From the Archives

Grading the Summer Garden

It’s September! And even though the calendar still says it’s summer, as far as I’m concerned September 1st marks the beginning of fall. So it’s time to take a look back at the summer garden.

The new side garden was awesome all season. In the spots where we ripped out bush beans and corn, we recently seeded some greens for the fall garden.

The Garden FAILS

(Oh, crap. That headline is a sure sign I’ve spent too much time on Twitter.)

1. The cucumbers. I got them in way late (because my seedlings fried to a crisp in their little cell packs, and I had to direct sow them in the garden, which I didn’t get around to until late June.) I have gotten six cucumbers from six plants. Not a great yield. and I was so disorganized about it that they’re not even trellised, so I have scrawny cucumber vines laying all over the ground. Not good.

2. The pattypan squash. This was my first year growing it, from seedlings that I bought at my local fruit market, and I didn’t get a single pattypan from the four plants. This is mostly because I ignored the first small signs of powdery mildew (I had just started working for Planet Green at the time, and was slacking in the garden) and before I knew it, the plants were goners.

3. Corn. We had a gorgeous plot of corn this year. It grew tall and lush, and each stalk produced one pretty little ear. All was pristine until about two weeks ago. We were looking forward to harvesting the first few ears, as the silks were starting to turn brown. And wouldn’t you know it — the fracking squirrels decimated the entire plot, leaving us with not a single ear of corn. I hate squirrels. Next year, we’re caging our corn. The good news is, we have plenty of nice tall cornstalks for our outdoor fall decorating.

The last corn standing. The squirrels already ate the corn, but we're leaving the stalks because we like the way they look.

4. Zucchini. I wasn’t sure whether to put this in the success or failure column, but I guess that if you’re going for high yields of produce, my zukes would be considered a garden fail. I direct-sowed ‘Black Beauty’ zucchini in the small raised bed at the back of the house that doubles as our winter garden. It gets part sun, and I was interested to see how the zukes would do there. Well, if plants could talk, my zucchini would have been bitching me out this year. I can just imagine what it would say, as it sits there in the shade:

“Seriously? You’re planting me here? You’re kidding, right? I can’t believe people trust you to tell them how to garden. You’ve got to be kidding me with this. Oh, what the hell. Have a zucchini.”

I’ve gotten about one zucchini a week from the one plant in this bed, which isn’t really enough. On the upside, this was the first year since I started gardening that I wasn’t buried in zucchinis by August!

Summer Garden Successes

1. TOMATOES! Oh, yeah babe (as Emeril would say). My goal was to have enough tomatoes for fresh eating and for canning and drying, and we did it! We’re harvesting at least three pounds of tomatoes PER DAY (our highest yield was 17 pounds in one day — crazy!) There’s always a bowl of ripe little grape, cherry, currant, and pear tomatoes on the kitchen counter for us to snack on, as well as another bowl of nice, juicy slicers. We’ve canned 6 quarts of tomatoes, as well as two pints of good tomato sauce. I also have two pints of dried tomatoes in my freezer. I’m actually getting ready to do another round of canning — the plants went nuts this week again. I’ll write about my favorite tomatoes from this season in another post.

Canned tomatoes! Yay!

2. Beans. We planted both ‘Provider’ bush beans and ‘Kentucky Blue Lake’ pole beans, and both produced very well (of course, beans are almost zucchini-like in their ability to produce!) We snacked on raw green beans all summer, ate plenty of green bean side dishes, and I have several quarts of them frozen to use in soups and stuff this winter.

3. Carrots. We planted a lot more than usual, because our two oldest kids eat them like candy, and I’m so glad we did. They went in our new side yard garden, and they absolutely flourished. Of course, we had to do a lot of thinning because I was kind of heavy-handed when I planted the seeds, but I couldn’t be happier with how they’ve grown. We grew “Danvers Half-Long” this year.

All in all, it was a great summer for the garden. The fall garden is ramping up now, and soon, we’ll be planting the winter greens. There are several things I want to change for next year, and we’ve already decided to expand the garden again, adding a few more raised beds. But that’s all news for another post

What were your garden successes (and failures) this year?

8 comments

8 comments to “Grading the Summer Garden”

commonweeder, September 2nd, 2009 at 5:10 am:

One garden success is that not ALL the tomatoes were hit by Late Blight. The others are lots of pole beans, sugar snap peas, lettuce and the at last arrival of zucchini. The herbs all did great in front of the house which means a bigger financial saving that you might think. No $2 bunches of parsley, basil, cilantro and sage from the market. Failures: all the coles which is odd considering the cold year we’ve had.

Colleen Vanderlinden, September 2nd, 2009 at 5:16 am:

Hi Pat,
I am with you on the herbs! I want to expand my herb garden next year, I think. I was lucky — no blight here, though a few of my tomatoes limped along with Septoria this year. What happened to your coles? The cabbage worms devoured my early broccoli, which was beyond annoying!

Thanks so much for commenting!

Sunita, September 2nd, 2009 at 5:43 am:

Never mind Colleen, you can just comfort yourself thinking that you’re doing it the Mumbai way. Cucumbers are never grown on a trellis here. Its always rambling all over the ground.
Those tomatoes look so tempting!

Colleen Vanderlinden, September 2nd, 2009 at 5:47 am:

Hi Sunita,

Well, now I do feel better

Thank you for commenting!

Chloe, September 2nd, 2009 at 6:09 am:

Well all my success stories belong to my clients… I have way too much shade for vegetables in my own garden. A tree fell in March and I have been scoping out a place where the sun peeks in… still don’t think it gets enough hours for veggies but going to try herbs next year… perhaps a basil hedge around the patio since its off my kitchen and layer a few others from there. Colleen… if I had your tomatoes, carrots and beans… even the beanstalks… I would be doing a veggie dance! This was a great post! I’ll be back!

Blackswampgirl Kim, September 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 am:

Colleen, it’s SO GOOD to have you back!!!

I have to ask: Was it pretty easy to grow the pole beans? I’ve only ever done bush beans, but… well, since a certain canine in my household L-O-V-E-S green beans almost as much as she loves to eat my tomatoes, I’m considering a switch for next year. (Thinking that she can have the beans on the lower half, and I’ll still get some from the top!) Any advice/thoughts?

As far as my garden goes this year, it was mostly a FAIL. I need to figure out how better to balance having a boyfriend with whom I like to do lots of things (bike rides, volleyball games, etc.) and still getting essential things (veggie gardening, cleaning) done around my place. Ah well, it was our first year… I’ll be better next year, right?

Colleen Vanderlinden, September 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 am:

Hi Kim!
Thanks Honestly, pole beans are really, really easy. You have to make sure you have support for them, of course, but other than that they are super-easy. And unless Coco can jump eight to ten feet in the air, you should at least get a few beans

Balance is always hard. The good news is that sometimes life is supposed to be unbalanced! A new relationship is a beautiful thing, and takes time to nourish. Don’t worry about the garden, there’s always next year! (And congrats on the new boyfriend — so happy for you!)

Colleen Vanderlinden, September 2nd, 2009 at 6:22 am:

Thanks so much, Chloe! I’ve been battling my shady lot here, too. I have a couple spots that get full sun, and they’re jam-packed with plants. I love my trees, but I do envy my tree-less neighbors at times

Thanks for stopping by!

Search ITGO

Canning and Pickling

Please Support My Wonderful Sponsors!

Colleen’s Organic Gardening Blog at About.com

Friends of ITGO

My Favorite Garden Blogs