Garden Notes To Self — August
I’ve reached the point of the Summer garden where I’m looking forward to cleaning it out, topping it with a layer of compost, and saying “See you next Spring”. I’m tired. The plants are tired. But we’re both still working and producing, so the show must go on. I’m still holding my breath every time a storm rolls in that we don’t get the violent hail that completely took out my garden two years ago (pictured below). It’s been a very hot summer, especially compared to last year’s nonstop rain and destructive flooding that our town is still recovering from. Hailstorm nervousness aside, it’s been a great gardening season so far. Our freezer is very full, onions are braided and hanging in the root cellar, and jars of pickled goods are stacking the shelves.
Beloved sweet peas in the morning
Hail storm from 2022 that violently battered all our plants. Everything came back really strong after this, and taught me a life lesson in resilience
My gardening journal is filled with scattered thoughts, messy handwriting, sometimes dirt, and endless to-do lists. I thought I’d share some notes from the 2024 garden. It’s random. Forgive me. To make up for that, I’ll include my favorite images of the year as well.
Onions were amazing this year. Good harvest. Good-sized bulbs. Managed to get some green onions and onion tops into the freezer as well.
Cucumbers - ugh. A crop I have to figure out. Things started out well. Planted a bit too late, but wanted to avoid a cold snap. Then a heatwave burned the tender young leaves. They keep trying, but haven’t really recovered. Only 2 jars of vinegar pickles and 2 fermented.
Varieties: Parisian pickling, white cucumber, lemon apple cucumber, Gergana
Next year - fewer lemon apple cucumbers and maybe try a more protected spot
Peppers — another year of stellar peppers. Too many padrons and friggitelli planted. We can’t eat them fast enough and I don’t really have anyone to give them to. More bell peppers for next year, more jalapenos, prioritize cayennes for pepper flakes, and serranos (totally forgot this year).
Going to try to freeze the dulce Italianos after fire roasting them
Zucchini — they’ve done ok. Not as good as previous years but enough that we’re got many jars of zucchini pickles, we’re sick of zucchini eggs in the morning, and we’ve had our fill of zucchini bread.
Next year - spread them throughout the garden. Don’t dedicate an entire bed to them. Test what area works best.
Tomatoes — slow to ripen but lots of fruit, especially the costato di Fiorentino and parma varieties. Brandywines are UNREAL, both yellow and red. Wish I had planted cherry tomatoes.
Next year - focus more on sauce tomatoes and don’t forget to plant cherries
Tomatillos - amazing. Repeat for next year. 6 jars of salsa verde already in the root cellar.
Echinacea didn’t come back very well this year. Start new seeds next year. Prioritize this crop for tinctures and tea.
Strawberries are a mess. Need to clean them and move runners.
Corn - not sure I should bother next year. I think I have too many varieties and they cross pollinate and mess everything up.
Next year - 1 variety of sweetcorn and then plant popcorn two weeks later
Chard — superstar of the garden this year. I’ve never grown chard like this. Variety: peppermint chard. Beautiful and delicious. Pickled the stems and they’re a hit. The greens make for an amazing crostata. Need to write a whole article on our chard this year. It deserves it. Repeat for next year.
Lettuce and greens — favorite lettuces were little gem and cantarix and succession planting worked well. Spinach was once again crunchy and sweet and huge. Repeat for next year.
Basil — SO GOOD this year. Big beautiful leaves. 3 varieties.
Next year: less Greek basil, more Genovese
Brassicas — didn’t start any large brassicas until the beginning of summer because I didn’t want to battle whatever pest lays its eggs in the roots, who later eat those roots as larvae and topple my baby brassicas. Upside, everything is very healthy and growing well now. The downside, no summer cabbage salads. Not sure what to do next year.
Sweet pea flowers — my new favorite blossom in the garden. Plant every year forever and ever.
Rhubarb — another star this year. I have freezer bags full of rhubarb. Considering rhubarb jam as well. Not sure.
To-Do for Fall/Winter:
Seed some kale and spinach for the greenhouse
Try garlic one more time - outline line lower garden beds and cover with mulch
Test homemade compost. Fingers crossed.
Things I screwed up:
Serranos and Cayennes - forgot to plant the first and the seedlings were very weak for the second
Echinacea - the old plants from 2 years ago didn’t do so well.
Cherry tomatoes - didn’t prioritize and regret it
Butternut squash - I can’t find it anywhere in the garden. I know I seeded it, no idea where I planted it. (Update, I found it but have to save it from neighbor goats because it crawled through the fence and down the pasture).
Not enough squash in general. I’ll regret this come December.
Forgot to plant sufficient strawflowers for fall decorations
Loofah seedlings didn’t start properly
Not enough flowers for cutting. Forgot coreopsis
Gardening Life Lessons So Far for 2024:
Have more faith. I always doubt so much — tomato seedlings, every step of the way, onion seedlings, lettuce — and it is all so much more resilient than I realize. Absorb some of that resilience when eating these beautiful garden goodies.
Thin the carrots, for Goodness sake. Minimize the excess so that they can thrive. Apply this lesson to the house and do a big deep clean/organize before the winter months.
You might thing you’ve done everything right, but most things are out of our control. I planted the cucumbers at the right time, I used new seeds, dedicated a whole bed, gave plenty of water…and they still sucked. But the two jars of fermented cukes we’ve had so far have been the best ever. So the lesson is: do the best you can, take what you get, and enjoy the crap out of it.
Make the pickles while the veg is fresh. Or maybe the more common lesson is make hay while the sun shines, but I’m going to use my pickle saying. Just make the pickles, Camilla. Don’t put it off. Do the job that needs to be done and admire the jars in the root cellar afterwards, or whatever that is a metaphor for. :)
Tell me about your gardening season. What’s your favorite crop this year? What worked? What didn’t? What gardening life lessons have you learned this year?
