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Lessons learned this year.

Jen Fulkerson

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Location: N. California

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posted 1 year ago

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One of the things I love about gardening is I always learn something. I was thinking about some of what I learned this year, and thought it might be fun to share mine and hear some of yours.

succession planting. Sure we have all heard it many times, but I haven't really done it. I plant, care for, harvest and remove annuals, and keep caring for the perennials. This year I accidentally pulled out a piece of zucchini that had set down roots in late July I think. I removed most of the leaves and planted it. I didn't actually think it would survive. Not only did it make it, but it's still producing. I have never gotten zucchini this late. (The weather is getting colder, so I doubt It will much longer )The other zucchini and squash stopped producing a while ago. I always thought I had such a long growing season I just didn't need to start that seasons plants more then once. I'm definitely going to plant our favorites a couple times during the season. I used a pvc pipe to use as a support for my zucchini (because it was a leftover from another project and was handy). Since it was there I would fill it with water. That zucchini grew and produced better then all the rest. I'm going to use a pvc pipe for all my support poles next year.

I learned the self watering pool systems I tried were an epic fail. It was probably something I did, or didn't do. All I know is no matter what I did to try to make it work. Nothing grew well. I'm not sure it's worth the time and effort to try again. We will see.

I have finally managed to get cherry trees to survive. No matter what I tried in the past the cherry always died. Several died due to children playing on or around them. My kids are grown up, so that problem is solved. I have a technique for planting trees and shrubs that seems to be working for me. Its a combination of things I've learned from premise, and Youtube. I have a good amount of clay in my soil. In the summer it can get so hard it's like concrete. I start by digging a much larger hole then is needed. Not so much diameter as deep. I make sure the hole is * star shaped. Not literally, but when I'm done digging the hole no matter what shape I try to dig its pretty much a circle. I use the shovel to remove chucks out of the sides. So instead of a smooth circle it has grooves, like a star-ish shape. I put a piece of wood in the bottom (unless a chicken or pet has died, then that is first) organic fertilizer Then soil, compost type stuff, like leaves, kitchen scraps, cardboard, that kind of stuff, soil, organic compost. The tree, and finish with compost and soil. I have not lost one tree since I have been using this method, including the dreaded cherry tree.

For me planting comfrey seed works so much better then a root cutting or even crown. I only got one seedling started and planted this year. That one grew like crazy. I didn't have to water it everyday like I did the others I tried. It looks 100 times healthier then the crown I planted 2? years ago. It also helps remind me I need to water my apple tree when the comfrey starts to droop. I'm so happy to finally grow comfrey. Next year I hope to get a comfrey under every fruit tree I have.

Not really learning, but this year we were way better at eating what I grew. It warms my heart to see my grown children eating something from the garden daily.

I'm sure there were other lessons learned, but that's what stands out. I'm looking forward to what you all have learned.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Ela La Salle

Posts: 285

posted 1 year ago

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Hello

I'm glad you had such a rewording learning experiences.
I'm a little jealous (but NOT in a mean way!) because my vegetable raised beds garden was a total fiasco.
1. After finally removing (professionally) an aspen tree ....we learned that the stump should have been "smeared/suffocated". It wasn't and the result is that we have hundreds new
aspen trees shooting EVERYWHERE! It's ongoing war and no end in site! The tree was cut down because the tree roots were permeating onto the raised beds after 3 years of being
build.
2. My beautiful, and for the first time ever the healthiest tomato plants I ever had (grown under grow lights) died after late, unsuspected frost.
3. Growing 2 potatoes in leaf mold and cardboard box yield 5 small potato in total (oh....the top growth was SOOOO lush and GREEN!)
4. Most of my vegetables in raised beds didn't come up at all (beets, carrots, root parsley, squash, pumpkin and more).

