I was planting more spring bulbs this morning. As I wandered around the front yard looking for a bare patch large
enough for just one more variety I realized that I never update anyone on the progress of our gardens.
Things are steadily progressing through the plans I made. We've planted the first fig, a mulberry, an Fuyu persimmon, the other apple, and another grapevine in the back yard.
The fuji apple was allowed to keep one fruit to maturity. I don't know if a neighbor has an apple in their back yard or if it's self fertile, but I was thinning apples this spring. It was a delicious apple.
In the front we planted two olives and two asian pears for another espalier.
The peach espalier produced peaches that I thinned to one per each branch. I think I'll thin more next year as I wasn't happy with the fruit size. It did seem like a lot of fruit for the tree size.
I have changed my plans for the pomegranate, which I was planning to keep pruned very small. Instead I think I will allow it to grow big enough to replace the red tipped photinia that blocks the view of a neighbor's driveway. Hopefully that means we'll get some flowers next year.
Our hugelkultur (12- 18 inch pit piled four feet deep in logs) has sunk to about two feet above ground level. We've been planting asparagus and seeing it survives without
water and it did, so this year the bed has been filled with more asparagus, strawberries and one stray artichoke. The artichoke was nearly an accident. We had a plant with no spot to put it and so stuck it on the side of the hugelkulture and then forgot about it. My mother discovered it while preparing the bed for the new plants.
That artichoke was actually part of a trend this year. Other plants we planted and then forgot about and had thrive include the Christmas Limas, my first planting of favas, and the
volunteer sweet potatoes. We had a couple of plants which weren't forgotten but were treated with premeditate neglect and seemed to appreciate it. Other plants suffered and/or died, or weren't forgotten about but still suffered and died.
I had planned on this being 'the year of the bean' and planted lots of different varieties all over the yard. The one that did well the year before just limped along this year. The limas were a surprise success. We were literally going to weed out all the grass where I'd planted them and then build a
raised bed in that spot when we realized they were finally setting seed. I'm saving seed to grow them again next year.
After three years of trying, I've finally tasted the bean of a scarlet runner vine. Absolutely loved it. Huge, meaty with a proper green bean flavor. I planted them in three separate locations and two of them are still surviving. The real test is going to be next spring when I see if they come up from the
roots.
I've got kale in a couple of locations in the yard, some of which is on it's third year. They're cool looking miniature palms by this point. Now that the weather is getting cold enough to kill the bugs, we're pulling a harvest off them again. It's generated some interest from other gardeners in the area. Planted with them are lettuces, swiss chard, and collard greens.
I grew minature eggplants this year. They survived, but I wasn't overwhelmed by them. I think next time I try eggplant it will be a full sized version. There just wasn't enough harvest to justify the effort.
I had a similar lack of success with my pepper plants. Though I will say, the two minature bell peppers which we overwintered last year did remain healthy this year. They tiny peppers just weren't worth the processing effort.
Right now I'm growing my first turnips and favas. I'm still on the hunt for those crops that take next to no effort to grow in my climate. I wish I'd started the turnips later, but there are a few who germinated and then survived the unusually long hot fall. I'm watching them. The favas seem to be thriving.
I've tossed bread seed poppies where I had a full hedge of dill last year, so I'm watching that to see what sprouts. I'm also watching the back yard to see if we get cilantro throughout the grass again.
When the weather warms we'll see if we get volunteer amaranth from this year's plants. Two of them were very vigorous, so I scattered the dried flowers at the end of the season.
It's the same bed as the volunteer purple sweet potatoes. They did give me a good harvest when I waited till they froze before digging. See, hunting for a plant that takes next to no effort isn't futile. It might be foolish, but it pays off sometimes.
While I would have wished for a more abundant year, I learned a lot of lessons, saved a lot of seed, and watched a lot of plants multiply. Next year I'm going to try to make 'The Year of the Squash.' We were very happy with our first harvest of winter squash but didn't plant enough this year.
Sorry, I don't gather all this together very often so it seems a little long. I actually needed to see it myself to mollify my guilt in planting ornamental flower bulbs instead of anything edible. I have such a big weakness for flowers, and bulbs have the added bonus of a nearly do nothing plant. Within the next month the first iris will bloom. If this next set of freezing weather finally sends the milkweed and lantana dormant, then I'll have missed full year blooms for pollinators by only a few weeks.