As an exercise in keeping up a regular writing practice, I give this blog a solid E for eh, it's enough effort; as an exercise in conquering perfectionism and self-loathing, I give it an A++++.
I thought I'd use this entry to reflect on the garden I started in the spring of this year. I wasn't into gardening when I had the opportunity growing up and only got into the idea as a renting, apartment-dwelling adult several years ago. This is the first year I've had the yard and disposable income to try my hand at growing vegetables. I had planned to take detailed notes throughout the season, but that plan never materialized, so I'll describe in general when I planted what, what I used, and what went wrong/right. I'm gardening in Zone 7a. I might update info from time to time as I stumble upon it.
Lettuce: by far the greatest success. I planted it in late March using old commercial soil from a previous garden in our yard. I got both a spring harvest and, after I realized how much I can plant in such a small space, a much larger fall harvest. Much of the fall harvest was grown in the former beet plot, the soil topped off with our home-made compost.
Strawberries: I don't know what went wrong with these. I planted several plants that I got from a local nursery on April 14, and they briefly seemed to be growing berries and sending out runners as normal. The first problem was definitely that chipmunks kept eating the berries. But after a while, even after blooming, they failed to produce berries entirely while continuing to send out runners. I tried cutting the runners as recommended, but that didn't help with the berries. Even spray fertilizer didn't help. I think the commercial soil I used might have been poor quality or the wrong kind. Now that I think about it, a row of garlic also failed to thrive there, and things definitely grew better in that plot when I topped it off with compost. I'll try again next year, but I need to replace or cover over the soil and enclose the planting bed from the start.
Beets: Planted around April 6. These were a success, but they ended up small, I think because I didn't plant them deep enough to start with. I grew them in soil from the old garden.
Tomatoes: A qualified success. I planted six plants on May 19, which I think was much too late for our heavily-shaded yard. I think we would have ended up with many more tomatoes if it hadn't been for bluejays and other creatures pilfering them for weeks before I was able to improvise a chicken-wire enclosure. A couple of them have grown very large, but I think they need a long growing season and some pruning. I purposely didn't prune new shoots just to observe how the plants grow, but now I'm left with a ton of green tomatoes at the tops of very tall plants that will never ripen. So I will definitely enclose, prune, and plant tomatoes early next year. Another note: the plants really failed to grow the first several weeks (again, I think due to insufficient light), but growth accelerated rapidly after I used some spray fertilizer. I should also remember that. I planted some marigolds and basil around the tomatoes, which I've read are supposed to repel pests. The basil, at least, has been a welcome addition to our kitchen.
Potatoes: I planted one slice of a supermarket golden potato on April 12, which grew into a large plant that I didn't quite know how to take care of. It produced a few very small golden potatoes that I think would have been larger/more numerous if I had known to hill the soil around the plant. It also had a couple pest problems that I was able to fix with a spray. I think I harvested around July 20. It may be worthwhile to plant an entire crop of potatoes next year.
Onions: Same deal as the potatoes: planted from supermarket varieties around April 6, didn't quite know how to take care of them. But I did get enough small onions back to tell me that it's worth another try next year. I just have to remember to bury the roots deep and keep a close eye on them. When I checked on one a few days ago, it was soggy and rotten, so I should remember to plant them separately from plants that can take a lot of water.
I still (Oct. 29) have a good amount of lettuce growing as well as some brussels sprouts (in a former lettuce plot) and some very sickly looking carrots. Maybe I'll update with their progress later.
About my compost bin: basically a cylindrical chicken-wire enclosure that I throw our plant-based table scraps in. I have two of them set up, one of which is always empty, and I mix it by switching bins. I also have a tarp that I throw over it when it needs to dry. It's a primitive system, and I've been meaning to come up with a design that doesn't create so much loss, but I've had neither the time nor the materials. It has been filled with soldier fly larvae for at least the past four months, so this batch is off to a good start.
Next year I definitely need to plant everything earlier and enclose the tomatoes and strawberries. I also need to remove or cover over the soil in the strawberry patch. Produce-wise, this year's garden was a bit of a dud, mostly because of problems I didn't anticipate and couldn't find time to fix over the (very hot) summer. I think I'll be able to make a good haul next year if I fix these and a few other simple things.