Balance in the Garden

Finding the Balance

Finding balance in the garden is important to have a successful growing season. When I first started gardening my plan was..well I had no plan. A little of this and a little of that and a whole lot of weeding. This resulted in too much of some items and not enough of others. Even though I did some canning we still didn’t use all of the excess. This equated to not only waste of the food, but misuse of my time. In order to become mindful in both aspects a solid plan became a must. Now that the season is coming to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on how well the plan has worked.

It‘s beginning to feel like Fall

Just like that it’s begging to feel like fall. The mornings and evenings are feeling cooler and the days have become shorter. This becomes a reminder that it is time for the fall cleanup in the garden before it’s too late. In our region the night temperatures can dip to freezing without much warning. Therefore I decided that I better get to harvesting.

This summer was very successful in the garden. In past years it always seemed that the balance was off. Either there were plants that wouldn’t produce or there was overproduction and a lot of waste. This year the production has been just about right for our usage. We have been fortunate to enjoy many garden grown salads, salsas and even several melons. it is never too early to start planning for next year. The discovery of new favorite varieties as well as a few that I may not make the cut for next year. In addtition I have decided that there is no better way to keep track of my wins and losses by sharing my experiences here.

The Wins

The biggest win was when struggling to come up with a dinner plan. A quick walk through the garden and the dinner dilemma was solved using fresh melons and veggies. This was a win in so many ways as it tasted so good, it was very healthy and I didn’t have to go to the store to pull off making a meal for my family.

Husky Cherry Red Tomatoes

This year has been my best season for tomatoes. There are so many varieties of tomatoes available now and they are not all created equally. After much research the Bonnie Husky Cherry Red Tomato plant seemed to be the best option for cherry tomatoes. The husky cherry red is about a 1″ tomato that grows in small clusters. The plant is a dwarf variety so it isn’t as overgrown and messy as some of the cherry or grape tomato plants I have grown in the past. The yield has been close to perfect as there has not been significant droppings of tomatoes that are making a mess and leaving the opportunity for massive volunteer growth. This tomato has been a perfect choice for making greek salads. A quick harvest and cleaning followed by simply slicing each in half directly into the bowl makes for a no mess prep.

Celebrity Tomato Plant

The Celebrity Tomato Plant was the choice for a full size tomato. The production on it has been a bit slower, however that hasn’t been an issue. We don’t use much of this type of tomato anyway. Being a determinate tomato plant the plant size is manageable and relatively tidy. However the biggest win with this variety it that I have not experienced the frustrating issue with the tomatoes splitting before they were even ripe. Each fruit has been usable and no waste. We opted for the patio container as it had already set some fruit so we were hoping to begin harvest sooner. As it turned out the 4” cherry harvest started at the same time. Next year both varieties will be the 4” as there was no gain in spending the extra money.

Cantaloupe

The super-45 cantaloupe was another great win. This plant produced close to a dozen melons. These melons are small so we were able to consume most of the melon in one evening when it was ripe and fresh off the vine. The spacing of when they became ripened was perfect, as we were not faced with multiple melons at one time. About two weeks ago I pulled one off the vine that we agreed was quite possibly the best cantaloupe we have ever eaten. This variety will definetly be on the list again for next year.

Bonnie Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins

My “kids” wanted pumpkins this year so how could I deny them that. After all, I try to remain a kid at heart myself during the holidays. The Bonnie Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins ended up being our plant of choice. Knowing that pumpkins require a lot of space they were planted just outside of the sectioned garden space, in order to just let them go. I was able to direct them away from the rest of the garden by arranging and trimming the vines. Now it’s time to find some pumpkin arrangements for these fun garden treasures for our fall outdoor decor.

The Bonus Pumpkins

Much to our surprise, we ended up with a bonus pumpkin plant. Last year my daughter brought a few home from a fall wedding. They were placed out in the flower bed, were they remained long enough that the snow eventually covered them. Come spring of coarse they had rotted. While I cleaned up most of the seeds, one slipped through. Now we have a crazy pumpkin plant creating a jungle like landscape in our front yard. Fortunately they are different than the Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins so we will have some variety which should make the fall decor fun.

Status Quo

Burpless Cucumber & Bell Peppers

The burpless cucumbers and red and green bell peppers have always been great performers. This year the cucumber plants seemed to do better as far as remaining disease and pest resistant. Last year the cucumbers acquired a disease towards the end of August which shortened the growing season. As for the bell peppers, they did well in fact they are still going. Bell peppers are one of my favorites for freezing and using in my winter recipes. In order to have more for the winter months, I am considering adding a few varieties next year such as the Orange Bell Pepper and maybe the Sweet Sunrise Yellow Bell Pepper.

