What have you learned from this years garden?

[obsessed]

1. Don't leave town cause your veggie hating child and spouse will not water.
2. Ducks can not be trusted
3. Cherry tomatoes rock and got ripe when the burpee big boys did not
4. Cukes, I agree with vfem. Only one plant
5. Popcorn = fun
6. Potatoes don't cover the WHOLE plant. And plant when your season is supposed to not when they are shippable
7. Focus more on things that will grow in my area.
8. The importance of good soil.

 

[Rosalind]

1. I suck at hardening off, even in a cold frame. Best to plant seedlings in larger peat pots to begin with, then set them out on the patio when it's seriously warm.

2. Those partial shade beds? Nothing partial about it. Give up and plant bayberries, climbing hydrangeas and hellebores, and call it done.

3. I will need a sturdier cistern than the original plan, if I want to have a cistern/pond combo like I've been dreaming about. We get a LOT of rain. A LOT.

4. Everything DH swears he will do is a lie. He will never do it, really. Just rent the stupid landscaping equipment myself and figure out how it runs. No point in asking him to do a darn thing.

5. Two expensive weedwhackers later, I need goats to help clear the stupid brush. Except DH will kill me, and I don't have time to milk goats, and my fencing isn't half good enough for that. But this Asian bittersweet is going to be the death of me.

 

[COgirl]

Patience--that has been the biggest lesson this year.
Squishing cutworms is really kinda fun.
Greenhouses are not for growing plants during the summer
As soon as I decide those cuke seeds I planted arent't coming up and I plant more the first ones all pop up

 

[vfem]

Also... if it vines... trellis or not... you need to weave it through yourself or you fall and bust your bottom on the rock pathes. Watch where you are going in the garden!!!!!!!

 

[Natalie]

Flat leaf parsley does not like full sun.

8 basil plants are about 7 too many. anyone have a good pesto recipe?

Yes! I'm a pesto junkie, made arugula pesto last night in fact!

1) You need a mezzaluna

2) This is a good recipe. Very simple. I like to toast the pine nuts and add whole ones on top of the finished dish. Last night's version was arugula and walnuts.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

1. Corn needs lots of nutrients, no really, tons
2. Clay soil that has been a hay field for 30 years without disking or tilling needs lots of work to be a manageable garden spot.
3. Till, till, till, mulch, mulch, mulch
4. I must prove to DH that anything I say RE: gardening is correct, he will not believe me otherwise
5. Fixing DH a steak or two & having him pee around the garden helps keep the 4-legged critters away
6. Raised beds will help keep too much rain from killing seedlings
7. Tomatoes like a lot of water, but not a flood of biblical proportions
8. Lettuce does not grow in MS in June, it bolts
9. Don't use old potting soil for seedlings without cooking it first, it may harbor whiteflies & fungi. Poor squash seedlings...

 

[jemagsy]

#1 Don't start plants in december expecting to transplant in January. You will be cursed with one of the weirdest cold/hot/cold/hot spells ever. Then it will hail.... four times.

#2 Yes you really should test the soil of that new garden. No it doesn't matter that it looks like a loamy deep cushony heaven compared to the GA red clay that mocks your pathetic attempts at tilling, weeding, and hoeing. You really need to test that soil and do it before your veggies have been in the ground for a month.

#3 Your father really does know more than you think he does. Listen more, speak less.

#4 You can never read too many gardening books, websites, or magazines.

#5 Take every failure as a learning opportunity. After all it's only Year 2.

#6 Don't put off weeding to the weekend - it will be 98 degrees and over 90% humid with not a drop of rain in sight. Weed now. The weeds and vines are the only thing growing.

#7 Do not be afraid of the bush beans even though they look ready to eat 15 days early and have virtually no bush to speak of. (This may be edited later... perhaps I should be scared).

#8 Organic is a really really hard way to garden in the beginning, especially when you have no idea what you are doing.

#9 Chemicals are extremely tempting and want to leap off the shelf at you. Resist the urge you and your garden will thank you later.

#10 You can never have too much chicken poo. Or compost.

#11 Remember this is only your second year. You still have a lot to learn.

 

[valmom]

This year I have learned that the only things that grow without sun are the weeds. We have had only 27% of available sunlight this month according to the news last night. The weeds have taken over and buried my squash plants that the groundhog left me. I can't find my baby blueberry bushes. I have weeds encroaching that are Jewelweed three feet tall. (at least that pulls out easily) My "sunny" bed with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, kale, garlic, onions, and beans is, despite my best efforts in my scant free time, taken over with weeds. I have trouble finding my poor pepper plants. The eggplant are doing horribly. The kale is pretty happy, though, and actually crowding out the weeds in it's corner of the garden.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

This is what I learned from this year's garden:

1: don't believe the crazy next door neighbor's REALLy want to go in halves on a garden (thus causing me to plant DOUBLE)

2: It is next to impossible to stick 40+ tomato plants within 20-30 square feet and then expect to walk thru them

3: Brandywine tomato plants get MASSIVE

4: 2 rows of green beans are plenty

5: get climbing green beans - those bush beans are KILLER on an old back.

6: Start the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower in January and again in August.


I know there is lots I'm missing but these are the main ones that come to mind....

 

[vfem]

#3 Your father really does know more than you think he does. Listen more, speak less.

Oooooooooh, that's a good one! I need to change it to Grandfather though.

3: Brandywine tomato plants get MASSIVE

WOW! That is so true... they are monsters are not a good idea for a sq ft garden!!!



I also want to add.... if you ever get the compulsion to squish every bug you see.... resist until you know what it is!!! There are GOOD BUGS!!!!