The most positive and very, very productive thing that happened was the huuuge, ongoing crop of blackberries!? (beats me!)
Oh! And my perennial flowers did exceptionally well. I had people taking pictures (that did tickled my ego LOL).
So.... Next year I will plant everything later and see what happens.
Not sure what to do about those aspen as****es. I tried so many things and so far, they "love me too much" to die! Ugh
I'm going to be positive and that's that

Thank you for listening

(well...reading )

Cécile Stelzer Johnson

pollinator

Posts: 1354

Location: zone 4b, sandy, Continental D

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posted 1 year ago

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Ela La Salle wrote:Hello
I'm glad you had such a rewording learning experiences.
I'm a little jealous (but NOT in a mean way!) because my vegetable raised beds garden was a total fiasco.
1. After finally removing (professionally) an aspen tree ....we learned that the stump should have been "smeared/suffocated". It wasn't and the result is that we have hundreds new
aspen trees shooting EVERYWHERE! It's ongoing war and no end in site! The tree was cut down because the tree roots were permeating onto the raised beds after 3 years of being
build.

On killing aspens, this is the best I've found: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=extension_histall#:~:text=The%20right%20way%20to%20remove,down%20after%20it%20is%20dead.&text=To%20kill%20aspens%20apply%20the,the%20holes%20with%20concentrated%20herbicide.
For what it's worth, I don't think that "smothering" it would be much better. It is just the nature of aspen to continue growing vegetatively, like a hydra [cut one sucker and 10 more grow!] Putting a thick blanket, or something to block the sun would just make it 'travel' a little further out, and then it would start again.
At this point, remember that a tree without leaves cannot continue because it needs leaves to convert the energy from the sun into making leaves that in turn give it some more energy. So this may take a while, but there is a [relatively] easy way: faithfully remove any suckers and leaves you see all along the season. Put everyone in the family on that mission: If you see a leaf, pluck it. If you see a sucker, cut it way down at the base. There will come a time when the tree has exhausted all its strength and will stop coming back.

$10.00 is a donation. $1,000 is an investment, $1,000,000 is a purchase.

Pam Kennedy

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posted 1 year ago

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Here in northeastern Vermont it was hot and dry early in the season, causing carrots and beets not to germinate despite watering. Then the rest of the summer was damp, cloudy, cool and downright rainy! So greens loved it and flowers. Tomatoes, potatoes and other vegetables we usually count on, not so much! It was our. Second year using a hoop house for some vegetables and it was more successful. If we were ten years younger we would put in a second! Garlic was great and zucchini kept producing until this week. Reliable beans were great. Lesson learned? Diversify as much as you can so that some crops are a success. Extend the season and protect from pests (we are directly in a deer path and had our first ever woodchuck…and a bear destroyed our corn field! Keep experimenting with companion planting, succession planting (kale and turnips planted where the garlic was are still going strong), new varieties and learn from other gardeners!

William Bronson

gardener

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Location: Cincinnati, Ohio,Price Hill 45205

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I experienced tomato blight for the first time this year!
I have been planting tomatoes a minimum of 4 to a barrel for years with great success.
This year none of my full size or larger tomatoes produced a darn thing.
That said, we have eaten a lot 9f homegrown tomatoes and there is still some that need to be harvested!
Volenteer cherry tomatoes have become endemic in my landscape, to the point that they killed off some newly planted herb starts, and interfered with pepper plants.
They are absolute monsters and up to a month ago new plants were still sprouting.

I had a bumper crop of pears, but the squirrels attacked them, so I picked them early.
They never really ripened, seeming to go from hard as rock to rotting mush.
These squirrels will bite through nylon mesh, so I hope to protect the pears with aluminum mesh next year.

Eating Bindweed
Eating Buckwheat Greens
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Carla Terry

Posts: 38

posted 1 year ago

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I have been wanting to grow a cherry tree and your ideas are great and I am going to try it. When I grew my first apple tree, I made a hole bigger than the I needed, put liquid fertilizer in and it grew great, but no apples. 2 years ago, I got lots of apples and were excited, but this year I had lots of flowers, but no apples. I realized I probably should have been watering more. I bought me some comfrey seeds and will be planting underneath the tree this spring. I also have clay soil.

I have a pear tree and another apple tree I started and thought died, but noticed some new branches coming up. I will be pruning the old growth off this week and get the new started and water this winter when needed.