Onions

Onions are easy and great performers. They also taste so much better than store-bought. This is another option that is good to have a good surplus for the winter. Even with a batch each of Walla Walla Sweets and Sweet Red Onions, I am beginning to wish I had planted one more batch. Onion chives also slid into my garden as a last minute addition. It’s still too early to tell how they will do as they are not yet ready for consumption.

The Losses

Jalapeno

Well as an amateur gardener everything isn’t always a win. Especially when randomly trying new plants and varieties. The biggest disappointment this year would be the jalapeño plant. For whatever reason, this little guy never took off. Early in the season, it appeared to be struggling, so I moved it to another space, while it never actually died, it never grew. The surprise was that it produced two of the tiniest jalapenos I have ever seen.

Honeydew

The next disappointment would have to be the honeydew-cantaloupe melon. It was a slow starter, but then the plant took off. However, it only produced three melons. One of three remain on the vine at this time, so we will see how it is. The second was definitely better than the first, so maybe with some fine tuning next year there will be better success. This was my first season with honeydew afterall.

Still room for Improvement

Cilantro

In our region it can suddenly get warm in the late spring so cilantro always seems to be a challenge. Too often we leave for a weekend and my plant has gone to seed before it can get harvested. This is a bummer as I love salsas and cilantro. It has been tempting to try and grow some indoors through the winter as a test. As for during summer I will have to get better at sowing the seeds that plant produces in the spring.

Tomatillos

A great new addition this year has been the Tomatillos. As mentioned, I love homemade salsa so it has been fun to experiment with a new recipe over the summer. It has been interesting to watch how this fruit goes through its maturing process. The production of these plants was way more than we needed, or at least had time to deal with. While I would love to cut my plant order down to one, it appears that two are needed to get the flowers to set fruit. These are on the list for next year as we had some great salsa come from these, I just need to get better at harvest and preserving to reduce the waste that I had this year.

Root Plants

Carrots and radishes were also new on the fresh menu this year. Radishes are fun because they go from seed to done so quickly. Radishes will remain for next year however I will change my planting method. I would prefer a smoother rotation and not a bunch all at once. Spacing out the plantings out earlier in the year will hopefully keep them coming more consistently. The carrots while tasty were just kind of weird. We tend to have a lot of rocks, therefore they somewhat struggled. I think if I plant more next year I will use one of my planter pots that is easier to manage the soil conditions.

Hot & Mild Banana Peppers

While the hot and sweet banana pepper plants did not disappoint this year, Some changes may be in store for next year. Yielding a decent size crop I have been able to freeze enough to continue adding some spice to our salsas throughout the winter and into next summer. There may be more than we will actually use. It is interesting how the heat varies so much from pepper to pepper even from the same plant.

Maybe on the chopping block

Suger Baby Icebox Melon

The watermelon plant has done well and produced many melons. They are just now looking to be ready. I still need to figure out the perfect harvest point on these guys. The first one while tasty was a bit too mushy. I think a definate seller for me would be if a seedless variety became available.

Mexibelle Spicy Bell Pepper

The Mexibelle Spicy Bell pepper surprised me. The description states it’s like a classic bell with a little bit of heat. Rated at a 100 to 500 on the Scoville heat scale I didn’t think this would be too spicy. Not wanting them to go to waste I chopped them up to use in cooking over the winter. While cutting them my hands started burning a little bit, which progressively became worse as I continued. I guess time will tell with how this cooks up if they stay or go. Considering my hands literally burned for two days following processing these peppers, I really don’t have much faith in this being on the list for next year. I am honestly wondering if the tag was switched and if this is actually an Anaheim Hot Pepper.

Planning for Next Year

Overall it has been a great gardening year. The spring expansion and changes paid off. As far as the work involved with this space it has been very minimal. This is an added benefit considering we are usually quite busy in the summer. It’s pretty safe to say that I have found a good balance in the garden this year. I have not had an excessive amount of unusable items nor have I had un-necessary hours of work to keep it going strong. The ability to use fresh veggies as well as preserve for later use has been steady. We even found a surprise visitor hiding out in our bonus pumpkins. As the season comes to a close it is time to start roughing in a plan for next year. So far I am contemplating starting some things from seeds early next year. I have my list of must haves and those that may not make the cut. Do you have garden grown favorites that I should try? If so please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email, I would love to hear about them.