Garden Report - 10/9/23

Last week I spent a bit of time tidying up the garden for fall. I gave my tarragon and mint their last trim for the year.  I bundled the bounty and hung it in the attic to dry along with some dill.  I had three nice bundles of orange mint, two smaller bundles of tarragon, and one of dill. I also filled the dehydrator with borage, winter savory, oregano, and mullein. I gathered some seed from the nasturtiums, dill, cilantro, and calendula. I then picked the ripe tomatoes and pulled the onions.

What did well in our garden this year? Our tarragon produced very well. I think this was my third or fourth cutting of this year.  I am pleased we have enough to share with the girls and a couple of friends as well. The orange mint I planted last year also produced well as did the dill, pepper plants, and the nasturtium. We were pleased to have a nice crop of potatoes, too. The potatoes produced well for the 3 foot by 3 foot area we planted (we were following the square foot garden method). 

I left the nasturtium and our experimental fall garden in tact. Near the end of August, I consulted The Self-Sufficient Backyard for a list of frost tolerant plants and planted Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, and peas as an experiment to see how a late garden would do. The book recommends these for a greenhouse, but I was willing to try it without having one. The peas are growing well, but the lettuce and Swiss chard barely managed to come up. I think if we want a late harvest, we will definitely need to have a real greenhouse or use the tunnel method for the raised beds. It is always fun to experiment nonetheless and see what happens. I learn more each year and I always enjoy trying something new.

Our fall garden experiment with the newly planted peas on the right and an
open space just left of the peas where the greens did not come up.
The nasturtium was planted earlier this year.

We certainly have our garden challenges, though. Our property sits on the northwest side of a wooded hill. We have a fabulous view of the lake below, but the hillside to the east shades the property from the rising sun and the neighbor's tall trees to the west shade the yard from the afternoon sun. Also, last year was our first experience with raised bed gardening. It did not produce as well as our past experiences with in-ground gardens. I am guessing that the poor production was due to the raised bed soil we purchased (which seemed to grow some kind of mushrooms really well, but was not as favorable to green plants) and the amount of shade on the property.

This year we put in two more garden beds on the peripheral edge of the hill where they could get the most sunlight our yard affords. We  filled the new beds halfway with dirt we mixed with the ash from last year's burn pile and topped it off with a different organic raised bed soil we found that is specifically mixed for the Pacific Northwest. These were our two best producing beds this year. The other beds did better than last year, but the lettuce and herbs followed the same pattern as the year before -- the plants came up just fine, but quit growing long before they were large enough to harvest. I have talked to a couple of other people with raised beds who experienced similar issues, even with different soil and better sun exposure.  If anyone has tips or thoughts on why this is happening or how to remedy this, I would love to hear your ideas in the comments!  Your advice could be a big help to us and to others!

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