Garden 2015: Less Variety, Larger Harvests

I am going crazy with daydreams of playing in the garden! Even though we are gaining light it is still dark when I go to work and dark when I come home – and it is cold. The thought of sunshine and green, tasty growing things has been creeping into my head more and more often. It got so bad today, I decided it was time to really think about what I want to accomplish in the garden this year and started looking at what seeds I have from last year. I started making lists of supplies and other things we will need. Then, since I had already given in so much, I sketched out a bit of a calendar plan on when to get things done for increased chances of success. I am really going to change things up this year!

This marks our 3rd growing season in our little greenhouse and cold frames. I have decided to shift our focus from having variety to having larger harvests of certain veggies. It is my goal this year to grow enough of what we consider the basics to feed us through the entire winter. They include: potatoes, onions (green, red, and white), carrots, garlic, and green beans. There will be some additional stuff in containers, of course, but I am really intent of getting huge harvests (given the space we have). I came to this decision after looking over notes and plans from the last two years.

The first year (2013) was A-MAZ-ING with a huge harvest that blew my mind. I filled produce bags over half way several times with green beans alone! The carrots were so plentiful, too, that we were able to feed ourselves and mom pretty much all winter. We went 8-9 months without buying any canned green beans or carrots from the store. That was very satisfying! I think a lot of the reason we did so incredibly well was 1) It was top soil mixed with bagged soil, manure, and perlite – FULL of nutrients, and 2) It was an exceptional summer weather wise. That summer, I was also finishing up my second associate’s degree and was home a lot more. I was able to put more time into it.

The second year (2014) was…less than stellar. It was a huge learning curve for me. I did not amend the soil and get more organic material into it. We also redid the roof and used a thicker plastic sheeting that held together nicely but created another problem. Even with extra windows and whatnot put in place, it was too hot and didn’t have enough air flow. Those things coupled with the slug battle of my life and a fungus (from lots of moisture in a hot environment) issue left us with a dismal harvest. The only things that did well were the carrots and onions that were in a new cold frame, garlic, and potatoes. We got very few green beans (not even enough to jar two pints!), zero tomatoes (again), and the whole thing was just very sad.

On the one hand, I am really disappointed with the way things turned out last year. On the other hand, I am grateful that I got to learn this harsh lesson now. The greenhouse and cold frames we have now are viewed as a ‘practice’ garden. We are incredibly lucky that our landlord has let us use the space but that can limit us on what we can do. There is plenty that we want to do but refrain because we know that eventually, we will get our land and move. I would rather save the money for the land and find some recycled materials than buy new. Since it is my ultimate goal to grow enough food for us to live on through winter and into the next growing season, I am going to grow a lot of only a few things and use the small amount of real estate I have to, hopefully, get a harvest so big that I have to call in help to deal with it all!

This year, I have shifted my whole line of thinking and plan for the garden. Instead of planting multiple things in a cold frame or raised bed, I will plant the entire bed with only one vegetable for larger harvests! To give an idea of what I mean, I have one cold frame that is 10 feet by 2 feet, giving us a 20 square foot area to work in. The whole thing will be used to grow carrots. According to the garden planner I use, that should be about 150 carrots. I know, however, that using some square foot gardening methods will allow me to get even more! Plus, we pick and harvest during the growing season which helps to thin the rows out and allow the ones left behind to get larger. I prefer to grow the Danver Half-Long variety when it comes to carrots. (At the bottom of this article is a picture of the garden plan for this year.)

The taters this year will be grown using the large, 50 pound pet food bags we get. They are strong and can withstand a beating due to the thick plastic used. A friend of mine at work has used this method for years and swears by it. You simply cut some holes in the bottom for water drainage and roll the sides down. Toss enough dirt and your potato start in it. Once it starts to grow, add soil and unroll the sides up as needed. When it is time to harvest, you can simply cut the bag open or turn it upside down to use it again! I plan on having 3-4 bags going this year.

Garden 2015 Goal: Larger Harvests!

We will be removing one of the raised bed frames out of the greenhouse and turning it into another cold frame. We will also be using fresh dirt in it. There is some kind of nasty orange/red gelatin-like gunk coming out from under where it sits now. It also has an oily sheen on it which leads me think one of two things: Either is it contaminated ground or there is a lot of iron or something that is being leached out. We will be putting pallets down and using our large pots for some container gardening in the space. I really want to grow the patio snacker cucumbers again. Our first year they did well, the second year both plantings were wiped out by slugs. They grow vertically so should do well in a container. I hope to post an article about our experiments in container gardening. I am going to give tomatoes one more shot in a container that will be companion planted with some basil to see if it helps. I am hopeful but the last two years have been nothing but woe when it comes to growing tomatoes.

We do plan on trying something new this year – kale! I had the pleasure of trying my friend’s kale she grew in containers last year and it was delicious. I have heard from many people that it does very well here and like the idea of having ‘green chips’ to munch on in the winter. Kale packs some serious nutrition besides just tasting good, too!

I am sure there will end up being a bunch of little side projects such as using some pvc pipe we were given to do some vertical gardening with. I am thinking strawberries for sure. We got maybe a handful of edible strawberries last year due to the slugs. Also, the leaves had grown so incredibly large and spread across the bed so much, it didn’t allow any sunlight to get underneath to the flowers. The berries that did form ended up laying right on the ground which was the dinner bell to the slugs and rot. I am hopeful but determined to get the following quantities of our basic staples:

Main Beds & Cold Frames

• Potatoes – 100+ pounds
• Green Beans – Enough for 3-4 cases of pint jars
• Carrots – Enough for 3-4 cases of pint jars
• Onions* – 40-50 pounds of white, 15-20 pounds of red, and as many green onions as possible
• Garlic** – 50+ bulbs
• Beets – 15 + for pickling
• Kale – Enough for several large bags of chips.
• Celery – Enough to dehydrate and use in my stew starters and other dishes. Used more as a spice.
• Crisphead Lettuce – This one is just mostly so we have some tasty, fresh lettuce for the best salads all summer long.

Containers

• Cucumbers – Enough for a dozen pints of pickles. More is better, of course.
• Basil, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Dill – Enough to dry out and use until the next growing season. (The point is to not buy even one bottle of any of these spices from the store. They are expensive here!)
• Scallions – Enough to eat on through summer, maybe dehydrate.

*Not all of the onions are intended to last through the winter. I learned last year that I needed far more than before because I make up large pots of soups and stews and then jar them up (take that Campbells!). Easily half will be used up before the end of December between the jarring and holiday dinners. I also want to make my own dried and minced onions so I don’t have to buy any from the store anymore.

**We truly cannot have enough garlic. I need more than before because of the soups and stews mentioned above and want to have enough to mince and roast, as well as dry and powder so we no longer have to buy ‘powdered garlic’ from the store again! I also want enough to use in pickling.

 

Do you use a garden planner and plan each year out? Do you rotate crops or just amend the soil and replant each year? Here is the screenshot of the garden plan this year.