Hello! It’s been a while. The last time we posted about the garden was in March 2023, and we only showed the drip irrigation system then. We never showed the veggies growing or other structural improvements.
So, here are highlights from 2022 and 2023. We learned what grows nicely in the garden and what doesn’t. The location is a sunny spot in the field, so the plants need to withstand a lot of sunlight and heat during the summer.
First up… structural improvements! We added raised beds to the garden. The field is all clay soil, so the plants needed help. Adding a few inches of compost and garden soil above the surface helped a lot. We purchased cement garden blocks from the hardware store, then used them as corners for the beds. The blocks have slots, which allow for 2″ x 4″ cedar planks to slide in between, forming the border. The beds can theoretically be taken apart and moved easily.
We added one garden arch near the entrance! My dream is to use cattle panel to form archways, but this arch purchased from Amazon works nicely. Last year, we grew Zucchino Rampicante squash over it. This year, we’re going to try morning glory flowers.
We also invested in hoops and mesh netting, which protect leafy greens and more delicate plants. The mesh provides some shade and keeps the bugs out. You can water over the mesh, so there’s no need to lift it every day.
Next, we added trellises for plants to climb. They work great for tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, peas, and beans. Any plant that grows like a vine. I like the sturdy wire frames. They can fold in half and stand like a triangle, or they can stand flat and straight like fencing when connected to t-posts with zip-ties.
Finally, we added rain barrels around the house. We have three 55-gallon barrels connected to the gutter. It’s amazing how quickly the barrels fill with water… It only takes one good rain storm to fill them completely. When you think about the total surface area of your roof, that is a lot of water to flow through the gutters.
Ian bought a plastic 60-gallon water tank, then strapped it down to wagon. So, we can take water from the rain barrels, then transfer over to the garden. We can push the wagon manually, or Ian hitches the wagon to our riding lawn mower. Nice for saving money on the water bill. We used the watering hose for the garden only a few times last year.
Next up: garden friends. We had special guests visit the garden. Some favorites include lightning bugs, ladybugs, butterflies, and frogs. The frogs are fun. They have gold-colored eyes and you can hear them croaking at night during the summer.
Not pictured here, but we’ve seen praying mantis and salamanders. And I’m noticing more earthworms when we dig around the garden beds.
Veggies that grow nicely in the garden… we tried growing all sorts of things: basil, bush beans, cucumber, eggplant, green onion, kale, lettuce, okra, onion, potatoes, radish, squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, turnip, marigold, and sunflowers.
Moderate success with attracting our house cat and weeds.
For the weeds, we eventually cleared out the pathway between the garden beds, then put down weed barrier and mulch. It looks better now, but to be determined if it stays clear during the summer.
Veggies that don’t grow well… we tried corn, but the grasshoppers made a mess of that. I think the garden bed is not enough big either. Corn likes to be in a big block, so they can be pollinated by wind.
We also struggled with zucchini and yellow squash. They grew okay, but there are squash bugs in our garden, and we battled with vine borers. The pests make it more trouble than it’s worth. The squash plants are very sharp too, with these fine needle-like hairs all over the stem. Not fun to grow.
We are experimenting with eggplants, beans, and peas. Also with onions and potatoes. We had some success, but not a lot. I’m sure we can do better with more trial and error.
For the eggplants and peas… it gets so hot in the garden. They might do better with shade. To be determined.
Harvest. We were pleased with the leafy greens. The lettuce, kale, and swiss chard were prolific last year. We also enjoyed a steady stream of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. Then the occasional carrot, eggplant, okra, radish, and bush beans made an appearance.
The big tomatoes produced all season, but didn’t yield a big harvest until near the end of summer. It seems like they all became ready at the same time. They were slow growers. We’re going to try different varieties next time.
Finally, the green onions were also abundant all year long. At the end of fall, I pulled them from the garden, then chopped and froze several gallon-sized bags.
We had some small yields of regular onions and potatoes. I’m hoping we can do better with them this year.
Gardening for 2024 is underway. We have a lot of seedlings in the grow room. The same veggies mentioned above, but with the addition of bell peppers and jalapenos. Outside, the garlic we planted last winter made an appearance. Plenty of green tops.
The strawberries never died from last year. They even stayed green throughout winter and are starting to flower now. They did not produce fruit last summer, so I’m curious if they’ll make fruit now.
I transplanted morning glories and pea plants outside. Let’s see how they do. I hear that peas don’t like being transplanted, but they wouldn’t sprout when directly sown in the garden.
We have volunteer lettuce, which grew from fallen seeds in the garden bed. There’s about eight volunteer plants. They are doing very well. Then I planted more seedlings in the grow room.
New flower friends in the yard… tulips! We bought them from the local university, which does a big sell on tulip bulbs every fall. So far, I’ve seen yellow, red, and a couple orange flowers.
In the front yard, it’s time to divide the sedum autumn joys. Then also, we had some herbs in pots last year. I’m curious if the herbs will return from seed and regrow in their pots.
Finally, we put up a dome-shaped greenhouse. Ian has more photos and info about that project for later.
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