Suzanne Jabs

Posts: 52

Location: Willamette Valley, OR

posted 1 year ago

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I learned about later planting this year. I had always done ok with tomatoes, but this year, waiting until after July 4th, I was successful with cucumbers, peppers, and eggplant! Made and canned lots of sauce, jars and jars of fermented pickles, and ate lots of baba ganoush from the eggplants. It was a great year.

I also learned that I will never plant schwartzbeeren again. I can't get rid of them, they are sprouting up in all my beds.

Since our summers here in the PNW are getting more and more dry and hotter, I am trying thicker mulch around all my trees and bushes. And when I go scavenge leaves from the fancy neighborhood with all the big trees, I will collect twice as much as last year to put in my vegetable garden area.

I just planted another round of native bushes in different spots, making a hedge that will hopefully feed and shelter lots of birds and pollinators. I got a drawing from a native plant seminar using Mock Orange, Red Flowering Currant, Oregon Grape, and Snowberry. When it fills in, it will be lovely!

I love this forum, am constantly learning here as well. Can't list all the things I've picked up, but thanks everyone!

Timothy Norton

master gardener

Posts: 4263

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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I learned a few things this year.

1. When starting vegetables from seed, don't start 75 tomatoes if you don't have the room for all of them or else you will be drowning in tomatoes and not much else. I however have identified several types of tomatoes from the vast variety I started that seem to be starting points for landrace plants.

2. You can never have enough compost/wood chips but are limited by the volume that you can move in a day. I'm overweight and wheeze a little on a brisk walk but I can shovel and move full wheelbarrows all day. I don't know why, but I just get into a zone and enjoy myself!

3. Mushroom spawn can be kept in a fridge during the winter and still be viable by spring! I got my hands on some discounted winecap spawn that I couldn't put outside so I stuck it into a mini-fridge for a few months and popped it out when the ground thawed. I got flushes this year confirming viability!

4. Cover crop timing can be tricky. I put daikon radish last year into the gardens in fall but nothing germinated... until spring! I have had so many daikon's just popping up this year that it wasn't so much fun. I did get some winter oats in august but they have only reached four or five inches by the time frost has hit New York. I'm looking out at the snow flurries as I type!

5. I have discovered and had to learn how to handle a series of invasives on a third of an acre. I had Japanese Barberry, Oriental Bittersweet, and now have to tackle a burning bush that looks pretty well established.

6. Just because most things won't grow on a strip of soil, doesn't mean nothing will. I have a strip of gravelly, sandy, crappy soil on the edge of one sides of my property and found out that mullen doesn't mind. I had ONE wild second year plant grow this year and I have successfully harvested the seeds. I've spread the seeds along the strip and see what takes hold. I'll need to find some secondary plants that might work well but I haven't gotten that far. I'll be pleased just to have some first year mullens establish next spring.

I'm sure there is more, but I had quite the learning year!

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Ela La Salle

Posts: 285

posted 1 year ago

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Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:
Thank you for the link

However, that option wasn't feasible as the tree was huge and close to the house. I've read (afterword) that the stump was supposed to be "smothered" with some type of solution right after being cut.
That tree was cut down in very early Spring, and everyone has been pulling every sprouting sucker ever since. Can't use poison because we have a dog and crows.
So, it might take years. I'll be dead by then or permanently bend-over! LOL

Nancy Reading

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Posts: 8397

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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I've gone back to growing vegetables outside here, having experimented only a little when we first came here 15 years ago. I've learnt that you can plant too late for much of a crop, that small rodents can prevent much of a harvest, and that vegetables don't read books!

Sowing swede (rutabaga) carrot and parsnip all together doesn't work here as a polyculture - the swede germinate more quickly and have such large leaves they smother the poor carrots and parsnip somewhat (I think slugs had the leeks!)

Don't mix all the different varieties of biennials together when starting growing for the start of a landrace. Since I don't know which swede are which, I'm not going to be sure I have selected all the different varieties for growing to seed next year.

Birds prefer barley seed to oat seed; I think I three actually managed to germinate, but none made it to maturity!

