Harvest Monday - 11 November 2013 + Garden Report Card 2013

Welcome to probably the last Harvest Monday at Eight Gate Farm. Thanks again to Daphne's Dandelions for providing us the opportunity to share.

What happens when a warm rainy day is followed by a freezing night?

 

You might have Jack Frost leave you lovely paintings on your screened-porch skylights!

The only thing happening harvest-wise is Brussels Sprouts. So at least I have something to show you.

I had to cut the stalks with a saw.

This yielded over 5 pounds (~2.5 kg.). I never was much of a fan of Brussels Sprouts until I grew, and tasted, my own. Now I'm sold.

That will pretty much be it for harvests for the year. I thought now I'd present my 2013 Garden Report Card, in which I evaluate the crops we grew this year. Overall it was a pretty successful year, but as always, there were disappointments.

I think a major contributor to lack of success in certain areas was timing. I follow advice once told me by an old farmer--plant tomatoes after the last full moon in May. I always took that to extend to peppers, eggplants, melons, etc.

This year the last full moon occurred on May 25, a Saturday. But we were having an unusual cold snap, with nights into the high 30s F. I was faced with a dilemma. I had to go out of town on business the next week, and the tomatoes especially were getting leggy. So I gambled and planted all those seedlings on Monday (a U.S. holiday). The weather while I was gone started to warm up, and by the following weekend we were in a heat wave. I think the combination of the initial cold and later heat was not healthful for the plants.

All the plants looked stressed for a long time. The tomatoes recovered amazingly, and we had a record harvest by season's end. But the peppers and eggplants never really took off. So I have learned that it's okay to wait a week or even more until I can be reasonably sure the weather will cooperate.

Another possible contributor to lack of success is the fertility of the soil. The raised beds were constructed a long time ago--not by me. By the time I came along the soil was very depleted. Last year I began a concerted effort to improve the soil by adding blood meal (N), bone meal (P), and potash (K). This year saw huge improvements in yields, except for seeds planted on the edges of the beds. I think I did not evenly spread the nutrients.

Crop	Grade	Remarks
Apples	A+	2 trees. Produced way more than we could use, even being creative.
Artichoke	F	2nd year trying. Last year got beautiful plants but no chokes. This year, plants poor.
Asparagus	A	12 row feet. We were cautious about taking too many; next year should be abundant
Beans (fresh)	A	Got all we needed for the year on 16 squares, four plants per square
Beets	A-	Planted 32 squares, 9 plants per square. Not all grew large.
Broccoli	B-	Grew in 3 sets, spring (from starts), fall (from seed), fall (from starts). None was heavy producer.
Brussels Sprouts	A	Took a long time to grow, but got a lot.
Butternut	D	Planted 4 hills, 3 per hill. Only got 5 fruit. Bad bug problems.
Carrots	A+	Planted 32 squares, 16 plants per square. Not all grew, but got an abundance anyway.
Chard	C	Planted 4 squares, 4 plants per square. Not as prolific as expected.
Cherries	F	2 trees. Lost entire crop to birds.
Chinese Cabbage	A	Planted 8 squares, 1 plant per square. Grew in 2 sets, spring (from starts), summer (from starts). Summer crop better-no root maggots.
Corn	C	Planted 5 12-foot rows, plus four 3-Sisters hills. Bad insect troubles, what we got was good.
Cucumbers	B-	Got enough for fresh eating, not much for pickles. Problems with powdery mildew.
Eggplant	D	Never recovered from setting out too soon. Got some.
Grapes	F	Five 12 foot vines. Devastated by black rot.
Hops	A	One plant now two years old. First harvest this year, a handful. Should be better as the years go by.
Kale	F	Fall planting. Never grew large.
Lettuce	A+	12 squares, 4 plants per square. Grew 3 varieties, all for spring into summer. More than we could use.
Muskmelons	C	Never grew large. Got a few to ripen. Tasted great.
Onions	A	128 sets planted, got good results.
Pears	B	2 trees, got 30 small fruit. Have to give them credit for trying, in a bad spot.
Peas	B	Planted four 8 foot rows. Fair production cut short by early heat wave.
Peppers	D	Never recovered from setting out too soon. Got some.
Pumpkins	D	Planted 4 hills, 3 per hill. Only got 3 fruit. Bad bug problems.
Radishes	A	Spring: 4 squares, 16 per square. Fall: 2 squares, 16 per square. Spring did well despite root maggots. Fall did pretty well too.
Raspberries	A	Got enough for fresh eating, not much for jam. Fall-producing plants better.
Shallots	A	Planted 6 bulbs, which multiplied 5-fold.
Spinach	C	Planted 8 squares, 4 plants per square. Seemed to bolt very quickly.
Sunflowers	A	Planted both for seed and landscaping. Very pretty; got seed crop too.
Tatume	D	Had high hopes for this plant. Did not prove resilient. Got some.
Tomatoes	A+	12 plants. Recovered wonderfully from setting out too soon, got enormous production.
Watermelons	F	Never grew large. None ripened.
Zucchini	A	Grew 4 plants. Problems with mildew and bugs; still got all we needed.