Monday, October 15, 2018

Evaluating the 2018 Kitchen and Cutting Gardens

 
It's never too early to start dreaming; to start planning for the next gardening season. First, however, it helps to assess the previous year's successes and failures. I evaluate each year's vegetable crop for flavor, disease resistance, and performance. I determine which varieties we liked and which failed. I assess flowers for their visual appeal and impact, considering their color interest, texture, and unique features. This isn't as big a job as it sounds because from year to year I tend to repeat the tried and true, with just a few new varieties. There are unexpected failures and successes, however, that are often weather related. This summer's record rainfall and numerous violent storms were enormously challenging. As a result, I spent far less time on maintenance than usual. The gardens quickly became a jungle. You can see the rapid growth in the two pictures above: The bottom photograph, taken at the end of May, shows grandson, Jonathan, admiring the neat beds after we had sowed peas, beets, pole beans, bush beans, zucchini, cucumber, parsnips, carrots, cosmos, and nasturtium. I captured the top picture only 81/2 weeks later. This annual miracle never ceases to amaze me. We followed the plan I developed back in March; you can read about it HERE. When Jon and I had finished the direct sowing, I planted the peppers, tomatoes, zinnias, marigolds, and snapdragons that I had started indoors from seeds.  Row covers protect cabbage, kale, and broccoli from insect damage. In the cold frame, I started Swiss chard and lettuce. We anxiously awaited all the seeds to germinate and the seedlings to develop.

Swiss chard and lettuce in the cold frame
Parsnip seeds are the last to germinate, so we are excited when they appear.

Today, the combination kitchen and cutting gardens are a tangled mess. I dodged raindrops to take the following picture this morning:


Here are some of this year's vegetables that performed well:

One zucchini plant is enough to keep us in vegetable dishes and zucchini bread
I protected the beautiful red cabbage from insect damage with a row cover
 'Mammoth Melting' snow peas continued to produce even in the heat of summer
Red beets are always very successful for me - tried and true 'Detroit Dark Red'

For the third successive season, I had little success with tomatoes - they were too soft and watery. Three strikes and they are out. I decided against growing any next year as I can't justify the amount of work involved. Likewise, the peppers were disappointing. We didn't like the texture and flavor of the pole beans, but loved the bush variety. I plan to purchase 'Rattlesnake' pole beans next year. Of the many I've grown over the years, it's delicious and is very interesting visually.

The 'Straight Eight' cucumbers and 'Blue Lake' bush beans were wonderful. Not so the peppers and tomatoes.
Peppers started well but did not receive enough sun due to the rainy summer

We are expecting our first frost this week. Then I will begin harvesting the parsnips. You have probably heard me say that they taste so much better after being touched with frost.

I still have carrots and parsnips to harvest.
The garden in July. The ferny plant, bottom left, is cosmos

The cutting-garden flowers suffered from the dreadful wet, stormy weather, plus it was often too wet, too hot, or too humid for me to spend time outdoors deadheading. The late cosmos are still blooming, although mostly blown flat to the ground. The zinnias are fading fast; the first frost will finish them all.

Cosmos bloomed late and is still producing its pretty flowers
Nasturtium and marigolds bloomed reliably
As 2019 is the year of the snapdragon, I will plant them again next year. Maybe some will reseed.
Essential for pollinators, the stand of milkweed at the bottom of the kitchen/cutting garden
The bees and butterflies were busy in my cutting garden all summer in spite of the awful weather
There were so many monarchs this year, even on the fading zinnias

I have some brassica plants for the cold frame, as I hope to extend the season. Unfortunately, the heavy rain found its way into the back of the cold frame making the soil too wet for planting. I need to contact my handyman for help. Maybe a gutter under the eaves ...

Swiss chard in the very wet cold frame and a tray of brassicas
Cauliflower,  Brussel sprouts, and broccoli waiting to be planted.

I feel my kitchen garden and my cutting garden were less successful than usual this year. By making an honest evaluation I am able to plan for the next garden season. I know it will be much better! Don't you agree?

I am linking to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day even though it was too wet to take pictures of today's flowers for the meme. I look forward to visiting Carol's wonderful blog, May Dreams Gardens, to see what is blooming around the world on this Bloom Day.

Pamela x


A birthday gift that makes me smile!

I love reading your comments. I hope you leave one so I’ll know you visited! 
I look forward to visiting your blog in return.

30 comments:

  1. Very impressive! You are so organized, and it looks like you had quite a productive growing season!

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    1. Thanks, Beth. You are right, we got a pretty good harvest in spite of the weather.

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  2. Your garden is so incredible! Do you have a secret recipe for soil in the raised beds? Your plants are so lush.

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    1. I add organic matter every year. I prefer mushroom compost.

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  3. Your fall garden is looking great and those canned beets just make my mouth water. You've got a lot of good eating ahead. I do especially love that pretty pink cosmos.

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    1. Thanks, Dorothy. Jon and I also made freezer pickles with the glut of cucumbers we harvested. And I froze some bush beans.

