Lessons from My Organic Garden 2013 Edition

Muscadines

Well, I'm not putting a current picture of the garden in this post because, well, the crop I grew best this summer was grass.  Yup.  Grass.  All in the garden.  I was ill for about 2 weeks early in the summer and it just took over.  Yes, I've tried some to keep ahead of it, but it's stronger than I am.  In the next week or two, I'll be fishing the soaker hoses out of the grass and tilling it all under.  All is not failure, however, although the vegetables just could not compete with the grass for nourishment.  So, lessons learned from this year, so far:

Cucumber!

Weeding

• I hate weeding.  I don't weed.  I don't care how cool it is; I do not weed.  This is a major problem for an organic gardener.
• If I will not weed, I must either mulch or plant in rows.
• No-till isn't working for me; the aforementioned grass takes over the mulch crop.
• Intercropping is not working either.  The grass takes over before the "inter" crop establishes itself.

Sprouting bulblet of a "walking" onion.

Gardening method

• "Strip" gardening (tilled strips 3' x 25') has too much opportunity for grass incursion.  It's just not working.
• Raised beds have worked well for the ginger and turmeric.  Consider planting more, but do make them 3' wide rather than 4'.
• "Market garden" crops should be grown either in rows, cultivated with a tiller, or under plastic mulch/gardener's cloth covering soaker hoses.

Ginger and turmeric

Crop Selection

• Even heat-tolerant varieties of broccoli and cabbage can't tolerate the unrelenting direct sun of my garden.  Plant them earlier or later.
• San Marzano, Rutgers, and Oxheart tomatoes have done well.  Plant them again.  Currant tomatoes should be planted in single rows with harvest space all around.
• Although White Wonder, Sumter, and Edmonson cucumber varieties have produced well, I need to find a smaller variety for pickling.
• Go with the same pepper selection next year, but be sure to mulch with plastic as well as feed more heavily:  jalapeno, Tennessee cheese, serrano, King Arthur, among others.
• Annual "garden" crops are too labor-intensive; increase blackberries and find additional perennial crops.

A luscious fig!

The Future

• Blackberries!  They like my dirt and their cultivation schedule works with mine.
• Turmeric?  What's above ground looks good, but we'll see how the rest turns out.  It is planted in a raised bed with . . .
• Ginger?  It's really scruffy looking, but new leaves mean new "fingers" on the hand-shaped ginger root.
• Figs:  The fig trees are producing more this year, and enjoying the heat.
• Catawissa/Egyptian/Walking Onions:  They grow well in a pot, and every part of the plant is edible.  The bulb is like a small shallot and tastes like a spicy scallion.
• Other specialty crops:  Do you have any suggestions for specialty crops?

So, I'm shutting the garden down early this year.  I've already started the container garden on the porch and am considering a low tunnel outside.  There is so much to learn, but . . .

The greatest lesson about gardening is that there is always next year.

A Thank You!

I'd like to share a little "next year" with you.  I'll send 10 "walking onion" bulblets to five of you who take the time to offer suggestions for next year's specialty crops in the next two weeks.

What about you?  What's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy