Gardening Re-think

I have mentioned before that we had great luck with our organic garden the year before last and then last year, we massively expanded our garden and proceeded to have horrible luck. I am {yet again} re-thinking the garden. This year, I will have a lot more time to devote to the endeavor so that is helpful. I will have time to learn how to can, preserve and create. I will also have time to train, prune, weed and learn about soil nutrients and other tricks of the pros that help in growing a magnificent garden.

I am especially committed to making a great garden this year because we are trying to save green {the money kind} and produce is supposed to become astronomically expensive. Besides, there is something really great about knowing where your produce came from and what {in our case, none} chemicals were used in the production of the produce. An interesting side note is that I loooove garden grown tomato's out of our garden. I haaaaate any other tomato's, like will not touch them. I am a picky tomato eater. They have to be bright in color, crisp in texture and crunch and NOT mushy at ALL. {Let's not even get into how I am with bananas...slightly green, no brown spots, no mush, not overly sweet...}

In the first year {2009}, our garden list was as follows {I am also making note of whether it grew or not} I have made things that grew very well green, OK or well Orange and Didn't grow red

• Zucchini - Grew like crazy
• Yellow Squash - Grew ok
• Lettuce (mixed) - Grew very well
• Kale - Grew like crazy
• Carrots - Grew well
• Mint - Grew very well
• Tomato's (several varieties) - Grew very well
• Bush beans - Grew well
• Pole Beans - Grew well
• Snap peas - Grew well
• Cucumber - Barely grew
• Yellow cucumber (pole variety) - Grew well
• Bell peppers - Did not grow
• Basil - Grew very well

Int the second year {2010} our garden list was as follows

• Lettuce (new mix, hated it) - Grew very well
• Onions (yellow and red) - Grew ok, got too wet and rotted or stopped getting bigger
• Strawberries - Plants grew, berries did not. Plants took over garden, became a weed
• Tomato's (many varieties) - did not grow
• Carrots - Did not grow
• Mint - Did not re-plant, grew back from previous year, became a weed
• Zucchini - Grew like crazy
• Yellow Squash - Barely grew
• Pole Beans - Barely grew
• Snap peas - Barely grew
• Bell peppers - Didn't grow
• Vine Watermelon - Did not grow
• Potato's - Grew very well
• Corn - Grew well
• Cantaloupe - Did not grow
• Pumpkins (various) - Grew very well
• Blueberries - Not fruit bearing this year
• Raspberries - Not fruit bearing this year
• Basil - Did not grow

As you can see, the years were very different and with the major expanse of garden, we did not end up with more produce. So this year, I am re-thinking the garden and what I will plant. I will not be planting bell peppers. Lesson learned. I also will not be planting and melons. Sad. I will not be planting Corn either. Yes, corn grew well, but there were several things that I hated about growing corn. It took up a ton of space, it was all ready at the same time, there were earwigs in the husks (which are good for the corn because they are eating the bad bugs but nasty to peel), and once our corn was ready - corn was practically being given away at farmers markets and grocery stores. No corn. 

I will be trying some new tactics as well. No pole beans. I will be planting bush beans only. I will plant the vine cucumbers again in the place of where the beans would have gone. I will be trying to dig out the mint. I never imagined that mint would become a total weed. No more mint in the garden unless it is potted. I will be trying to eradicate strawberries. This is another thing, like corn, that I will either purchase from someone else or not eat. I have had enough of strawberries and their creepers that establish new strawberries and take over my garden. 

Weed 1 and weed 2. How sad

I will be adding some new things to my garden to see how well they grow. Broccoli, beets and new lettuce varieties. Maybe I will even do some spinach. We are going to try something new with herbs. We are planning on building a box on or near our back door to plant herbs in. That way, they are right outside the door and I will be more likely to use them. 

I spent some time today getting the gardens ready for more planting. I have weeded and "tilled" (I did it with one of those open hoe's) 3 of the 4 garden beds. The final one has some new strawberries that need to be pulled and the mint that will have to be dug out with a shovel and it started raining so I bailed. 

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I plan on spending some time getting my hands dirty (and no doubt, Mr. Helpful will be getting his paws dirty) in the garden. I will be recruiting Nick to help me set up the raspberry vines. We will be planting our raspberries in a raised bed. Better drainage and (hopefully) fewer weeds. I need to move several of my blueberries and get several more. I will be planting the second row of snap peas and re-planting the carrots and broccoli because guess what, they aren't even sprouting. I may get a jump on bush beans but I will be consulting the farmer's almanac. 

In the mean time, here is my to do list before planting:

• Obtain soil testing kit and test ph
• Fix any problems with ph (I suspect the soil is acidic because there is a ton of moss)
• Add nutrients to soil (I will be talking to the friendly staff at a garden center for this)
• Building tomato cages (I will be doing wood ones from here forward, the metal ones are cheap and need to be purchased new each year)
• Making a planting schedule (following the farmer's almanac)
• Kill the grass surrounding the beds, fabric, add bark mulch

Whew. I'm tired just looking at the list. I will keep you updated on the progress of the garden and let you know what the friendly people at the garden centers have to say about nutrients, etc.