If I ignore aphids on my broad beans, something will come along and eat them off and they don't cause any damage.

I've learnt about oat smut - Now I can develop a less susceptable seed mix.

Aronia berries in the UK may not be pure chokeberries - they are tasty and don't get better tasting the longer they are left.

I've learnt a lot about using a microscope and although not as clear cut as I'd hoped, it is a lot of fun looking at soil organisms!

my microscope thread

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My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Cy Cobb

pollinator

Posts: 359

Location: Illinois, Zone 6b

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I've learned a lot this year as well.

1) Last year, I went to war with squash bugs that despite my best efforts, killed my watermelon plants before I ever got a harvest of anything more than some seeds. This year, I battled them and their eggs sometimes as many as 3 times a day, and staved them off the entire season until my harvest was done. However, the pests had reinforcements this year in the form of striped cucumber beetles, spotted cucumber beetles, Squash Vine Borers, stink bugs, cabbage moths/worms, aphids, margined blister beetles, and that's just what I positively identified. One of my Crenshaw melon plants simply wilted & died rapidly. It was very healthy, but i think it caught a virus from the squash bugs feeding, but not sure.

2) Those Margined Blister Beetles ravaged my potato foliage like hogs at a trough. I used needle nosed pliers to quickly snap them up as if I were a bird picking off the bugs. I cleared wave after wave from my potatoes, then they moved on to tomatoes to a lesser extent. Then, after fighting them all season, I harvested a half of a 5-gallon bucket of potatoes. I thought it was a victory, but a quarter of them had been eaten by underground insects of some kind, then within a couple weeks of harvest, some went bad & spoiled the entire lot. This is not the experience I've had in the past when I grew many varieties of potato. When troubleshooting this problem, I came to the conclusion that I left them in the ground too long. I say this because I knowingly took a gamble & experimented with leaving them in the ground while the winter squash vines that grew over top of them were finishing up. I also had a lot of wood chips, tree bark, & other organic matter in the hill that the bugs loved to hide in.

3) I planted more than 100 onion sets, and lost all but about a dozen to overwatering/rot. I saved seed from the survivors & will see how they do in 2024. (I could use some tips for growing onions from seed in an intermediate daylight zone if anyone has experience?) My best plan right now is to sort of winter sow all of my onion seed in January or so, and let nature sort out the survivors (if any). If anyone knows of good storage onion varieties or landrace/grex's in work for intermediate daylight zone 6b, let me know. Otherwise, I'll slowly be establishing my own as with most things.

4) I started my cantaloupe plants indoors, too early, and while I did get some harvest, those plants and their fruit were small & stunted compared to their direct seeded counterparts. From now on, I think I'll just direct seed.

5) My aspirations are much larger than I have growing space for, so it necessitates meticulous planning with a sprinkle of wildcard thrown in for chaos theory, ultimately resulting in the ever evolving statement "Next year......."

Dirty hands + a sweaty handkerchief = hope for the future.

Mk Neal

pollinator

Posts: 1234

Location: Chicago

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Some lessons this year:

1. If squirrels let the pawpaws be, they will ruin the tomatoes instead.

2. Creeping Charlie (aka ground ivy) may hide squash vines from the dreaded borers. Or it is a lucky fluke. I’ll see what happens next year.

3. July vacation is incompatible with berry harvest.

Weeds are just plants with enough surplus will to live to withstand normal levels of gardening!--Alexandra Petri

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Rebecca Norman

gardener

Posts: 2514

Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5

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William Bronson wrote:
I had a bumper crop of pears, but the squirrels attacked them, so I picked them early.
They never really ripened, seeming to go from hard as rock to rotting mush.

Apparently many pears are best picked under ripe, stored cool for a certain amount of time, and ripened. Otherwise they can rot on the inside before the outside is ripe.
https://www.almanac.com/fact/how-can-i-tell-when-my-pears

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Rebecca Norman

gardener

Posts: 2514

Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5

838

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Deadheading and removing bolted vegetables
My biggest learning this year was the importance of deadheading flowers and self-seeding vegetables. I had to be away for 2 months, mid-Aug to mid-Oct, so I got back right after first frost.

