Lessons Learned

This summer has been a difficult one for the garden. With temperatures in and above the 90s for most of July we are lucky that we did not lose more. According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the month of June had the highest recorded ocean and land temps on the planet (or at least since 1880 when they began recording this information).

Source: NOAA (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/images/map-blended-mntp-201006.gif)

We lost most of our squashes and cukes, we also lost our peas. The spinach also went very quickly to flower. I think that next year we will plant more peas instead of spinach. I've never liked peas but the ones fresh from the garden are very nice.

It was also the first summer I started most seeds from indoors in the early spring. This did not work out as well as I had planned. Of the many many tomato seeds that I sowed only 1 survived and is in the garden. it's a small plant not sure if we will see any tomatoes before the frost in the fall. Of the many many peppers I sowed only a few have made it to the garden.

Our transplanted beans did OK but the best and most thriving one was from a seed planted at the same time that the seedlings were put in.

Next year I think I will plant directly into the garden and use soda bottles and anything I can get my hands on to keep the frost off of the seedlings.

Everything we planted from seed directly into the garden did much better than the seedlings, the basil, eggplants, greens, peas... unfortunately this meant that a lot of the seeds went in a bit late in the season (mid May) and we may not see the plants bear their maximum yield.






I also want to have pots of veggies over the winter in the spare room. If the eggplants don't bloom until the fall then I will have to bring them in.

And of course I can't resist sharing a photo of one of my very favorites - sunflowers!