Such a garden geek – the harvest is on and I’m already re-organizing my plan for next years garden. The revision comes at the expense of this years successes and not so successes. Some things are particular to this year but most lessons will go on to make for better, more productive harvest for years to come. My goal is use everything we produce, whether eaten fresh or preserved for winter and spring. So here is my Top Ten lessons learned from 2011.
#1-Will not plant tender spring plants through weed fabric. The weed fabric allows sowbugs and earwigs to feast on tender shoots while providing them all too convenient cover from which to chow on early bloomers like beans and chard. Just have to resolve to weed those rows.
#2-More successive plantings. Instead of putting in an entire row of edible, plant half the row and 30 days later plant the other. This strategy works well for anything you would like to have a constant supply of. This strategy works really well with dill, cilantro, greens; from collards to kale, peas (either snow or snap), lettuce and salad bowl greens, radishes and other short term crops.
#3-Will repeat the excellent combination of tomatoes, borage, carrots and marigolds. This companion planting group works especially well for producing best flavor and “no pests” scenario. Excellent example of organic gardening and its pretty, too!
#4-Will plant both types of cucumbers next year as the price of pickling cukes is crazy this year. Realize you can make pickles from slicing cucumbers, suggest you use a bit of alum to keep the crisp factor in your canning to adjust.
#5-Will plant all hardneck or heirloom garlic from local stock that I can find this fall. Preferred by chefs, hardneck garlic is more flavorful that softneck and you can always purchase softneck cheaply at your local grocer.
#6-Will NOT plant experimental tomatoes or patio or cherry type. Good old celebrities, early girls and better boys all do well here with a bit of grooming. May possibly do a “grape tomato” in a potted scenario to satisfy that garden wanderlust.
#7-Will find out if one can grow Peperoncini peppers here. Would like to add peperoncini to the canning list. Last year we put up a batch of mixed peppers that we used on everything from philly sandwiches to barbecue sauce with great success.
#8-Will not use valuable raised bed space to grow onions. We are lucky enough to live in a onion producing area. One can pick up bags of local onions on the cheap during the season and they store well.
#9-Will divide and transplant the french tarragon. This plant was touted as a “trailing vine” and it is basically a sprawling upright bush. Creates too much shade where it is, grows like crazy and provides more tarragon than I would use in years. I will use the freeze method this fall. Divide the plant, donate the starts to the fall plant sale with correct growth habit noted. Local cooks should scoop it up.
#10-Will do my best to undermine the myth of 5-10 year weed fabric. Weed fabric used in a garden setting has a “life” of no more than two years if you water on or under it. It is a very useful tool in the garden, but just plan on replacing it.
That about wraps up the Garden Lessons from 2011 to date. Have yet to harvest the horseradish and plant the garlic. Need to add a bit more organic material and manure to the area where the garlic will be planting. According to the planting/moon cycle from the Almanac September 20-22nd are the best days this month for planting root crops, bulbs and transplanting. Next best dates are October 13-15, then October 24-25 will be your last shot for root crops in zone 5. Let’s all hope the weather concurs.
Here’s to happy harvesting this fall. Hope you are inundated with tomatoes, peppers and squash. If you are looking for a recipe that uses those “boat sized” zuchinni, check here for one of my favorites.
