So, as the snow begins to fly and we plan to reinforce our hoop house today so that it will withstand the ravages of the coming winter, my thoughts turn to golden happy memories of my bare toes on the sun-warmed soil as I ate peas right out of the pod while I worked in the garden last summer. I love gardening, watching the week by week growth of plants started from seed to the point that they provide food for my family--there is great satisfaction in this for me, and my season here is so short that I personally have to really plan ahead to ensure success, and milk the season for all that it's worth.
1) How big is your garden area? Traditional garden rows / raised beds / pots or containers / combo? Is your garden on your property or do you have a community garden plot (or a combo of both)?
This year we did a combo of containers and raised beds. We planted tomatoes and peppers in 8 really big pots on our deck, potatoes in a cardboard box (actually worked ok but we didn't plant that many--it was just an experiment), plus we planted a variety of veggies (carrots, radishes, beets, cukes, Romaine, butterhead lettuce, tomatoes, peas, green and wax beans) in our 3 2'x8' raised beds in our back yard.
We also put in two apple trees that actually bore quite a bit of fruit the first year in (yay!) and raspberry canes, although none fruited the first year.
2) What are your gardening goals? Fresh eating during the season to supplement groceries / preservation for the rest of the year through: canning / freezing / dehydrating / root cellaring or other cold storage?
This year was our first year since moving house to have an actual garden beyond the big pots on the deck, so we were just going for "getting back in the saddle".
We ate most of it fresh, still have carrots and beets in storage (damp sand in 5 gallon buckets in a cold room in our basement) and canned the tons of tomatoes we grew (although we also ate plenty fresh with our other salad crops). We ate the large apples from one tree fresh (off the tree, as it only produced about 20 apples and with four people in our family, each of us eating an apple a day, they didn't last long!) and made apple sauce out of the 3" apples off the other tree (5 quarts).
3) Did you have pest problems in 2011 and how did you deal with them?
Late-August we found that every plant and tree in our back yard was infested with tiny black flies that wouldn't shake off. A friend told me they were a type of aphid, but I'm skeptical since every aphid I've ever seen was green. I hosed them off best as I could, but they didn't seem to do any damage?
4) Did you have plant disease problems in 2011 and how did you deal with them / how do you plan to deal with any aftermath in the coming years?
None this year, touch wood!
5) What is one thing you want to improve about your garden in 2012?
Next year we want to double the raised beds and preserve more, and put in more raspberry canes (at our old house we had enough raspberry canes to freeze enough for jam, smoothies, and waffle/pancake toppings to take us to the next season) while still supplementing our fresh eating. We would put a couple more apple trees into the front yard, but we have deer and I think they'd be temped by sweet treats just hanging in the trees at eye level so we'll be researching how to keep the deer away but up our apple production.
6) What specific challenges do you face where you garden and do you have any questions that perhaps someone here can help you with? (This can be anything--water availability, slope, shade, soil, weather etc.)
We live at altitude (3500') in the rain shadow of the Rockies so it is very arid here. We have long (6 months plus) winters, can get frost/snow in any month of the year, and our growing season is considered "short".
We also have heavy clay soil, so brought in a yard of compost to improve our garden area (and will add more each year, some from our own compost and some purchased).
Finally we have deer that impact our ability to expand edibles into the front yard, and we have jackrabbits and squirrels who like to nibbled on things and generally wreak havoc, so we hoop chicken wire over the garden beds to keep them and the birds out.
No questions from me at the moment, we've worked out when to start seeds indoors under fluorescent lights and how to protect our plants when frost/critters threaten etc. but I'll be sure to ask anything that comes up now that we've got this fab new Gardening category!
7) What is one triumph of your 2011 garden year? (Plant varieties that did super well / a new technique you tried that really paid off / just the fact that you did something new or even began a garden for the first time (yay!) / ways to extend your season / you got some member/s of your family on board for the first time etc.)
Valmaine lettuce--bolt resistant, we had lovely heads right through the hottest part of summer and to the end of August! Wonderful variety, excellent taste, I'm totally buying seeds for this variety again.
We also had a total bumper crop of carrots and tomatoes, for which we are still very thankful as we are going to be eating carrots for another couple of months at least, and the canned tomatoes will take us to next summer
Finally, our new hoop house that we built really helped us extend our season (till the slugs got in because we didn't put sharp play sand around everything in the garden, only the lettuces. It should help us get things out into the garden up to a month earlier than usual, especially if we also do row covers/cloches, and we'll know better for next year to put sand around ALL the plants!
