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August 26th, 2007
Overall, it’s been a really good summer. I do believe the organic and companion planting program worked quite well. I hardly had any bad bugs at all, just the flea beetles but even they were fewer. I had three Japanese beetles; easy enough to pick by hand and stomp. I saw one cucumber beetle on the beans.
I should stress that I spend a good 30 minutes or so daily (unless it rains) going through the garden looking for pest and disease, checking undersides of leaves, etc. So I don’t think any bugs escaped my watch. Plus, I really had no disease or problems of that kind.
The only plants that weren’t prolific as usual: the peppers and eggplants. I got decent crops of peppers (and more coming), but the eggplants just didn’t thrive like they usually do. I think I planted things too closely together. I know that square-foot gardening school of thought, but I think it was too much.
Next year I’d like to go back to some sort of rows. The drunken mish mash was just too much for me, even though I think it worked well on pests. Perhaps a compromise: doing the happy family, still plants to draw in beneficials, but do it in more of a tidy way. Also, I think the back edging of bamboo needs to be moved. Too hard to garden in it and it’s too shady in the back spot. I think those eggplants just didn’t get enough sun.
Also, I want to try a total cover crop of hairy vetch and use it as a living mulch.
Another thing to do: start seedlings in January and February, at least the ones that take awhile like eggplants, butterfly weed, etc.
And for crying out loud: find some kind of companion plants to get rid of the mosquitoes. They’ve been just horrible, even though we have had periods of no rain. If I don’t douse myself in deet, I’m eaten alive. I think trying to find the breeding sources is a bottomless pit because you just can’t control what the neighbors do, and with all their swimming pools and various pieces of crap sitting around, god only knows what they’re breeding. Something to study over winter. I’ve had it with mosquitoes!
Also, I’m not as crazy about Brandywines as everyone else. There’s too much chewy stuff in them and I like my tomatoes juicy. They are big and beautiful and the squirrels sure love them, but I’m not a fan. I want to go back to the Caspian Pinks I was growing before. They’re tastier.
I also did like the grape tomatoes. But perhaps fewer plants. Two people can only eat so many, and I don’t really see the point in trying to freeze/can them for sauce. Maybe next year I should try a roma for sauce.
The Black Krims were DELICIOUS and huge, but it’s hard to get past their look. The black part on them incites me to want to cut off parts. They also rot really quickly. I might grow them again, though, because they sure were good. Not very prolific, though.
I’m mostly disappointed with the Brandywines. After hearing everyone rave so much about them, I just didn’t get it.
Another thing: pull up all volunteer tomatoes. I let one plant go ripe and it was awful. My mother was visiting and she liked them, said they were like the old tomatoes they grew when she was a kid. That’s probably because volunteers revert back to a grandparent, so no telling what variety they were.
I’m also going to pull up any volunteer cucurbits. I think they were all sterile or something. Out of the several I allowed to stay, I got ONE gourd. Lots of blooms, but they were all males. I think there’s no real point in trying to avoid volunteers from the compost. One part of the pile heats up nicely, but if there are seeds elsewhere, they aren’t going to be cooked. And I’m tossing in lots of half-eaten tomatoes thanks to that squirrel. Next year, I’ll have a lot of volunteers. At least they’re easy to pull up.
More things to repeat: the hairy vetch of course. And lots of it! I’m planting it in the back flower garden, the vegetable garden, on the side of the house where the pine tree is, and in the butterfly garden. That stuff rocks.
I also want more queen anne’s lace – the lady beetles loved it. More borage, although I don’t know if anyone liked it. It was pretty.
Divide the chives and goldenrod to make more.
And more tansy, although it never has bloomed.
But some of those other things I grew, like sea holly and such, I don’t think they ever really grew. Stick to cosmos, zinnias, petunias, geraniums, qa lace, tansy, vetch. Did that crimson clover ever bloom?
It seems I planted SO MANY companion plants and only about half of them did anything. I think I crowded too many things in. Reading the seed catalogs was like going to a buffet. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach. That should be my mantra next year: RESTRAINT.
Possibly Related PostsThis entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Organic Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.