Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

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How's your garden doing? What did you learn this year? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by doogiebug@beehaw.org to c/greenspace@beehaw.org

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This was only my second year gardening, and first year with my own yard 😤 Everything is in containers. I struggled a lot with figuring out a good place to put containers that got enough sunlight. I was trying to avoid the front yard because I was worried about car exhaust and grossness getting onto veggies, but when I finally caved and moved everything to the front it started growing much much better. Lots of things also got chomped by deer and groundhogs in the backyard. I had hoped that big containers would keep the groundhogs out but I caught one climbing up onto the top and eating all the seedlings. Lots of failures, lots of dead plants. I tried to plant some native flowers in the backyard hoping to get them to spread to the empty lot behind us, but no success. A lot of seeds got eaten by birds.

I had better luck with both veggie and flower starts that I bought from the local farmer's market. I was SO CLOSE to getting sunflowers, the flower heads were coming out but then we had a big windy thunderstorm that knocked them over and they got all crispy after :( My only harvest this year are a couple of jalapeno peppers. I didn't start anything indoors this year, but I definitely see the value in it now and I'm hoping to get a rack with grow lights set up over the winter.

What about you guys??

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[–] jcarax@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is my first year growing more than a few peppers and tomatoes on a patio, since family gardens as a kid, as I finally have a yard. It's also my first year back in the north after decades in the US SW and SE, and quite a bit farther north than I've previously been. I grew up in USDA zone 5, and I'm in a microclimate of 3b, that's probably more like 3a, now.

First timing, it's a very short season, so I need to really do better at seeding some stuff like cauliflower, tomatoes, and cucumbers earlier for an early crop. I'm going to grow early tomatoes in a pot, so I can bring them in for our early frosts, and chase the sun a bit. My cauliflower is doing well during this late summer, but I really need to get it producing earlier when all I'm likely to get is peas and greens, otherwise.

Tomatoes are going to be a challenge here, it's hard to get them ripened before late July. But I'm going to start some short season varieties super early, like late January/early February, to see what I can do. I'm also going to try to stretch the season after our early late frost that usually comes late Auguest/early September, with those same varieties in pots again.

I'm right on a river, so mildew on squashes is going to be an issue. I don't know what to do about that yet, but it's going to be a point of research this winter.

Berries without cages are merely a tribute to the deer and chipmunks. That said, everbearing strawberries do seem to do a good job of keeping the critters away from other things in my garden, so I'll keep maintaining them. Once I buy a place, I'll need to build some five sided cages to grow various bramble berries, blueberries, currants, and strawberries.

But most of all, two concurrent cucumber plants for a single person is way too much. I think next year I'll just grow two pickling cucumbers, one early and replace it once it's production is down. I'm getting big into fermenting, so I think I'll want them all, just not all at once. I'm also finding I'm not a huge fan of slicers due to water content, when I eat them in salads, so a good pickling variety should keep me covered.