We have had a banner year. We have canned countless jars of corn, green beans, okra, tomatoes, peas and have frozen ears of corn, lots of kale and brussel sprouts. We got more taters than we will ever eat this winter. I must have been the wet spring or something, I don't know. I just know that we are loaded up for winter. Last year we were raising a hog and a friend of mine gave me some pumpkins to give her. She showed no interest so we tossed them behind the pen......this year we have pumpkins that we can't get our arms around. It just seems like everything is growing like crazy this year. Is it the same with you all?
We brought in about 20 eggplants this week. What on earth do we do with them? There's more. I baked all these and will scoop them out, bag it, and stick it in the freezer. We love eggplant, but not this many all at once. Live and learn!
This year the peas went crazy, I only plant enough to nibble on but they over whelmed me. I also grew the biggest fastest growing cabbage and brussels sprouts. I think that is due to the cool wet spring and summer we've had. The radishes grew too fast and got woody before they were big enough to eat. I had tons of spinach but due to some situations I only got 10 pints frozen. The lettuce and greens were so lush I was giving it away right and left. The beans came up sluggish, the cool weather really set them back. I tried a new variety this year and they grew through all the problems where the usual variety for this area only sprouted about 1 out of every 6 seeds. The new variety has lots of beans but they do taste different than I am used to...I got one or two off each plant the other night just to see if I could tell the difference. I also have two pole beans growing.... amazing that green beans can have such different tastes. I am trying to decide if the taste is better, as good, or not what I like still. It looks like I am going to have tons of lima beans. The plants are loaded with them. Beets went pretty well but I havent done anything with them yet. The squash, zucchini and cucumbers didnt like the weather this year and had a fight with stink bugs and potato bugs of some sort. The tomatoes are responding to the wet cool weather by having end rot and splits and very few blooms. The only one doing great is my fourth of july variety that loves this cool weather. My carrots are doing ok. I would love suggestions what to do about them coming out of the ground. They are about 1/4 inch around so far, some of them are above the ground that much and that part is green. I started to put grass mulch around them... think that will help?? Geeesh wish I had more to grow and harvest to store.
evilbunny, you mention beets. . . this is the first year I've grown them and I'm wondering how long can I leave them in--are they good 'til the frost or will they get woody too?
I have never had them get woody but they do get stronger tasting as they get larger. I've had some as large as a softball. One thing that is hard to deal with when they are larger is that they peel harder. The skin gets tougher. I love diced beets so the larger size is ok for me. I am going to try pickled beets for the first time and I understand they are best from small beets. I just havent had time to get to them. Good luck with yours.
I had about 1/2 of my stuff in square foot and the other half in the old garden. Next year we will go completely square except for a few things like corn, but even that will be close together and heavily mulched. We have had crop damage in the old site so bad from deer, turkeys, coons and the like that we have gotten very little from it. The square foot garden is right outside my kitchen door and next year everything will be. I imagine it will look a bit strange, but we are going to have no grass up near the house, only gardens.....flowers and veggies will be mixed together and hopefully we can get a better harvest. What we managed to salvage has been great and plentiful, except for tomatoes which have ripen very slow this year due to our cold summer. As the factory farmers all around us make bigger and bigger fields by tearing out fence lines and their woods and draining their marshes, our little 40 acres has been completely overwhelmed with wildlife.
Our garden was doing great until July, when we got an unusual amount of rain, and it was cooler than usual. All my curcurbits died of some type of disease. The Banana melons put up the biggest fight. We have had a great crop of tomatoes, they are everywhere. The corn did well also. This was my first try with corn. I am just now harvesting the bloody butcher corn. 2 ears yielded over a pound of kernels. I don't know if that's normal, but it seemed like alot to me. Can't wait to grind it up and try it.
LOUSY does not really say enough. So much rain here it was a shame. Everthing came up great but then... My beans totally rotted, my peppers dropped all their flowers, my eggplants just did nothing, Zukes and cukes are ok but they always are ok. did ok too with melons and greens but thats it. carrots split , tomatoes are mushy inside broccoli has black spots on the heads winter squash is less than average. I'll take a drought any day. Steff
LOUSY for me too !! I'm in zone 8 in the NW...... NO tomatoes yet, seems everything is just SITTING there !!!! Not getting much bigger......even with Miracle Grow !!!! No carrots, peas, peppers, cukes, acorn squash, or zuchinni !! Pumpkins grew in a "C" shape and now the middle caved in and is rotting. I have watched the watering ( not too much - too little) .The sun has been out and on them all day.........OH WELL !!!
You definitely don't want a drought. We are in AZ and everything is green this year. We still have to water every day. Gets expensive watering a acre garden.