My housemate had a done a great job of harvesting everything and either freezing or drying or keeping it cool for me, but I couldn't ask him to deadhead flowers and remove bolted vegetables, so yikes!

The garden is crowded with dry brittle seed heads of: bachelors buttons, cosmos, dracocephalum (a flower & nice lemon scented herb), marigolds, edible chrysanthemum shungiku, morning glories, columbine, coriander/cilantro, rocket/arugula, red orach, lettuce, red amaranth, hollyhocks, Cal poppies, and more.

Next year is going to be a major weeding burden.

This summer was unusually cool and cloudy here in the Indian trans-Himalayas of Ladakh, and late snows destroyed the fruit blossoms, so I got to experience that. No apricots at all, and fewer peaches on the tree that did amazing last year. Heat-lovers got a late start and produced less than usual. But I'm not sure that's a learning: I always knew it could happen. I plant a wide diversity, so there was still some of everything. This summer does confirm the diversity approach. Leafy greens, sweet peas, herbs, zukes, asparagus did great. Tomatoes, winter squash, muskmelon and corn produced less than usual. Cukes did nothing, which was the only total flop, aside from some new flower types that didn't germinate or were late and minimal.

2023-11-02-garden-from-above.jpg

Fall in Indian trans-Himalayas, full of brittle sedheads

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 8397

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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Rebecca Norman wrote:The garden is crowded with dry brittle seed heads of: bachelors buttons, cosmos, dracocephalum (a flower & nice lemon scented herb), marigolds, edible chrysanthemum shungiku, morning glories, columbine, coriander/cilantro, rocket/arugula, red orach, lettuce, red amaranth, hollyhocks, Cal poppies, and more.

Next year is going to be a major weeding burden.

None of those sound much like weeds ! That's a nice problem to have - It could be a lot worse. Hopefully they will crowd out the less useful plants for you.

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Rebecca Norman

gardener

Posts: 2514

Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5

838

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Nancy Reading wrote:

Rebecca Norman wrote:bachelors buttons, cosmos, dracocephalum (a flower & nice lemon scented herb), marigolds, edible chrysanthemum shungiku, morning glories, columbine, coriander/cilantro, rocket/arugula, red orach, lettuce, red amaranth, hollyhocks, Cal poppies, and more.

None of those sound much like weeds !

Normally I weed really well, and only let things I've planted self seed. So those are all things I planted once and am letting continue. But next year will be solid carpets of them and will b e a lot more work to thin them

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Thom Bri

pollinator

Posts: 492

Location: Illinois

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I learned that cantaloupes don't actually need full sun. I planted one row as I normally do, but there were too many so I uprooted a few and transplanted them under the corn. Well, very surprised that something wilted the ones in full sun, got a few poor melons, but their sisters that had been transplanted grew very well and gave me good fruit. The corn was wide-spaced, they did get direct sunshine part of the day.

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corn-cantaloupe-intercrop-23.jpg

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 8397

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

3979

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Thom Bri wrote:I learned that cantaloupes don't actually need full sun. ...... were too many so I uprooted a few and transplanted them under the corn. Well, very surprised that something wilted the ones in full sun, got a few poor melons, but their sisters that had been transplanted grew very well and gave me good fruit. The corn was wide-spaced, they did get direct sunshine part of the day.

Ha!ha! I think you may have discovered two of the three sisters! Have you tried growing beans up your corn too?

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Thom Bri

pollinator

Posts: 492

Location: Illinois

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Nancy Reading wrote:

Thom Bri wrote:I learned that cantaloupes don't actually need full sun. ...... were too many so I uprooted a few and transplanted them under the corn. Well, very surprised that something wilted the ones in full sun, got a few poor melons, but their sisters that had been transplanted grew very well and gave me good fruit. The corn was wide-spaced, they did get direct sunshine part of the day.

Ha!ha! I think you may have discovered two of the three sisters! Have you tried growing beans up your corn too?

