Our Garden

September 3rd, 2011 | Author: Christopher | Filed under: Landscaping | Tags: gardening | 5 Comments »

Now that the main growing season is pretty much completed, I thought it’d be a good idea to share with you what worked and what didn’t this summer.

In April, I ordered several seed packets from Johnny’s Selected Seeds out of Winslow, Maine. Another site had recommended them as well as Seed Savers Exchange from Decorah, Iowa. In retrospect, it probably would have made more sense to order from them, but the selection at Johnny’s fit what we were looking for better.

We wanted a few different varieties of tomatoes, romaine lettuce, herbs and some other vegetables. We ended up with the Five Star Grape, Sun Gold, Yellow Mini, Valencia, Moskvich and Ridgeline romaine. I also picked up some carrot, celery, green onion, cucumber and cilantro seeds. As for our parsley and basil, we just picked up a plant for each at Lowe’s.

The seeds were started in growing trays inside and left to grow for about a month. Once the danger of frost had passed, we built our raised beds and set up our garden.

Tomato plants in the large planters and in the back of the beds, herbs in the small planters and the rest of the veg in the remaining bed space.

It grew, and grew, and didn’t yield, and didn’t yield, and then finally…

It took forever, but we started getting those tomatoes. The cucumber went crazy until Lisey found it. She then promptly ate every single one to the point where she broke all the green onions, as you can see above. The celery and carrots never really worked. The Yellow Minis yielded a ridiculous amount, as did the Sun Gold. The Five-Star Grape, not as much. The Moskvich was a disaster, with end-rot on almost every single fruit, and the Valencia just began yielding recently.

So, much more luck with the cherry and grape varieties. I also learned that if you want decent performance from any vegetable, don’t put massive tomato plants behind them to block the sun.

The cilantro didn’t do too well, but the parsley, and particularly the basil performed quite well. I do get much more satisfaction from growing plants from seed, but when it comes to that basil, sometimes it’s just easier to go with the plant. You pay $5 for a plant that’ll last you all summer long, when it’s nearly the same price for a small bunch of fresh herbs from the grocery.

So, a success? Partially. I’ve learned where I can plant things and where I can’t; learned what vegetables work well and what don’t. Basically, you just need to experiment with your own garden. Learn which spots get the best sun, which have the best soil. The first year, you’ll have some success, but it’s every year after that that you’ll get better, and get more of everything. So keep trying, because there’s nothing that gives more satisfaction than eating a meal from your own backyard.

---