Tell us about your garden!
1) How big is your garden area? Traditional garden rows / raised beds / pots or containers / combo? Is your garden on your property or do you have a community garden plot (or a combo of both)?
This year we did a combo of containers and raised beds. We planted tomatoes and peppers in 8 really big pots on our deck, potatoes in a cardboard box (actually worked ok but we didn't plant that many--it was just an experiment), plus we planted a variety of veggies (carrots, radishes, beets, cukes, Romaine, butterhead lettuce, tomatoes, peas, green and wax beans) in our 3 2'x8' raised beds in our back yard.
We also put in two apple trees that actually bore quite a bit of fruit the first year in (yay!) and raspberry canes, although none fruited the first year.
2) What are your gardening goals? Fresh eating during the season to supplement groceries / preservation for the rest of the year through: canning / freezing / dehydrating / root cellaring or other cold storage?
This year was our first year since moving house to have an actual garden beyond the big pots on the deck, so we were just going for "getting back in the saddle".
We ate most of it fresh, still have carrots and beets in storage (damp sand in 5 gallon buckets in a cold room in our basement) and canned the tons of tomatoes we grew (although we also ate plenty fresh with our other salad crops). We ate the large apples from one tree fresh (off the tree, as it only produced about 20 apples and with four people in our family, each of us eating an apple a day, they didn't last long!) and made apple sauce out of the 3" apples off the other tree (5 quarts).
3) Did you have pest problems in 2011 and how did you deal with them?
Late-August we found that every plant and tree in our back yard was infested with tiny black flies that wouldn't shake off. A friend told me they were a type of aphid, but I'm skeptical since every aphid I've ever seen was green. I hosed them off best as I could, but they didn't seem to do any damage?
4) Did you have plant disease problems in 2011 and how did you deal with them / how do you plan to deal with any aftermath in the coming years?
None this year, touch wood!
5) What is one thing you want to improve about your garden in 2012?
Next year we want to double the raised beds and preserve more, and put in more raspberry canes (at our old house we had enough raspberry canes to freeze enough for jam, smoothies, and waffle/pancake toppings to take us to the next season) while still supplementing our fresh eating. We would put a couple more apple trees into the front yard, but we have deer and I think they'd be temped by sweet treats just hanging in the trees at eye level so we'll be researching how to keep the deer away but up our apple production.
6) What specific challenges do you face where you garden and do you have any questions that perhaps someone here can help you with? (This can be anything--water availability, slope, shade, soil, weather etc.)
We live at altitude (3500') in the rain shadow of the Rockies so it is very arid here. We have long (6 months plus) winters, can get frost/snow in any month of the year, and our growing season is considered "short".
We also have heavy clay soil, so brought in a yard of compost to improve our garden area (and will add more each year, some from our own compost and some purchased).
Finally we have deer that impact our ability to expand edibles into the front yard, and we have jackrabbits and squirrels who like to nibbled on things and generally wreak havoc, so we hoop chicken wire over the garden beds to keep them and the birds out.
No questions from me at the moment, we've worked out when to start seeds indoors under fluorescent lights and how to protect our plants when frost/critters threaten etc. but I'll be sure to ask anything that comes up now that we've got this fab new Gardening category!
7) What is one triumph of your 2011 garden year? (Plant varieties that did super well / a new technique you tried that really paid off / just the fact that you did something new or even began a garden for the first time (yay!) / ways to extend your season / you got some member/s of your family on board for the first time etc.)
Valmaine lettuce--bolt resistant, we had lovely heads right through the hottest part of summer and to the end of August! Wonderful variety, excellent taste, I'm totally buying seeds for this variety again.
We also had a total bumper crop of carrots and tomatoes, for which we are still very thankful as we are going to be eating carrots for another couple of months at least, and the canned tomatoes will take us to next summer
Finally, our new hoop house that we built really helped us extend our season (till the slugs got in because we didn't put sharp play sand around everything in the garden, only the lettuces. It should help us get things out into the garden up to a month earlier than usual, especially if we also do row covers/cloches, and we'll know better for next year to put sand around ALL the plants!
Tell us about your garden!
It should last till next season although this is what we eat the most of every year. We like Italian and Mexican foods ALOT and tomato is almost always in there somewhere so we need LOTS. I'm also going to attempt to grow feed for the animals again. My efforts this past year were fruitless for the most part :/ We got enough squash and okra to kill a moose. STILL eating on it and probably will be until mid season next year. Peppers did really well too.
