Looking Back

Looking down the road for the last time this year

I guess it is only human nature to look back at things and try to analyze the things you did right, wrong and all the things in between. The garden, as in life is sometimes beyond your control and you can only move along with the tide and just go with it. Sometimes when you fight too hard you miss other things that might have been great.

It was a wonderful summer. We had lot of sun this year but I have to say it wasn't a stellar year in my plot. I'm not complaining at all because some things did really well and some things well, were kind of shall we say, not the greatest.

First things first, the good stuff. The kale was out of control and the zucchini kind of the same. I had quite a lot of it. The acorn squash I was pretty pleased with and it was fun to grow. I have never grown it before and it was cool to see them spread all over the place and all the little squashes. My hubby was less than thrilled with this one being the squash hater that he is. I wasn't sure when to pick them but I did alright and I still have some in the basement. The lettuce did well and the garlic too. The peas were great this year and there was enough for a few meals but not enough to freeze. I envy people with enough to freeze! It seems kind of terrible to freeze them, they are so good! I had some success with my carrots but only with the first sowing. They were wonderful Nante's carrots and I used seed tape this year which worked really well. They weren't all bunched together like the ones I grew last year as I'm terrible at thinning. The beets and the second sowing didn't do too well. I think the beets were in the wrong location (not enough sun) and I saw a mouse in my plot (hiding in that hay) and he/she ate the tops of both. Neither were great.

Another mistake was the hay. It was full of seeds and horrible and I was constantly pulling the weeds. Never will I do that again. My eggplant was non existent. I did get a nice plant but again no little eggplants. After last year's success I was hoping for a few. My beans were horrible. I bought yellow wax beans but they were stringy and tasteless. I will try again next year but maybe a different variety of bush beans? My potatoes were also a bit of a disappointment. The ones I planted were kind of horrible and scaly but I had some volunteers where I grew them last year and they were great. I didn't have the heart to pull them so that worked out well. I don't think I will grow potatoes next year. They take up too much space and for little reward. You can buy those tasty little ones in the spring which I love and they were much better than mine.

Last but not least the tomatoes. Well, what can I say. I babied them and tried to be good and pinch them like you are supposed to. They were nicely covered from the rain and I would stop after work and water them. They were beautiful, until they got the blight. I almost made it though. I got quite a few but unfortunately a lot of them I wasn't able to save. At least I got them out quickly and got rid of the plants before it got too bad.

I will have to work on my game plan for next year over the winter and try to come up with more strategies on how and what to plant. It is nice to know that since the garden is nice and clean now and covered in leaves it won't be too difficult to get going again in spring.

Until then....