I have really enjoyed chronicling How My Garden Grows this year! There were plenty of highs (the peppers, omg the peppers! the herbs, omg the herbs!) and some lows (tomato blight and recovering blackberry bushes). But it is now time to put the garden beds to rest for 2014. I am located in New York State, zone 6a, and I did not plant a fall vegetable garden this year. Those that did plant fall vegetables still have another few weeks left in the garden up here.
I cleaned out all the Earth Boxes, dumped the non-blight soil in the garden, and put the boxes away in the garage. While I thought they grew peppers extremely well, the blight didn’t allow the tomatoes a fair shake.
Herb island has been cleared except for the perennials. The chives < did nothing this year, and the chamomile would have yielded one cup of tea, so I used them to scent the house naturally instead.
The established blackberry bush was still recovering from the trauma done to it when we had the roof done in 2013. The new blackberry bush grew well for a first year plant. I expect the fruit back next year on the big blackberry bush!
“We” (that is the royal we) redid our front front landscaping in late August, so only a few plants needed to be rimmed back! Easy peasy.
I have some planning to do for my 2015 garden. I am definitely doing more herbs. They worked out so well for us this year! I probably won’t grow tomatoes until the blight has left the region. And I’m not sure we need more peppers, we froze so many! I’ll have to think about this for next year.
How did your garden grow in 2014!?
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KimH says
Sigh.. its definitely that time of the year..
I would say that my garden only grew moderately well.. Some things did really good, tomatoes, tomatillos, celery, cabbages holy basil and wax beans.. everything else pretty muchly bit the dust early on.. I got behind on some of the garden weeding (all has to be done by hand) and the weeds claimed at least 1/4 of it.. The deer got in it a few times & they decimated my pepper plants.. I was ticked off bigtime.. My peppers were loaded this year.. They ate all my okra too.. sigh.. I despise those danged -deer..
Here at my house, my poor fig tree finally did recover from the deep deep freeze we had last year.. My figs are just now ripening.. I’ve gotten about 6 or 7.. Im hoping to get at least that many more before we get a frost.. I gotta figure out what the best way to protect that tree is.. Poor thing.. it was hurt pretty good last year. Everything else here either grew like weeds or they were weeds
Thats my garden report for 2014. 🙂
Ann says
The deer are the suburban version of rats if you ask me, Kim. I think the geese are worse, but that is because I have to deal with them on a daily basis.
Still jealous of your fig tree!!
Ann
Pam says
I’ve had a fig tree in a pot for 7-8 yrs. Transplant ed last yr and trimmed roots into bigger pot. I have always put it in unheated garage for entire winter and spring till no sign of frost. It like watered maybe a couple times thru this time of hibernation. Likes iron in water and parts Sun maybe 4-5 hrs. Of morning Sun.
Marie says
I’m far enough south that it’s not quite time for the winter’s nap. With the garden up against the south facing wall of the house, I still have peppers and tomatoes despite a couple threats of light frost. I expect the cabbage and broccoli to hold on another couple months and possibly the onions I haven’t dug up. The flower gardens in front of the house are still kicking butt! I have never seen marigolds grow so big! I was forced to cut them back when they started breaking near their base from their own weight when it would rain. I did bring in the parsley and a citrus tree (forget if I planted tangerine or grapefruit) and they are enjoying a south facing window.