One of the end-of-year projects we always have is a review of how our garden performed. Every year we rotate crops and try new varieties, so it is nice to capture what worked and what did not. It can be a challenge, because Maggie and I garden in very different ways. For example, when I started tomatoes from seed this spring, I labeled each pot with the variety, and then labeled each tomato cage in the garden. Maggie started cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower from seed, and not only skipped labeling pots with the variety, but also skipped labelling for the type of plant. This lead to a garden bed that was simply called 'brassica'.
Gardening was a challenge this year. We got the plants and seeds into the garden the wekend of May 27, learning from the late frost we had a couple of years ago. There was rain the weekend before. After planting, we waited for rain, and waited, and waited. Unfortunately, we had another drought this summer, with our county being in the center of what was eventually classified as 'exceptional drought' by the U.S. Drought Monitor. June is usually our county's rainiest month, with over 5 inches. This year, June brought less than an inch of rain, as did July and August. Even today, we are still in the 'Severe Drought' classification, as November and December have been dry and snow-free.
Maggie watered, but focused her efforts on the seedlings and raised beds. Our garden is too large to water easily and we do not like to use water extensively from our well to avoid overuse of groundwater. The result was that many of the direct-seeded plants did not germinate, or quickly withered. We did not produce more than a couple of cucumbers, and the beans also did not fare well. The lack of water also increased animal pressure, with critters eating the tops of the peas and digging up freshly planted strawberry and raspberry plants. The brocilli and cauliflower also performed poorly, but we did get cabbage. Onions also did poorly, but that may have been the result of a planting method we tried this year.
We did get plenty of tomatoes. We liked the Chadwick Cherry tomatoes, which produced a larger than normal cherry tomato. Gardners Delite, a smaller charry tomato, was also a good performer. Our favorite was the Sungold Cherry, an orange variety. The Sheboygan and Brandywine also produced well. Cherokee Purple are nice tomatoes, but they seem to produce all at once and then fade, while the Brandywine, Shaboygan, and Trophy tomatoes produe all season.
The peppers did not produce as well as last year, but still did well. We grew Feher Ozon paprika peppers, which we dried and ground up for paprika powder. It is a low-growing pepper plant that benefits from being staked to keep the peppers off the ground. The Tolli's Sweet Italian peppers did very well, producing tons of peppers. We also got plenty of Serrano peppers, but the Jalapeno 'M' variety and California Wonder peppers were not as productive as previous years. I have been experimenting with pruning, and did not prune as much as last season, so perhaps that is a technique we need to use more.
Our zucchini (Fordhook and Black Beauty) and yellow summer squask (Early Prolific) did well, and the Yellow Scallop pattypan was a fair producer. We got plenty of pie pumpkins (Sugar Pie), and a couple of larger pumpkins (Autumn Gold Bush) that could have been more productive.
The asparagus patch, in its third year, continued to ramp up production, although the purple variety we planted seems to be slower in getting established. The garlic bed produced plenty for fall and winter storage and for re-planting (we have not bought seed garlic for three years now), but the bush beans we succession planted after the garlic struggled in the absence of rain.
In general, we produced plenty of produce to eat and preserve this year. The paprika was a fun experiment. After two years of discussion, I finally have agreed that fencing the garden is probably needed. I don't like the restrictiveness a fence creates or the cost, but the woodchucks and deer did a lot of damage. We set the corner posts this fall, and will get the rest completed in the spring. Digging holes, it is apparent that we are in a drought, because the soil is so dry to a depth of at least 3 feet. In a month or two, we will revisit what went well and what did not, and begin laying out the 2024 garden. For now, we just pray and wait for rain and snow, so the plants can get off to a good start in the spring.
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