Vegetable Garden re-Cap 08/09 into 2010

The last time I wrote about our vegetable garden was late May 2008...we've grown a few crops since then! We had some triumphs: RIPE watermelons, RIPE tomatoes, an abundance of eggplant; and a few failures: Winter crops suffered with almost 24" of snow lasting 2 weeks in December 2008, and record cold in January 2010, and a buildup of diseases from not rotating crops.

Deep snow, December 2008

The community Garden plot I rent for my Dad has been a huge success! 2008 was our first season...there were a lot of weeds to pull, and many of the adjoining gardens were weedy and uncared for; and I needed to bring my Dad up to date on organic gardening methods, but we overcame those obstacles and harvested a good amount of delicious produce.

My Dad with his Watermelon and Dahlias

The second year (2009) in the garden was even better; we learned a lot in 2008 and had the weeds under control before we started planting. One of the best things we did was to take advantage of a dry spell in the fall and pre-prep the soil for spring: we cleared out the spent veg plants, dug in compost then topped the bare soil with newspapers and mulch. In spring we planted right through the mulch and didn't need to weed or wait for a long dry spell since the soil was already prepared.

In the community garden plot we grow:

Veggies to preserve: beans, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, rappini, chard, onions, garlic, eggplant, peppers, basil, & oregano.

Veggies my Dad likes to eat fresh: Radish, strawberries, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and flowers for cutting.

Veggies that need space: Fennel, Squash, Watermelon

In the home garden we grow:

Veggies that need more tending: Lettuce and other tender greens, zucchini (picked daily!)

Veggies the Man of the House and I like to eat fresh: Eggplant, herbs, turnips, radish, romano beans

Back ups of some of the Community Garden veggies: Watermelon, tomatoes, both are prime targets for thievery.

I'm working on the list for late spring into fall 2010...so many choices, so little space! So far we have onion and garlic, and lacinato kale planted in fall 2009 in the community garden (we planted lettuce too, but 11 degrees in January did it in!) I have snap peas planted in pots that are ready to get in the ground too. Oh, and two olive trees for the back yard too!

Pea plants ready for the community garden; started last week of January 2010