim milk. You can even add a little baking soda in the mixture so it sticks better. Use 10-15% if you start before you get Powdery Mildew, and use the 40% if you already have it. This is pretty much the only organic way I know to control it on edible plants. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Cucumbers: Really need to find some sore of fungicide or treatment for whatever went on. Need to figure out a different way of watering them. Both beautiful raised beds of plants got wiped out in about two weeks' time from some sort of ailment that I ended up spreading around with the sprinklers. For the watering, only water the base of the plants. Try not to let the water splash up on the plant. Just let it soak into the ground. As for the fungicide: I use milk. I spray the leaves once a week with a 10-40% milk to water ratio. Use only low fat or skim milk. You can even add a little baking soda in the mixture so it sticks better. Use 10-15% if you start before you get Powdery Mildew, and use the 40% if you already have it. This is pretty much the only organic way I know to control it on edible plants. Thanks for the head's up. Yeah, I have sprinklers all over the garden, but I'm going to remove the heads from the uprights by the cucumber beds this year, and just hand water the plants. We did great the past couple years on sprinklers, but we were just getting lucky. It wasn't until I researched my problems this year that I learned I was spreading the disease around by watering them with sprinklers. I'll try the milk thing this summer. |
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My 2010 garden had very mixed results. We also had the wet spring and bone dry summer.
Potatoes: Did well. Planted in a new rocky plot and didn't expect much, but we got plenty. Nothing but kennebecs from now on. Planted some red-skins last year and hated them. Squash and Zucinni: Did well. Staggered planting over two months and had plenty for us and the hog all summer and into fall. Cucumbers: Did ok. We got enough to eat on, but not enough to can this year. Cabbage: Also well. Planted twice, matured in summer and fall. Corn: Did OK. The dry summer almost killed my sweet corn and the field corn got washed away and re-planted. In the end I got a good supply of both. Tomatoes: I give up.
Cantelope: Not good. Got a few about the size of a softball. Tasted good, but they were small! Watermelon: Not good. I can't make these grow either. I wish i could for the kids. Asparagus: Total loss. Ordered 12 "giant roots" and they rotted in the ground. I love asparagus, gotta figure this out! Blue berry bushes: Planted four, dog chewed up one and the dry weather killed two more. Then I found a wild bush in the edge of the woods. Go figure. Peaches: Got first peaches off a "flat wonderful" tree planted two years ago. Got about 12, but i don't know how good they are. My kids ate all of them.
Apples: Also got first apples from the yellow and red del "combo" tree I planted two years ago. Funny, it had about 12 yellow, and only 4 red apples. Making plans, GNNC |
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I had my first garden last year i learned a lot
Peas- the dog pushed in the fence eating and killing half the peas that were starting to grow up the fence. the dog was given an education and fence will be re-enforced this year. the other crop half of the crop did not like the heat of the summer i plan to plant them earlier than i did this year. Onions and peppers i planted from seeds and did not have any grow. i will try to start some inside or buy plants this year. Carrots- did not get bigger than an inch or two long. i'm not sure why they did not do well. i heard they like acidic soil that they do well planted next to tomatoes. i'm going to try that this year Corn- strong winds and a very wet summer knocked all of my sweet corn stalks down. it did not recover. Any ear that did produce only grew to half the size of a normal ear. i was very disappointed. Potatoes- i started them too late in the summer. i had a lot of potatoes in the crop but they did not get much bigger than the size of golfballs. Cucumbers - did great. i let them trellis up a decorative gate and had a good crop I planted grapes, blackberries and raspberry bushes. i'm interested to see if they made it through the winter and how they will do this year. |
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Eight foot tall okra proves that MD really is the South.
Stinkbugs fucking suck and spread disease around your garden. Hard Squash is tasty but it takes over a medium sized SF garden and doesn't harvest until Fall. Radishes are very easy to grow, carrots are a pain in the ass and don't deliver. Cover leaf lettuce against slugs and bunnies. Onions can stay in the ground until well after a freeze. Definitely trellis your cukes. |
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Got 30 tomato plants and 4+1/2 rows of green beans in on Sunday. We're about 1/2 done. We tried something different this year. A week ago, sprayed with roundup. Saturday of this past weekend we burried the who garden spot under mulch –– mostly dead leaves from last year + 3-4 bales of chopped straw. Then we pulled the mulch aside to plant. We'll see how it goes. I hate pulling weeds... -Slice |