Summer Garden wrap up and what I learned the first year.

Ok, so I was very bad at writing these posts this summer but I finally got around to writing again and figuring out what I learned.  But in my defense I was learning and it was very busy! I could have taken the time to get these written, but guys, the overstimulation (not the right word!) was real.  Everything was so important to me, and I spend a lot of time probably where I didn’t need to, but being there was really good for me and it was my calm in my stressful days at work so if that’s what I needed, then that is what I needed! However, I have a list of lessons learned from this summer and what I am going to do going forward as well as some tips I picked up along the way!

Trellising plants need support grabbing – we bought a beautiful trellis (two actually) for our cucumbers to train up, however, the rungs were about a foot apart so the smaller growing tendrils and shoots didn’t have anything to hold onto while they grew to the proper length.  Next year I am going to add some netting to the trellis.  We also used these super convenient Velcro tape to keep the plants up without hurting them.

Vine Borers are no joke – Like for real.  I started two pumpkin plants later in the summer and before one grew 10 inches had been decimated by borers.  The second one I grew started flowering but that was killed shortly after as well.  I’ve got some pumpkins I started very late in the game because of desperation, and one is being eaten by them, so I covered the stem with soil and I’m hoping this will help it grow more roots and not have the damage be that destructive.  I’m doing my research on what will work best coming up and let you know how I attack them.

Canning is not that hard – I was scared at first even to water bath can at the beginning of the summer, by August I was pressure canning bone broth.  Just read the instructions and follow carefully.

But, canning is exhausting – preserving in general is tiring.  And depending on your yield, your preserving could take days.  I’ve learned to not start in the afternoon, and make sure I have a good breakfast with simple meals throughout the day.  It took me about a day and half to process 40 pounds of tomato seconds that I got from the local farmers market.  I’ve also done small batches of strawberry jam of 6 half pint jars that took a few hours, so just make sure you know your limits and plan accordingly.

It’s ok to supplement your garden yields – and that’s ok! As noted above, I went to the farmer’s market and our local farm to supplement our tomatoes. We also are a part of the CSA from our local farm.  This not only gives us more produce, but it also introduces us to fruits or vegetables we want to try before committing an entire season to growing (hello mashed potato squash!)  We also get so much corn from our CSA every week so we have been freezing it for future use.  I am a huge shepherds pie and pot pie lover and I use corn in both!

Make sure your soil is prepared – Should this have been first? Probably.  Will I update? Nope. I am a testament to this, I had some tomatoes in a selected and prepared small plot of land that had been broadforked, and amended with my soils additives (bone and blood meals, worm castings, peet moss, and compost) and my tomatoes literally produced until September.  I had a couple of tomatoes given to me that were healthy, and some I bought from the store to get a little more for the summer and aerated the soil just enough and added some soil to the plant and plopped them in, and I’ve gotten literally two fruits from them the entire summer. 

Shade needs to be taken seriously – Whether it’s the lack of shade for the hot hot summer days or too much for the sun loving plants.  Planning around trees, flowers, and other fruits and vegetables that may cast shadows is important.  If you have tomatoes and live where it gets brutal (hustler, Psych anyone?)  in the summer, plan ahead and buy some shade cloth.  This is what I got, and it’s relatively affordable I think.  But I can’t say I’ve ever bought shade cloth before in my life so who knows.

Invest in garden tools and take care of them – And they will take care of you.  Cheesy but true.  My tools I’ve acquired this year are a hula hoe, broad fork, grandpas weeder tool, and soil blockers (link here).  Most of these tools have wooden handles with metal ends that need to be kept clean and dry.  The only tool that I have left in my garden is my broadfork but that has fiberglass handles and is pretty heavy.  I will need to sharpen the ends and clean the rust off of it, but everything else gets cleaned, dried, and brought back inside where it can continue to work for me for years to come. Trust me, these are worth the investments. 

Your kitchen will run out of room – We had so many fruits and veggies on our counters at all time, I think I was finally relieved when summer gardening wrapped up. I think I’m going to bring in a folding table to put my ripening tomatoes and overflow of plants before I process them.

So this is a pretty small list, because I know I’ve learned so much this summer, so as I think of them, I will add to this list or make a new post.  But I hope this helps someone who needs a boost, just know you’re not learning alone! And if you have any other suggestions put them in the comments, because I know I’ll need them!

Till next thyme. (see what I did there?)