2010 Garden Reflection

It's cold outside here in Minnesota and starting to feel like winter. Now that all of my fall chores are done and everything is ready for the winter, I finally have time to relax and reflect on this years gardens

Tropical garden (front) and perennial garden (back)

I like to think of gardening as a learning experience.

Every time I make a mistake, I learn from it and try to be better the next summer.

I know that some things are in my control and others are not.

Each year the gardens will be different, even if I was able to do things exactly the same way.

Center perennial garden

So, this time of year, I like to take some time to think about the things that worked well in my garden this summer, and the things that didn't work so well...



What Worked Well:

• Keeping the gardens tidy by cleaning up as plants became overgrown. The gardens looked much nicer and it made my fall garden cleanup easier too.

• Amending the soil with compost!! The more I compost, the more I reap the rewards!

• Creating a large compost bin rather than two smaller ones. It was much easier to turn the compost and the compost seemed to break down faster. 

• Growing cucumbers on a trellis was great, next year I'll do that with all of them!

• Adding 1500 ladybugs to my yard was worth the effort!! I noticed I had less pests in the gardens this summer.

• Planting the peas early (April 15th), and in partial shade. I had the best pea harvest ever this year. In previous years, I planted them way too late, they hate hot weather.

• Creating a dedicated area for my annuals rather than trying to cram them all into the perennial gardens. I always start a lot of annuals from seed and having a dedicated annual garden took the stress out of trying to figure out where to plant them all.

 

Large perennial garden

What Didn't Work So Well:

• I started a bunch of kinds of peppers from seed and ended up planting them all, and they were way too close together. I think this had a negative impact on my pepper crop. Next year I will thin out the seedlings better.

• Tomatoes from seed. This is the second year I've tried growing my tomatoes from seed and I haven't had great results. Our growing season is too short to start tomatoes from seed. Next year I will spend the money on tomato plants in the spring rather than starting them from seed again.

• Broccoli and cauliflower. Although I had a decent broccoli harvest this year, it wasn't the best. Also, I didn't get any mature heads of cauliflower this year. I think I made the same mistake as I did with the peppers, I planted too many seedlings and they were too close together. Next year I will thin them out more

• Cold Frame. I built a cold frame a few years back and I still can't figure out how to use it. I tried using it again this spring and fried the plants again. This winter I plan to do more research on the proper way to use a cold frame. I'll give it one more year and if I can't figure it out, I will get rid of it.

Vegetable garden

All in all, I am happy with the way the gardens performed this summer. I'm glad that my list of successes is longer than the list of things I need to try differently for next year. Please feel free to give me some advice and/or share your successes and areas for improvement in your gardens this year.

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