Comments on: Garden Doom…No, Not Really

By: Oldnovice

Oldnovice — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:42:54 +0000

Heh. First post of yours in a long while that reflected positivity, IMO, Sharon, yet first in a long while that relates to me, as well.

We’ll not have the cool nights to fruit my tomatos until maybe September and it doesn’t bother me at all that my official garden plot might not be ready until August. The heat’s here already in North Texas, and it came earlier than last.

By: Shira

Shira — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:54:01 +0000

Radishes: sliced radishes and young greens are excellent in stir frys. Radishes make good pickles. One year I made radish pickles with white wine vinegar, some mini onions and a hot pepper in the jar. Turned pink, very stylish. Korean radish kimche can be made with any radish, not just a daikon, eaten fresh without kimche’s notorious fermentation, and adjusted from hot to not. The flip side of Garden Doom is Gardeners Eating Strange Things Because That’s What Grew. I made a radish and snow pea fritata from volunteer radishes in my flower border for breakfast last week and it turned out to be delicious.
I have had good luck storing radishes in green “vegetable saver” baggies in the vegetable bin in the fridge. The baggies have tiny holes for ventilation all over.

By: BoysMom

BoysMom — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:36:41 +0000

We had snow on June 10th. After finishing planting on June 9th. Much of the field corn came up–except for a ten feet stretch in the middle of row 3 of 4. I wonder if it will polinate or not. None of the dry beans have appeared. 3 green beans and 3 sweet corn have appeared. (I think I can forget sweet corn–7×4 patch, we’d have to be awfully lucky for them to polinate.) One variety of summer squash, one of cucumber, two melons (the watermelons alone survived!) and half my pumpkin and winter squash plants never sprouted. Only two cabages put in an appearence. No broccoli, but it was planted somewhat earlier, so I think maybe the seed was too old.

But it looks like I’ll have extra radishes in just a few more days! Does anyone have any good radish recipies? Can I store them somehow? I think every single seed came up. 3 year old seed, at that. My tomatos are blooming, and the swiss chard looks great albeit only 3 inches tall. The lettuce will be ready soon if it doesn’t get too much hotter, and the spinach is getting close. The onions and potatos look good, and the peas and carrots. I wonder if I dare replant any of the stuff that didn’t sprout due to the snow? Anyone have any guesses what fall weather will look like? Spring was quite random–80 one day, 30 the next.

By: garden doom…no, not really | Dismantle Civilisation

garden doom…no, not really | Dismantle Civilisation — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:35:55 +0000

[…] Sharon Astyk makes us all feel better about not getting that dream vegetable garden planted this year. Its a great article. If your garden isn’t as full as you’d planned, don’t panic. Growing food is a steep learning curve, and whatever you plant, your garden will get better every year, what was once hard work becomes easier, and even the most messed up garden still produces some food. Don’t panic! Ok, stop. Guess what. You aren’t doomed, and my family is pretty much like yours. You see, there were these sheep, if you’ll remember. That took care of the strawberries, the early tomatoes. Then there was this book - do you remember that, the thing that meant that I didn’t even start until June? And then there were a host of reasons, some real and some stupid, why half my garden is in cover crops or something else - I could claim it was because of my deep commitment to the soil, but that wouldn’t explain why I was crawling around on my knees sticking random unplanted onions in between things…onions, folks. Do you know when you are supposed to plant onions here? The middle of April. And I was planting them on June 26. Nor would it explain why there are sad looking hot pepper plants looking at me and crying “plant me….for the love of god…plant me…I could fruit still before frost if you’d just get me the hell out of my flat, where I’ve been since March…!”And if I don’t get them planted by the time I go to Boston on Monday morning, they are mostly going on the compost pile. […]

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:52:43 +0000

I’ll just add my gratitude to everyone else’s here! This was my first year to plant a garden, and everything was thriving and looking wonderful in April and May, but then the heat came. And then the drought came. And then the bugs came. And more and more bugs came. And now almost everything looks dead, chewed up, withered and sad. I’ve been feeling really discouraged, but this post helped a whole lot!

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:48:08 +0000

Hey Sharon

Hmmm…the sheep ate your vegetable garden? I would be about to say those dreaded four words except my ducks have just discovered my vegetable garden too (luckily while I was planting out some strawberries, so I had the chance to fence off the gate right away, but a day or two either way and I could have been in the same boat).

One point I would add here is the benefits of growing from your own saved seed here. For one thing planting seed is generally much faster than transplanting seedlings. If you have your own seed you normally have much larger quantities than the pinch you get in each commercial package. This means you can sow more generously and resow any time disaster strikes, meaning you only lose a week or two each time. Your own seed should be stronger and more vigorous as well, not to mention it being much more economical.

My leeks went in a bit late since I didnt trust the commercial seed quality/quantity for direct seeding, but Ill keep the best ones to seed for future crops if they grow well in our climate. Our winters have periodic dry windy spells so I am going off the idea of maritime humidity loving crops. Tatsoi does well for a month or two, then gets stressed and leathery when the wind changes. Solution- grow resilient collards instead- they do the same job in a meal anyway.

One thing that has helped me enormously in getting good timing with plantings is to divide my garden into two halves, one for winter and one for summer. On the off seasons each side is buried in green manure crops that are regularly slashed- I think this does more lasting good for the soil texture than manuring and even mulching in our humid subtropical climate. The added bonus is that you can turf out the green manure whenever you need to. You arent juggling the returns of the last crop that is hanging on with the timing demands of the new crop that is going to replace it.

Shane in Australia

By: Ailsa Ek

Ailsa Ek — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:42:55 +0000

Every year my garden is a bit better. I don’t tend to expect a lot from the new beds, because we only just dug them (come fall, I’ll be piling them all under in leaves and letting them sit there over the winter). My oldest beds produce the best, although I am still having more luck with some things than others. My spinach bolted before it ever got big, but my peas are gorgeous.

Now if I only had the least idea how/when to harvest them. They’re supposed to be shelling peas for split pea soup.

By: sealander

sealander — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:27:25 +0000

Since I started keeping chickens I no longer have crop failures or weeds….it has all been reclassified as chicken food

By: Desert Rat

Desert Rat — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:34:34 +0000

Thank you Sharon - yours is the second word of encouragement in the last week I have received on this subject - that it’s not quite too late to do some summer garden stuff as well as plan for fall. Here in southern New Mexico we have a nice long growing season, few bugs, but have to watch the watering pretty carefully until the “monsoon season” ( late July/early August. We’re in a sort of oasis here, lower and wetter than the rest of the state. Some rabbits around and we often say “Oh deer- oh deer-oh deer”, but there are ggod natural fence boundaries in this particular spot. No good excuse for not having more planted- just laziness. Tomatoes, basil, dill, cilantro, sage are all still in pots, most of the rest still exists only in my fertile imagination. Thanks again for the encouragement, and for your thought-provoking posts on other subjects.

By: Student

Student — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:22:16 +0000

A quick note on rabbits eating your crops - I found this on the internet looking for natural methods of pest control - lay a garden hose around the perimeter of your garden. Rabbits won’t cross it - they think it’s a snake! It worked for my folks. (My garden is in pots on my deck.)