Maybe I enjoy gardening for the same reason I enjoy growing grapes and making wine: each year is different. While the basic premise is the same: pruning, pest control, planting, harvesting; each year has it's own set of challenges and accomplishments.
This year my trellised grapes are in their third year, which means I can finally let them set fruit. However, as of the first full week of July, I've learned what caused my total Petite Syrah crop loss last year and this year: black rot. This nasty fungus thrives in damp warm weather of which we've had plenty. It didn't help that I never sprayed my grapes (with organic sulfur). This year I've finally learned my lesson. I sprayed the Cab Franc around July 8th after discovering the black rot spreading to that crop. I just hope it isn't too late. But at least I'm only dealing with 4 vines and not 4 acres! Now it's a matter of trying to control the spread until verasion hits (which is when the grapes start to ripen) at which time the major threat should pass. Then its on to the bird netting!
In addition to managing the grape crop, this is the first year of my new Cabernet Sauvingnon vines that will be grown without a trellis (aka: Goblet or Head style)...so I'm learning a new style of growing grapes.
The strawberries are looking good but the slugs and ants like them too and with 6 plants this year they are more of a novelty. I get just a few berries at a time and they make it to my mouth before the house. I hope the plants will spread and form more plants next year. And with the slug & ant problem, I need to find an organic control.
The potatoes are probably the easiest of all. They're growing away so I'm anxious to see how they produce. The cages kept tipping over with the May & June thunderstorms so I finally just put up 4 stakes and tried to fence them into their space. And they seem to be behaving.
The artichoke plants look good. I'm just waiting for them to start to set blossoms. I'm hoping for a bumper crop. I'd like to have the problem of trying to figure out what to do with them all!
The asparagus did well, but moving them to the new perennial bed stunted them, so I hope for a bigger production next year.
This is the first year of my new raised garden beds. As of mid-June I had determined that my eyes were bigger than the space I have. So after much contemplation I removed the turnips (they just don't have the same appeal they did when I was a kid), the cantaloupe, and about 6 squash plants. And as the garden grows this year I find myself thinking about how I'll do things next year.
So what will I do differently next year?
I probably won't plant turnips or arugula and I'll probably limit my winter squash to just butternut and maybe acorn. Otherwise they take over everything. And as of July 10th the squash vine borers had attacked and killed 3 of my 4 summer squash plants and the 4th plant isn't looking too good. It's crazy how quickly the borers strike! As of July 1st they looked healthy. Nine days later-not so much. But it is giving me a chance to replant and try training them into cages. (The plants had a tendency to sprawl even though they are the bush versus vine varieties.) So it will be interesting to see what happens. And considering we've been eating yellow squash and zucchini for weeks now, I think we will cope. I figure I should have more squash in about a month.
And unfortunately the borers also struck the butternut squash so I planted Kentucky Wonder Beans and Edamame in their place. And since one of the acorn squash appears to be dying, the beans should have plenty of room to grow.
With our unseasonably warm spring and hot summer the broccoli is bolting so I either have to harvest it quickly while small or try it again in the fall. So far harvesting early and tying the leaves up around the forming heads helps. So I'm anxious to eat broccoli instead of squash this month.
As of June 24th my Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower still hadn't produced anything and were taking up valuable space. So I took out the cauliflower and planted bush beans into their place. I'm still holding out hope for the Brussels Sprouts. And as of July 15th there are still no Brussels Sprouts. So at this point they're more ornamental than anything and the curious side of me just wants to wait and see what happens.
I tried for the second time to grow cilantro and for the second time it promptly went to seed a month later. The flat leaf italian parsley is doing great but I don't use it much. So I may or may not grow it again next year. But the basil is doing good & I'm happy with it.
The yellow pear tomato plant has a mind of its own, but its been giving me tasty treats since mid-June. So I like the way it thinks! Next year I think I'll plant both the red & yellow pear varieties and just give them more space.
The remaining tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes and I'm impatient for them to ripen! But I think next year I'll plant less tomato plants so they have more room. (Right now I have 6 plants in a 4 foot row, so they're a bit crowded.
The bell pepper plants just don't do well for me. I have one fruit on one plant and nothing but flowers on the other 2 plants. But I'm hopeful. The Jalapaneo and banana peppers are doing great and I should have a large harvest from both next month.
Half my onion & shallot sets rotted in the ground either from too much rain or some type of disease. Plus the red onion sets aren't producing as big of onions as I had hoped. As of July 1st they appeared to have stopped growing. I'm trying to wait till August to pull & dry them. So next month I may try to sow some onion seeds for a spring harvest. I've heard onions from seed perform better than sets and considering the variety is better, I'm up to try it.
The Swiss Chard produced by leafs and bounds (pun intended) and we just didn't eat that much of it. But it freezes well. So I may just plant less of it next year.
The eggplant looks good except the flea beetles are attacking it and I need to get some insecticidal soap to kill the bugs.
The lettuce and spinach did great too as did the radishes and beets.
So looking forward and thinking of what I've experienced so far this year, next year I'll definitely plant: tomatoes, bell peppers, habanero peppers (something new), banana peppers, jalepaneo peppers, eggplant, green beans (bush & pole), swiss chard (just less of it), lettuce & spinach, cucumbers, yellow squash (the variety this year produces loads!), zucchini, butternut squash, beets, radish, onion (from seed instead of sets, the variety is greater & I hear the production is better), okra (new), and basil & dill.
I know it sounds crazy to think about next year's garden, but looking ahead is a good thing. In the meantime I'll be waiting for the tomatoes to ripen.
