The weeding was a chore, a 20 hour chore... So if I still have dirt ringing my nails in a month you'll know why. But it does look well tended now. And there were vegetables (and flowers) to harvest! Quite my favourite part, the harvesting. A self-perpetuated summer bounty. I analyzed what to wait for in consideration of the possibility of a hard frost before I'm back, and what must or could be done now. The question is more of what to do with it all, and where to find the time. Like with my 3.5 lb zucchini. It became Libby's canned salsa, of course! But I also stored 8 lbs of beets, puréed some more, processed 2 lbs of chard, stored 2lbs onions, 2lbs carrots and 2lbs turnips. Plus I made pesto from beet tops and we ate a lot of chard and zucchini during dinners. The rest will be awaiting my return in late September because it must still grow, ripen or mature. Alas the short growing season!
I'm sure I've said before, and I will say again, this summer, being our first on the farm, is really a trial. Trial for gardening - the efforts, organization, soil acquaintance, composting, climate and the seeds. The season isn't even over and I'm already able to draw some conclusions that will steer my planning for next summer.
It's hard to believe, but I can actually grow things! I did actually doubt this initially. Which is why I did substantial research. This proved helpful in garden organization and in choosing appropriate plants for the short season. Being knowledgable also promotes positivity from confidence. Luck and a lot of wishing, too.
Not being certain I had a green enough thumb was also why I initially purchased seeds from Home Hardware. I figured, if I couldn't be a gardener, at least it would only cost $25 to try. No big loss. And if it worked, all the better. But, later when we expanded our garden space, I purchased seeds from reputable non-GMO organic, or nearly-so growers, and I saw intense results in improved germination and strength of plant. So rather, no gain. Except in regards to zucchini!
I can tell where my soil needs amending. Good thing I've been composting, properly. Only I wonder how much I can produce by the end of the season when we put the garden to hibernation. More dry leaves come autumn to aid the effort.
I've made numerous mistakes and now I know better. Though I'm sure there are many more future hiccups to discover. It's nice to know things I'd rather do differenty next time. For example I'll be starting indoors with a different method (and keep George from eating all my sprouts. Bad cat.), I'll choose better radishes and plant successions. (Apple sized radishes aren't anyone's favourite.) This could be said in part about carrots, beets, lettuces, etc. I'll plant about four times as many carrots so I can have little juicy morsels as well as still have bigger carrots for the winter, too.
Zinnias
It turns out hilling potatoes doesn't just mean growing them in a mound, though I think we will still might have a good harvest. Sometimes I'm too literal...
There are so many other totally viable plant choices I like which I didn't try, and want to try next year. The good thing about living in zone 3a is that my seed selection is narrowed (annuals: days until maturity) which makes choosing easier. I'm sure I'd be like ants on sugar looking at a seed catalogue otherwise. No doubt I'll be pouring over all the beans, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuces, new pumpkin varieties, corn, tomatoes and herbs. I think I'll try carnations, different turnips, fingerling potatoes, cabbage, butternut squash, garlic... I'd like to use Salt Spring Seeds and Renée's Seeds again as I had so much luck with them. They both deserve their own posts!
For now here's the rundown on the least expensive seeds:
Zucchini, bachelor's buttons, zinnias, nasturtiums, beets, and Swiss chard all worked rather well.
However, the chard was my comparator. I also purchased rainbow chard seed from Renées Seeds, and despite the inexpensive seeds grew fine, the specialty variety outperformed them. And who doesn't like rainbows?
Beets!
Bachelors Buttons
Zucchini
Not a single cucumber (though I heard other people had the same trouble this year) or lavender seed germinated. I'd still like to try them again. Cucumbers are a fair candidate for our area, though lavender likely wouldn't make it through the winter.
The Sweet Williams never flowered, and the African Daisy, carrots, round onions were under developed. I can live without either of those flowers, but carrots and onions not so much. Again there was a noticeable difference between the first carrot seeds I used and those from Renée's (also a specialty variety), in both taste, appearance, ease to remove from the earth, and germination rate. We will see how they store.
Unfortunately those orange carrots pictured above are also the total harvest we got from an entire packet of seeds. Not exactly many. The yellow one I accidentally pulled out and is one from the other packet.
I did get a few thyme, dill, and sweet pea seeds to germinate, though none were vibrant plants.
Both herbs and sweet peas are important for me in my garden so I'll be using different sources for these next year for sure.
I was somewhat successful with pumpkin, calendula, bunching onions, radish, and sunflowers. I'd really like to get more creative with pumpkins especially in cooking, so I'll need some other varieties anyway, but I rather prefer my very healthy and vigorous calendula plants from Salt Spring Seeds. I'll try another type of bunching onions but also try to continue on with some of my saved stock, and I'll definitely be using different radishes completely. We did well with the black oil sunflowers we grew from our rabbit feed, but... I'm not sure the season will stretch enough to harvest them.
In this category of seeds I'm most pleased with the zinnias (wonderful cut flower), beets (for growing to the correct size and being a root and leaf food) and nasturtiums (because every seed sprouted and the colours and mounds are gorgeous).
I love my garden :)
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