A Look Back on Gardening in 2012

It is the first gardening season in our new home and to say the least, it has been a very odd year at best.  When we moved here last September, I was quite excited to discover we had two peach trees and a pear tree.  Needless to say, I had a lot of plans but the weather simply did not cooperate.  Within a very short period of time, my gardening plans turned into a comedy of errors!

Our new house is in an urban subdivision setting with the back of the property bordering on farmland.  A good portion of the backyard is taken up by a 27' above ground pool and decking so the gardens are restricted to the perimeter.  What we thought were mature perimeter beds when we first viewed the house turned out to be a hodge podge of plantings with a very liberal dose of weeds, especially thistle and stinging nettle.  We discovered a few small treasures like garlic, mint, chives and a gooseberry bush but immediately knew we would be in rip-out mode.

I carefully started seedlings ready to be planted in the new raised garden beds when we arrived home from our spring vacation the end of May.  We left on May 5 so the hardier seedlings had been out on the deck for over a week with the more tender seedlings left indoors.  One of our kids did the plant care while we were away for three weeks.  Well, the temperatures heated up and the sun hit that deck with full force so I ended up losing about half of my outdoor seedlings.  The sun turned the window I had several herbs and indoor seedlings into death ray so I lost all the seedings and a couple of the herbs.

When we arrived home we quickly put together two raised PVC beds for asparagus and strawberries along with the larger raised wood bed for vegetables.  Then the weather turned unbearably hot with drought conditions.  As a result of the unseasonably hot weather in March followed by a couple of hard frosts neither peach tree had fruit and the pear tree only had a couple of damaged fruit.  The gooseberry bush gave enough berries for me to make a batch of gooseberry jam.  The mint and chives were enough for garnishes and I dried a bit.  The raised beds were discouraging.  Only now can I see that some of the asparagus and strawberries survived but compared to what I planted, it is a bit discerning.  Surprisingly, the tomatoes did fairly well but definitely not what I'm used to.  The yield and size of the tomatoes was considerably lower than normal.  The peppers jalapeño, super chili, and habanero peppers put on a stunning performance which made up for the lack of performance in the Hungarian banana peppers and nothing from the sweet bell pepper plants.  The dill did not survive being attacked by what I suspect was a rabbit.  The weather was so hot that the lettuce bolted almost immediately upon emergence.  I did end up with four small heads of cabbage so that was a bit encouraging.

What was funny about this growing season was everything was a good two weeks early.  Cucumbers for pickling were still going when peaches started and I was canning peaches struggling to get the corn done that was early then tomatoes hit in mid-August.  I was just into canning tomatoes when my husband was hospitalized for five days so that took my time away from canning and the garden.  After that it was catch-up time until we left for our fall vacation on October 2 not returning until October 23.  The weather was mild except for the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  I managed to do a clean pick a couple of days ago as the forecast was lows of below freezing but aside of a bit of frost on the rooftops, the vegetable bed is still producing although I suspect that will end within the next day or two.

We've done a lot of ripping out this year so I am looking forward to the 2013 growing season here in beautiful Ontario, Canada.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the gardens at our vacation home in sunny Florida when we are there next for our winter vacation.

It's Official - We're Moving

It is official. Our house is currently listed privately for sale and we have purchased another house conditional on the sale of this house. The downside to this is I was still in the process of re-establishing and expanding raised gardening beds here. So that work will not see completion. On the plus side we will be moving if all goes well just in time to be right on schedule for planting this year's garden. I thought I would be upset leaving this garden behind but I've only been working on it not quite three years with last year being the first year of the raised beds so I'm not really attached to it.

I'm actually excited about the prospects of creating yet once again another gardening. With this move we will have the large garden at our permanent residence and a smaller garden at our vacation residence in an entirely different hardiness zone. So this is very exciting for me. I'm doing a bit of research so stay tuned to follow my newest gardening adventures.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Let's Talk Tomatoes

Heinz 1439
August 19, 2009

I think everyone growing a vegetable garden grows at least one tomato plant! Home grown tomatoes freshly picked and still warm from the sun's kisses are really a gardener's delight. They make wonderful summer sandwiches and salads as well as a wide variety of sauces. The best part is one tomato plant can easily gift you with upwards of 40 mouthwatering tomatoes! Our tomato season is just starting with lots of lovely looking fruit that will be ripening soon. I've been picking about a half pint of cherry tomatoes daily but that will soon change as the plants are heavy with fruit.

In general tomatoes are either heirloom or hybrids. Heirloom tomatoes are those that have been cultivated from seeds passed from one generation to the next so will breed true. If you save the seeds from an heirloom tomato and plant them the following year that is the variety of tomato you will get. Hybrids tomatoes are a cross between two different varieties in the attempt to gain a more desirable characteristic. If you save the seeds from hybrids you will more than likely get a tomato plant resembling more of one of the parental types that went into creating the hybrid than you will the hybrid itself. Tomatoes are further divided into slicing (eg. Beefsteak, Heinz 1439, Lemon Boys), plum or roma, pear and grape (bite sized elongated shape) and cherry (small round shape). Tomatoes are available in a wide range of colours from a dark purplish to pinky red to orangy red and all shades in between including green. Yellow and orange varieties have a higher sugar concentration so taste less acidic.

To keep your tomato plants happy be sure to use 2 tbsp epsom salt per plant when planting then sprinkle some around the base of the plant 1 tsp per food of vine biweekly. An epsom salt foliar spray will help keep your vines healthy as well. A weekly foliar spray of chamomile tea will help prevent fungus problems like early and late blight. There is a late blight that is damaging many tomato plants in the northeastern US. Blight can be recognized by small black or brown dots forming on the lower leaves of the plant. As the blight spreads the leaves will yellow. As the fungus moves up the stem more leaves will be damaged. Any damaged foliage should be removed immediately to prevent spread of the blight to other plants. Be sure to discard these damaged leaves well away from your garden. Wash your hands well to prevent spreading blight to other tomato plants. You should also avoid working on tomato vines when they are wet as this will spread any diseases present.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Ribbit Day

If you have not heard the term ribbit it refers to ripping out mistakes in knitting. Today we are doing a major ribbit in preparation for the permanent vegetable beds. Yes we are a bit late but it's been a cold, rainy spring here. So stay tuned for our progress.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009