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  4. I love the way zucchini grows - so unique. I'm part of a Facebook group for my area that talks about gardening, and most of them have mentioned struggling with tomatoes. Either from pests or disease, not many have seemed to make it. So sad because ripe, home-grown tomatoes taste so good!

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    1. I didn't have a pest or disease problem this year. Just too wet and not enough sun, I think.

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  5. Pam, your garden takes my breath away.

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  6. It's a good time of year to sit back and take stock of what did well and what didn't. This year was the first year for a long time that I haven't grown tomatoes and I really missed them. Why not try a bush variety which doesn't need as much work as they don't need their sideshoots pinching out or the stem tying in, or a tumbler which you could plant in a hanging basket, again, not as much work.

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    1. Good ideas, Jo. But I think I am going to give it a rest this year. A local farmer has an excellent store that I'll use.

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  7. Your garden is spectacular. I can't imagine how many hours and hours you spend tending it. Very impressive.

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    1. Thank you. Welcome to my blog! I'll pop over and see yours soon.

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  8. Lovely plants, especially the swiss chard.

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    1. I love the red stalks of the Swiss chard, too, Endah.

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  9. Everything looks GREAT ! Yes, the record rainfall and violent storms hit us also...the oh so invasive morning glories love it.
    Hubby just pulled up the last of his crop and is now getting ready (in limited space) for garlic. We love garlic but more so his Dad at age 92 loves the heirloom garlic more, so most of it is for him whom eats 3 large gloves a day.

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  10. Wow Pam! It looks like you have had a successful year in your garden. Everything looks so beautiful and lush and I also love the photos of the bumble bee and Monarch pollinating away! All your efforts have certainly paid off!

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    1. I still feel this year wasn't as good as usual, but I am grateful for the successes. I was delighted to see so many monarchs.

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  11. Pam, all in all it looks like you have had a successful year. True enough about the parsnips tasting better after a touch of frost, same goes for swedes which you will know are almost the staple diet in Scotland, well, maybe once upon a time. Thank you for leaving a comment on my blog. Unfortunately I can not respond. I am locked out of my dashboard seems like the files have been corrupted when the site crashed, nothing to do with virus. Its to do with the new wordpress editor Gutenberg, suggestion is it was not compatible with some of my plugins or theme. I have been told it may be damaged beyond repair, pity after twelve years. Take care, Alistair

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    1. Oh no, Alistair. This is terrible news. I hope you were given the wrong information and it is possible to repair your blog. If not, maybe you could start over with a simple Blogger one like mine. I sincerely hope you don't stop blogging completely.

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    2. Well Pam,after all my drama, its a happy ending. Its taken two weeks. A developer with loads of experience had checked it out and said it was beyond repair. However my host provider persevered and eventually came up with the solution.

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    3. I am so happy for you Alistair and look forward to reading many more of your wonderful postings.

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  12. We do this same assessment every year. We tried Lima beans this year, and although tasty, shelling them was too much work for too little reward. You’d need a much larger plot to make it worthwhile. It’s back to pole beans for me. And I won’t do cucamelons again. They were adorable, but not really all that tasty. Do you have any zucchini tips for me? The squash bugs get them every year.

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    1. I plant my zucchini in a different spot each year. Rotating the crops seems to help. I inspect the blossoms each morning and spray squash bugs with insecticidal soap. I am an organic gardener, so don't use anything more severe. I tear off any areas of leaves that have eggs on them.

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  13. Hi Pam, It sounds like you're disappointed with your gardens, but I think anyone else (including me!) would be very pleased with all the lovely vegetables and flowers you managed to grow despite the weather thrown at you -- your garden photos are beautiful! I hope you don't give up on tomatoes -- you might have a hot, sunny summer next year, perfect for delicious tomatoes straight off the vine. You could just buy one start of Early Girl or something else easy to grow, so you don't invest much effort. Some of our tomatoes split in late summer because we had a mini-drought followed by a lot of rain, but many of them were still good -- unlike our basil, which utterly failed for some reason.... Who knows? Hope you're well this Autumn, Best, -Beth

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    1. I was disappointed this year, Beth. But in retrospect it could have been much worse. Part of the problem was that I took three trips. I can't leave my garden for that long in the summer. I have learned my lesson. To cut down the work, I may buy one tomato plant next year and not start any from seed. Hope you are well, too, this season.

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  14. Hi Pamela, well, my gardens were a tangled mess this year too. Too much family drama (my mom is sick again) and too much rain. I try never to complain about rain because we get so little of it in Oklahoma, but it's been raining now since September. Nearly every day. I'm ready for some beautiful October sunshine. I have bulbs to plant! We did get a lot of heat so my tomatoes and peppers performed beautifully. I had too many to eat. Beets, on the other hand.... You can tell we live in such different climates. Much love to you.~~Dee

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    1. So sorry to hear about your mom, Dee. Prayers. Yes, our growing conditions are very different. Love to you.

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