So my first-year vegetable garden harvest is complete.
It was fun to have a small garden, and experiment with lots of different varieties of vegetables. We didn't know what to expect, other than to learn more about what we might want to do in upcoming years.
Some of the plantings worked out really well - others, not so well. All of the herbs flourished, probably because they are so simple to grow and were planted in a great spot. Some of the tomato varieties were delicious - others were tasteless. None of the squashes or cucumbers did anything at all - they were the biggest disappointment.
Next year, we'll grow fewer varieties, and concentrate on the vegetables where "home-grown" really makes a difference. Tomatoes for sure, and zucchinis. And I'll have to pay more attention to the variety and location for cucumbers. We'll grow herbs again, probably more varieties, but in smaller bunches.
I believe I wasn't as careful with the placement of plants as I need to be. I ended up having some tall plants shading the smaller plants. And I need to be more careful with stakes and cages. Some of the tomato plants ended up far taller than I had anticipated, and taller than the tomato cages could handle.
Overall, the garden was fun to do, looked nice in the back yard, and yielded enough vegetables to make it worthwhile, without consuming too much time maintaining it. Now, I can't wait for next spring!
Successes
- Basil
- Chili Red Pepper
- Chives
- Curled Parsley
- Hot Red Cherry Pepper
- Husky Cherry Red VF Tomato
- Patio Tomato
- Rosemary
Mixed Results
- Big Boy Tomato
- Bonnie Bell Hybrid Pepper
- Bush Blue Lake Beans
- Cherry Belle Radish
- Red Bell Pepper
- Sweet Treat Carrot
Failures
- Black Prince Tomato
- Boston Pickling Cucumber
- Burpless Bush Hybrid Cucumber
- Butterstick Squash
- Fordhook Zucchini
- Sugar Baby Watermelon
This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
 | My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance. I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing. Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/. |
Hi Joe! I planted my first garden this year as well and agree that it is quite a learning experience. There are definitely a few things I'd do differently next year. As for cucumbers, I had a real problem in the beginning getting them to produce anything as just when they would start popping out of the soil, the slugs would devour them (we had a lot of rain in June this year). I found that Sluggo really helped combat that problem. Eventually I was able to get a couple of plants to survive (after replanting the seeds three times). I also highly recommend the cucumber trellis at Gardener's Supply (gardeners.com, I think). All sides of the cukes were perfectly green and I easily planted all my lettuce and herbs underneath it (they like it a little shady in the heat of the summer anyway). I went the raised bed, square foot garden route and loved how self-contained it was and few weeds I had. My biggest surprises were jalapenos and kohlrabi. Both were really easy to grow and I ended up with quite a few! Kohlrabi is delicious and has a unique flavor - it's surprising supermarkets don't sell it!
ReplyDeleteI could go on and on about my garden and how much fun it was but back to work. :)
Thanks for posting an update! I was curious!
Morgan (VT)
Thanks for the comment and tips, Morgan.
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice any slugs, but the cukes just died anyway. Rather disappointing.
Lots of things to try differently next year!