I have sweet potato slips in my window sill. It never got warm enough, long enough for them to grow this summer. So I am keeping them indoors, as ornamental plants until next year. Hopefully we don't have another summer like this one. Too much water and too cool.
I only have around 350 lbs of food so far this year. Kind of sad. I should have more, but the sun just wasn't on my side. But something happens, and you just have to deal and get super creative with what you do have.
My hens have stopped laying, that or they are hiding them somewhere. My young ones have yet to begin laying. ugh! Seems like when things go wrong they go very wrong.
So how did your garden grow?
15 comments:
I'm pretty happy with what my garden did this year, but I haven't been the type to weigh my harvests and keep good records. We have enough tomato sauce to last us til next summer, I expect. Our garlic will run out sometime before the new year I think. We still have leeks and kale in the ground, as well as a few cabbages, and apples on the tree. The potatoes did well for the number we planted. My older Red Star hens are still laying some.
As always, it was a learning year in the garden. As always, things will be a little different, and I hope a little more productive, next year. We're cutting down two trees to give us more sun on the garden.
I'm with you. My garden was a disappointment this year. We had near record rainfall and record flooding. The garden didn't actually flood but is near enough to the river that there was standing flood water about 50 yards away. The water table was just below the surface. No only bad for the plants but too wet to weed much of the time so things got pretty bad.
Tomatoes didn't do well. They just split and rotted unless they were picked green. Don't even ask about the melons or squash. Yuck! The green peppers didn't do much either but for some reason we've got hot peppers galore.
Luckily my parents live 70 miles further south and much higher so I've got some things from my Mom that will help get us through.
J
My garden started out wonderfully with perfect weather the first half of the summer. Then it dried up and I didn't keep up with watering. Overall I'd say it was ok this year. Some really good, some not so much. Processing the last of the tomatoes and hot peppers today. Still have peas and beets in the ground. Trying to figure out how to harvest the persimmons in the pasture.
my first garden was pretty much a bust...a few sweet potatoes, tomatoes about 3 large harvests of basil...that's about it. we had terrible drought this year and i also planted most of my crops where there was not enought sun (beginner's luck). i feel like i learned a lot about what not to do and think next year will be better.
I have a small city garden, so I don't expect to feed us from it, just supplement local produce I buy. But what it does produce really counts, for me. The herbs alone would cost a fortune to buy. The satisfaction of watching my girls pick stuff and cook it right out of the yard, knowing they know where food comes from. The victory of watching a cabbage outlive the beetles, and become sauerkraut. And I consider it all "experimental," in preparation for the larger lot we expect to have one day soon. I'm figuring out what is worth growing, for us. Garden peas for instance, are worth growing, even if the whole crop gets sucked down in 20 minutes. They're THAT good. But I give up on tomatoes. I can get them from my neighbors during glut season.
Right now our "garden" is just some garlic waiting for spring. We started out with a bunch of vegetables but had to leave them behind when we moved this year. We are already planning next years garden though.
Had a bad one. As I expected it's the fault of the blackwalnut trees. Moving it for next year. They over took a spot my family has used pretty much sence 1916.
We had a lovely wet spring and then June tried to kill everything... we had 90 degree days, 5% humidity, and consistent 25 mph winds. We got ourselves some dried herbs... about $50 worth of mint, basil, tarragon, and parsley.
I would have to say that this year was pretty damn good considering all. We were really rushed plus we didn't get it in until June. I wussed out towards the end effectively losing the war with the grass but next time..mwahahah. It was a no go for onions this year, dont know why. Did really well on the peppers. The corn we planted we absolutely love. I will be sad when we run out of it. Turnips were good but we had a bit too much especially since Bill is the only one to eat them. We did overly well with green beans and the cukes. I planted too much considering that Im a novice canner/preserver. The tomatoes were so so. Bill froze all the ones he got his hands on. I will have to do something with them but not sure what yet. Spaghetti squash did quite well til they went moldy due to weather. And the melons were a hit. The gourds are just now doing well. I have the biggest cannonball gourds. Getting a pic today! Which reminds me I gotta find out how to do Luffas. The herb patch did extremely well. I plan on expanding it and possibly selling it next year. We have lots of plans.. Right now most of them are on hold like tilling the garden before winter cuz Bill is still off work. :( But I saved seeds as I could and I have faith that next year will be a lot better.
My garden did not do as well as I had hoped, but it was our first year going large scale, and we learned a ton, not only about how things grow here, when to plant them and harvest, nut also what people at market are willing to buy; apparently beets (which we didn't grow) are in high demand, and turnips (which we did) not so much.
My Agrden Having Been Moved 3 Times Since I Started it in January (Moveable Harvest in Pots) Have Done Fairly Well . AT least IMO Since I Live in an APT/Townhouse for Now.
Aprox 2 lb in Pearl Onions / Green Onions
Aprox 2 Lb of Jalapeno
Aprox 3 lb Sweet Pepper
Aprox 20 Lb in Tomatoes
Aprox 1 lb in Assorted Herbs
Aprox 1 lb Carrots
Aprox A Few OZ in Spinac
I Only Did a Single Crop of Radishes (2 Doz)
27 Lb
Maybe Not Much , But it has overjoyed my family to Have them. My Husband Loves Having Fresh Food So Much He Has Agreed To Fund My Garden Next Year. He Even Fell in love with The Onions and Has His Own Little Pot he Planted from Some That Had Gone to seed.
Pretty Good For Having Been Through 2 Apartments,a Houses and a Cross Country Move
phalen,
please tell me what to do with the sweet pots that have decent roots in the ground, but didn't produce...
amanda, mulch the heck out of it, use a black landscaping tarp to keep the ground warm, cover the vines with a thick plastic, and pray. I would do that and take clippings indoors. more on that here, seeding sweet potatoes
Phelan,
My garden was hit and miss. I had a lot of yellow tomatoes which are nice, but I would have loved to have had a bunch of my roma tomatoes get ripe. I stored a bunch of green tomatoes, just never got hot enough to get them ripe.
I did well on my herbs. Killed all the potatoes I planted. I have more green peppers than I care to eat in a live time and my yellow squash plant produce ONE squash.
However, my fruit trees were a complete blessing of abundance. I hope they do as well next year.
Oh, and I've gone from 9 eggs a day to maybe 4. Darn chickens.
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