Many sisters! Between the corn grows beans, squash, zucchini, tomato, potato, cantaloupe, sunflower, tobacco, marigold.

Amy Jurek

Posts: 36

Location: Central New York, zone 6a

posted 11 months ago

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Cy Cobb wrote:I've learned a lot this year as well.

3) I planted more than 100 onion sets, and lost all but about a dozen to overwatering/rot. I saved seed from the survivors & will see how they do in 2024. (I could use some tips for growing onions from seed in an intermediate daylight zone if anyone has experience?) My best plan right now is to sort of winter sow all of my onion seed in January or so, and let nature sort out the survivors (if any). If anyone knows of good storage onion varieties or landrace/grex's in work for intermediate daylight zone 6b, let me know. Otherwise, I'll slowly be establishing my own as with most things.

I'm a little late on this thread, still reeling on last year's ups and downs and still feel like a neophyte although 2024 is my 30th year of gardening/farming. I just wanted to comment (hope I'm doing this correctly) on onion growing since we are a half grow zone apart (6a). I grow 3 varieties of onion , 2 day long and one day neutral. We lucked out to be within 40 minutes of a Bejo test farm in Geneva NY so I've asked many allium related questions each year at open house. I grow about 2000 onions from seed total. This year I'm switching from red bull (an excellent red) to monastrell, but keeping Talon and Candy. I typically start the first two weeks in Feb. And plant out when they reach pencil thickness. Sets never worked well for me at all, growing from seed is so much better. I use trays with a clear cover and fit 8 5x5 square containers 2.5" deep filled with a soilless mix. We're certified organic, so we're limited in what we can use in this case. I fill the containers with mix tamp down leaving space, plant 25 to 50 seeds in each, it's annoying, but try to keep a bit of space between them, then I cover with about a half inch more of soilless mix, press a bit for good contact between seed and soil.

Like anything, make sure the mix is damp but not soggy, when doing leeks it's best to wet the mix and fill the pots a day ahead of seeding them. What I've learned is that usually a temp around 71 degrees F works well, strong light helps just be sure you aren't generating too much heat with clear cover on. Remove cover after most of the seeds have sprouted, you may need to right a few that have decided to grow upside down. After that remove the lid and grow on, I keep the temp around 68 to 71 F. Be careful with watering, I usually leave a space in the pot where I can check dampness without injuring seedlings. Too wet is not good, yet you have to be careful not to let them dry out either. When your seedlings form a capitol "D" you may want to snip to release the new shoot, hastens growth, some varieties don't need this.

I used to use a light seaweed fertilizer after the second new shoot, now the mycorrhizae mix I use does not seem to require any fertilizer. Be careful adjusting to sunlight, I start in part shade a few hours, it takes me about 2 weeks to adjust plants to direct sunlight. To reach pencil thickness you need to give your onions a haircut, they do not do well in pots past 5" tall. As they are growing you may need to trim them as much as 3 times a week. Trim to 3" in height and they will quickly reach pencil thickness. Our soil is a sandy loan, drainage with any allium really is important, full sun, regular watering, fertilize twice usually after a good weeding, I use an all purpose organic chicken poop fertilizer. And supplement with a light seaweed wash early on. For. Sweet onions, If you have sulfur water, use rainwater or don't bother trying to grow sweet onions (lesson learned early on!). Hope this helps, although a bit late. Pics are start, trimmed and pulled to dry.

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Amy Jurek

Posts: 36

Location: Central New York, zone 6a

posted 11 months ago

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A quick note on lessons learned. Garlic does not like temperature fluctuations. One of many lessons I had to learn last year. After a mid-May cold spell here in lovely zone 6a that gave us 28 F temps followed a week or so later with temps in the upper 80s a strange thing happened to some of my rocamboles, only the Spanish Roja and German Red. Witches brooming. The scapes just kept coming. I'm used to a month between the different varieties maturing but what the heck, I had to revisit each plant several times to remove 6 or more scapes. Then it took longer for the bulbs to be ready to pull. As best I am able to tell, they believe this to be a problem associated with extreme temperature shifts that confuse the garlic into thinking it's in its second year of growth. I have slowly been diversifying our varieties over the years now to adjust for warmer winters, even introducing a southern turban variety, but this really threw me.

