Today is the first anniversary of this blog, which makes it a natural time for a comparison post: how is the garden shaping up this year, as opposed to last?
1) More mature plants. I started all of my seeds 45 days earlier this year (and planted earlier), which means that the plants in the garden are sturdier and more mature. Have a look here for an example: at this time last year, the zucchini was tiny and fragile, and the snow peas were about two inches high. Compare to the photo above: the zucchini is flourishing and the snow peas are over a foot high and climbing! I can't take all the credit for this year's improvements-- our weather has been much warmer this year. But it goes to show that a little bit of preparation makes for a nice head start in the garden.
2) A better tomato strategy. This year's home-sown San Marzano tomato plants are about the same size as last year's nursery-grown Early Girl. This isn't a bad thing-- last year's home-sown tomatoes were 4 inches high at this time of year, and these plants are already acclimated to their spots. All the same, I think I'll wait a bit longer to plant out the tomatoes and jalapenos next year; they like heat, and the greenhouse would probably have been a more ideal environment for them until the end of May.
3) Everything's mulched. This year's warmer weather is nice for the summer crops, but it does raise watering concerns. Mulch helps the beds retain water-- a big concern for my garden because of the mounded beds (which have more surface area for water to evaporate). Last year, I didn't mulch until June; this year, I already have a layer of grass clippings over almost every bed.
4) Established herbs. The herbs were a mid-season addition to the garden last year; this year, the onion chives and thyme are already flowering. On the annual/biennial front, Italian parsley is a newcomer to the garden, and it seems to be doing really well. Wish I could say the same for the basil, which is doing the same thing as last year (ie turning yellow-green and maintaining stunted growth).
5) Early-season crops. I've already harvested mature arugula, lettuce, and radishes from the garden, all before anything went out last year! Next year, I'm planning on even more spring crops, including broccoli and chard.
6) OMG, I planted flowers. Last year, the focus was on vegetables-- even the marigolds from hell were only installed as a pest-prevention measure. This year, I've branched out into cut flowers from seed: zinnias, shasta daisies, calendula, black-eyed susan, purple coneflower, cosmos, bells of ireland, sunflowers, and thunbergia. And of course, there are more dahlias! I'm going for an overall country garden look in the west bed-- it's an ex-per-i-ment. We'll see how it goes!
That about sums it up! It's nice to see that I've actually been making measurable progress. I can't wait for the lessons the garden will teach me in the coming year.
By the way: I'm using this post to test Hello; I've been posting pictures through Photobucket up until now but thought I'd give this a try. So far, it's been hella confusing! I know some of you in Bloggerland are already using it-- any tips?
2 comments:
yay for all the garden progress! i am *so* jealous of your San Marzano tomatoes! i'm hoping that i'll be able to get my hands on some at the farmer's market (at Wilson Park), which i haven't been to yet once all this year! how depressing is that? with experience comes wisdom...and it shows in your garden!
by the bye...i use hello...and it's working well enough for me. it does get a little confusing since you don't necessarily have to be logged into post the photo, you know? then i just go back in and edit it. hope that makes sense!
Thanks for the reassurance about Hello. It surprised me when I pressed "Enter" to start a new paragraph of text and it started uploading instead! It's good to know that it's normal to edit text after uploading... I thought the program had just spotted me as a newb and was deciding to have some fun with me!
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