I haven't really posted anything about the garden this year, so my apologies for those who enjoy those updates. Even though we had a pretty wet summer, the veggies and flowers turned out alright. And it's still going! The boys and I planted lettuce and peas a few weeks ago, so we have those coming up for the cooler weather. I'm also trying to save seeds this year for the following: nasturtiums, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, tomatoes, dill, cilantro (but saved as coriander to use), and maybe peppers if they turn out.
Pictures are absent from this post too, because we had a computer glitch. (Read: old computer died and we had to buy a new one.) So I don't have access to the most recent photos yet. I will take a few, however, because my trumpet vine is actually flowering this year (about which I'm very excited). Maybe next post.
In the meantime, I thought I'd run down a few things I've learned this year.
1) Tomato seeds in compost do, indeed, result in tomato plants throughout your garden. I suppose this depends on the efficiency of your compost system. Mine? Maybe not so good. I had a lot of volunteer plants, and most of them gave a lot of fruit. I'm good with that.
2) Don't discount a tomato plant because it doesn't look quite right. If it doesn't have blight, it might be ok. The Roma plant I bought didn't look that good, but it was the best producer this year. I froze probably five small Ziplocs of tomatoes. (I had so many cherry tomatoes I froze all the Roma.)
3) Carrots actually get bigger if you leave them in long enough! Revelation. In previous years, the boys pulled up the carrots quite early. We were away so much this summer that we had plenty of good size carrots all summer. Totally cool. And yummy.
4) Swiss chard and kale. Yummy, good for you, and easy to grow. You can sneak it into just about anything.
5) Burlap sacks as pots for tomatoes? Completely successful. I would do that again next year, as it is easy and inexpensive. The bags go in compost or yard waste after the tomatoes (or any plant for that matter) finish for the season.
6) Pole beans are still more fun than bush beans. They produce more, they are prettier, but they are itchy to pick. I relearned that lesson this year.
7) One zucchini plant is enough.
8) Much to the boys' dismay, it isn't hot enough here to grow a proper watermelon. We got one that was about 2 inches wide before it died. Not so exciting on a hot summer day.
9) I'm doing my best to come up with ten things... Not officially true, but I think peppers like strawberries. I planted a lot of peppers this year only because I had left over seeds from last year. I knew most wouldn't grow because, again, it isn't really hot enough here. However, I have two pepper plants that shared a pot with a strawberry plant (that I just plopped in there for space). These two plants are rockin' tons of little peppers! None of the others are really doing much, but this plant went wild. Not sure why, so that's my best guess. They like strawberries. We may even get to eat some of these peppers, as they are mini and seem to be changing colors.
10) Size doesn't matter. (Snicker.) Of tomato plants, that is. The plants I started from seed ended up producing just about as much as the plants that I bought. They grow so fast if the conditions are right - buy the smaller plants.
That's it. I know when I sign off, I'll think of something else. Overall, it was a fun, low maintenance year. Maybe next year we'll have more consistent sunshine. Watermelon potential, perhaps??
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