Riona Abhainn

pollinator

Posts: 717

Location: Clackamas Oregon, USA zone 8b

posted 11 months ago

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Last year I learnt how to not overwater plants, very important. The only plant that I need to water more often are my forgetmenots, so they'll need more, but everything else did okay. Also related to water I learnt that, here in my very rainy autumn/winter/spring climate, I need to make sure my over-wintering plants don't get saturated, moving them under cover when we have more than a day or two of intense rain so they can have a break.

Speaking of which, overwintering plants in zone 8b, I've concluded that, at least with lettuce and raddishes, its not really worth it. My raddishes grew so slowly that they hopefully will be ready to harvest soon, they've been growing since late Sept./early Oct. I have no idea how they'll taste. And the lettuce basically stopped growing in Nov. I've been bringing it indoors when it freezes etc., so its stil alive but its like its in suspended animation, I'm hoping it begins growing soon so I can keep it going, like it will wake up and grow more.

I also learnt that its important to use the plant ID app. on anything that volunteers in my garden pots, because it might be a friend rather than an invasive noxious weed, and if its a friend then I put it in its own pot and grow it for us! I need way more pots, because about half the time its something I can cultivate and grow for us.

Someday I'd love to get a greenhouse, then I could overwinter all kinds of things and keep harvesting all year long

I do Celtic, fantasy, folk and shanty singing at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals, pirate campouts, and other events in OR and WA, USA.
RionaTheSinger on youtube

Anna Miller

Posts: 5

Location: Southwest VA, zone 6b

posted 11 months ago

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I learned:

1) cattle panels contain lead, and can leach into the soil

2) i don’t need to rush to get everything into the ground as soon as possible. Last year, i got sick right around our last average frost, and a lot of my plants got put in the ground 1-2 weeks late. My plants were perfectly fine, and my neighbors tomatoes died because of a late frost

3) i need to water more than i think i do

4) at least for me, leaf mulch should be composted before being used, otherwise it can do weird things with water. I watered one patch for five minutes, and checked the soil underneath, and it was still completely dry.

5) c. Maximas should not be trained vertically- they get attacked by squash vine borers. The ones i left on the ground to sprawl were able to make more roots along the stem, but the ones i grew vertically died

6) chickens do not do a good job clearing Bermuda grass- i put my chickens on a section of my garden that had a problem with weeds the year before. They ate everything except the bermuda grass, which had a head start thanks to the chicken fertilizer/poop it had gotten

7) i go through a lot of green bean seeds. I ordered some 1/2 pound bags for this year because last year i kept having to run out and buy more. Previously, i grew more pole beans, but trellising them started to feel like it was more trouble thank it was worth.

Jen Fulkerson

gardener

Posts: 1744

Location: N. California

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posted 11 months ago

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Thank you everyone. I think it's helpful to share what we learn to help each other, and helpful to just vent a bit, so thank you.

Cy I'm sorry last year was such a difficult year for you. That has to be very discouraging for you. There's an unlimited amount of reasons you have such a bad pest problem, so nun of us can say do this "" "" and your problem will be solved. It might be helpful to talk to gardeners in your area. No judgement, everyone has to do what they have to do, for me I don't use any pesticides organic or other. My thinking is if I intervene in the balance of mother nature then I change the balance. Now I always have to "help". Change one thing, Everything is changed. So for me I might amend the soil, make sure it has everything the plants need to be as healthy as possible. I haven't done it but lots of people do soil tests. Next I would plant lots of companion plants. Some to confuse the bugs, some as sacrificial plants. Maybe try some kind of row cover, or netting over problem plants. I think it's great you are hand picking the bugs off. That is so much work it can take some of the joy out of gardening. I hope this year is a lot better for you. Sometimes it's just a freak thing, and not an every year thing. Good luck.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

But how did the elephant get like that? What did you do? I think all we can do now is read this tiny ad:

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