Every year I expand my garden and every year I feel like I get the same amount out of it! OK, not quite that bad, but I do feel like gardening and farming are lessons in humility and patience. Every year I get better results in one area while getting my teeth kicked in somewhere else.
This year the big better was the potatoes, planted for the first time last year late and haphazardly, this year did 16' of row on time properly hilled and got over 15# of good spuds out of 2# of seed. Also had decent results with Luther Hill sweet corn (an old heirloom) and will go bigger with corn next year. Also have been pretty happy with an heirloom zucchini, Costata Romanesco. Big plants, not super productive, but the zucchini are really better: denser, nicer flavor, prettier, and don't turn to mush when cooking. Will definitely grow them again.
The hard fails have been peppers and eggplant. Last year they were hobbled by incredible rain (16" in July alone) while this year they got stunted from a cold first half of summer. I have a northern-optimized pepper variety (Highlander, an Anaheim type) that's doing OK but all my others have failed. Eggplant finally took off in late July after a week of searing heat and now waiting to see if we stay warm enough to get a little out of them. Next year I am going to put up a high tunnel since I'm in Zone 5B where two extra weeks of good season on each end would be a 33% increase.
Tomatoes have been a mixed bag. I always plant a few Early Girls and they have been reliable as always. I was underwhelmed with Cherokee Purple last year and so far am underwhelmed with Black Krim this year, I think they're a better tasting tomato than the CPs but the CPs yielded better and I may try them again. I trialed a couple other curious varieties (Aosta Valley from Fedco, Midnight Roma from Row 7) and so far they've also lagged with very low yields. I'll keep experimenting but will probably drop next year to more early girls and maybe one or two other types to try out. The EGs just power through with good results every single time. Maybe I'll really make a point of trying grafting next year... always something more to try in this game.
Regarding blight, I had a lot of it last year, owing to the rain. I will say the Brandywines and Cherokee Purples put up a good fight (they have decent resistance for an heirloom) but I probably got a month more out of them thanks to Daconil. Copper/sulfur sprays can work if you get them on before it's progressed too much but they were not working for me. But I've also become pretty religious about single-stemming and heavily pruning the lower 12-18".
The most frustrating part though is the whole having to wait 6 months before I can start the cycle again. I'm learning to grow deeper into the fall, spinach and brassicas and other things that don't mind a little frost, even tapped a couple of trees last March and made a pint of very good maple syrup, but all of those are just things to keep me busy waiting for the main event to begin. A friend of mine says he's learned to love the rhythms of nature, but I think he's either a nut or a liar. May to November, I can deal with that, but December through April wear on me.
Every year I expand my garden and every year I feel like I get the same amount out of it! OK, not quite that bad, but I do feel like gardening and farming are lessons in humility and patience. Every year I get better results in one area while getting my teeth kicked in somewhere else.
This year the big better was the potatoes, planted for the first time last year late and haphazardly, this year did 16' of row on time properly hilled and got over 15# of good spuds out of 2# of seed. Also had decent results with Luther Hill sweet corn (an old heirloom) and will go bigger with corn next year. Also have been pretty happy with an heirloom zucchini, Costata Romanesco. Big plants, not super productive, but the zucchini are really better: denser, nicer flavor, prettier, and don't turn to mush when cooking. Will definitely grow them again.
The hard fails have been peppers and eggplant. Last year they were hobbled by incredible rain (16" in July alone) while this year they got stunted from a cold first half of summer. I have a northern-optimized pepper variety (Highlander, an Anaheim type) that's doing OK but all my others have failed. Eggplant finally took off in late July after a week of searing heat and now waiting to see if we stay warm enough to get a little out of them. Next year I am going to put up a high tunnel since I'm in Zone 5B where two extra weeks of good season on each end would be a 33% increase.
Tomatoes have been a mixed bag. I always plant a few Early Girls and they have been reliable as always. I was underwhelmed with Cherokee Purple last year and so far am underwhelmed with Black Krim this year, I think they're a better tasting tomato than the CPs but the CPs yielded better and I may try them again. I trialed a couple other curious varieties (Aosta Valley from Fedco, Midnight Roma from Row 7) and so far they've also lagged with very low yields. I'll keep experimenting but will probably drop next year to more early girls and maybe one or two other types to try out. The EGs just power through with good results every single time. Maybe I'll really make a point of trying grafting next year... always something more to try in this game.
Regarding blight, I had a lot of it last year, owing to the rain. I will say the Brandywines and Cherokee Purples put up a good fight (they have decent resistance for an heirloom) but I probably got a month more out of them thanks to Daconil. Copper/sulfur sprays can work if you get them on before it's progressed too much but they were not working for me. But I've also become pretty religious about single-stemming and heavily pruning the lower 12-18".
The most frustrating part though is the whole having to wait 6 months before I can start the cycle again. I'm learning to grow deeper into the fall, spinach and brassicas and other things that don't mind a little frost, even tapped a couple of trees last March and made a pint of very good maple syrup, but all of those are just things to keep me busy waiting for the main event to begin. A friend of mine says he's learned to love the rhythms of nature, but I think he's either a nut or a liar. May to November, I can deal with that, but December through April wear on me.
Checking in on you. Hope that pesky writer's block is losing up and will dissolve in the new year. Miss your voice and humor!
H.D.: are you coming back to us or should we abandon hope, all who have entered here?
Thank God you're back and you made my sister feel better about her tomato failure
Welcome back; you've been missed.
Have you checked soil pH? Did you lime? Hard to put too much lime down.