I have slowed down from one acre, to about 20’ X 200” garden. I still have all the fruit & nut trees. I am moving from large annual garden to a mix of more perennial & annual garden. Health & age is a small factor, easy of harvest is the main reason to go with more perennials.
4 Likes
It’s been a minute since I’ve done much veggie gardening. We finally got landscapers in to put hardscaping through most of the yard, which is wonderful! But, it means it’ll be a year or two more yet before I’m bored enough in the growing season to think about annuals and veggies again instead of working on getting perennials and woodies in order.
And, honestly, I’m not really missing it. My heart is with the flowers, and I’m much happier with the veggies I’m able to buy locally than I am with the fruit. Veggies always seem to require too much hands on care during the sweaty heart of summer to grow something worse than I could have bought anyway.
But, I know, eventually, I will get the ornamentals in order and get itchy enough to plant a tomato or two…or melons. Melons are vegetables, right?
3 Likes
I am growing more veggies than I have before this year, or at least trying to. I always grow alot of peppers and tomatoes, but I also wanted to more squash and melons this year. I also have a flat of chard (green and red), some kale and watercress, a flat of brocolli and cauliflower, some celery, herbs galore and root crops (yacon, potato, sweet potato, sunchokes, oca and groundnuts). So lots of veggies.
This may be my last year trying to grow brasicas other than collards though. I just can’t seem to get them to grow right. Either they flower super young or become huge and never flower.
3 Likes
Id be so sad if i had to start downgrading and even stop. I’m still very young so i plan to extend every year till I am not capable anymore. I cant quit growing stuff Id be so depressed.
Now is the time to plant more trees than ever. If tough times are ahead it’ll be nice to have an abundance of delicious yet disease resistant 2,3,4 year old dwarfing- semi dwarfing fruit trees. Theyll feed you, provide alcohol and you can sell fresh fruit the market or trade… and thats just fruit.
4 Likes
At the moment I think I’m not going to grow 100 tomato plants and 50 pepper plants like last year. We’ll see how long that holds up when I look at the seed packets. Only have 64 soil blocks ready for them so far. I didn’t enjoy the canned tomatoes I made last year enough to bother. I’m still afraid if I plant 20 plants I’ll only get five so I guess I’ll plant 30 or 40 or more but then give away a lot if most of them survive to fruiting.
Speaking of perennials I finally last year got sick of asparagus and in our 34th year of marriage, 32 of them with a garden, I let DH have more than one serving of it. This year I might even give some away.
2 Likes
if you want an intense flavored very productive canning tomato; check out Kanner Hoell.
Crucian is excellent as well in production. A bit sweeter and a bit less tart as Kanner Hoell.
Yes. I am trying to cut back most things. Not sure if i’ll do any “veggies” at all this year.
Already culled several pawpaw trees (underperforming or dying) last year.
I plan to remove muscadines and potentially blackberries.
I just don’t seem to have the same level of motivation and spare time, and that is ok with me.
I only started learning about plants at all about 10 years ago, so it’s not like i’m giving up a life-long passion. I’m now approaching 50 and my kids are grown, etc and i suppose my priorities and proclivities have slowly changed.
I do plan to make a one-time investment (financially and temporally) in drip irrigation and fencing so that i can spend even less time (and worry) on the pawpaw trees.
Ironically, I plan to experiment with potted passiflora and may construct a passiflora “tunnel” trellis.
I also consistently bandy-about the notion of turning my edibles area into a native/ornamental plot to attract wildlife and just treat it more like a park.
I get a lot more enjoyment lately over just watching plants and wildlife (esp birds)
4 Likes
Vegetable gardening is the hardest gardening for me. Flowers easy; fruit is very rewarding and less labor intensive. With that being said, I keep trying. My latest endeavor is to really work on the soil. Last year, I started canning and canned 48 quarts of tomatoes, dilly beans, etc. I started because of the fruit starting to produce: apple sauce, peaches, so on.
I had had 6’ landscaping cloth in the veg. garden that I laid probably 40+ years ago, but it was holey, bad for the environment (shedding microplastics) and it seemed ridiculous to have to weed it, too. I ripped it up and replaced it with wood chips. In retrospect, I realized that it wasn’t comfortable to walk on barefoot, but it should build soil and keep in moisture. I had mulched up leaves and used those in the beds themselves, but they changed something in the soil so that nothing wanted to grow. Things looked the same in September as they did in May when planted. Although they kept the soil moist, the plants don’t like the leaves. I hadn’t mixed them into the soil beneath either; they were just a top mulch.
I find vegetable gardening very frustrating because it is so time-consuming with the least reward. Even so, every year, I’m back out there trying new techniques. This year, I’ve been collecting bags of coffee hulls to use as mulch–the leaves go out back where the hazelnuts and mulberries are. I want to find a good source of manure. I have a large bag of aged chicken manure waiting to go down and more sheep wool that I had purchased. The garden can’t really change size because it’s a fenced area. I will probably grow the same things: cherry tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, lettuce,kale, parsley, peppers and basil. I’d grow large tomatoes, but they never do well. It’s easier to buy them from a local farmer. Basil is well worth it. Throughout the summer, I pinch the plants and make batches of pesto to freeze. I am most happy about that decision all winter long! The cherry tomatoes do produce, so I cut them in half and dehydrate them to use in tossed salads. They condense down and are so sweet that way. Of course, I eat a ton fresh in season, too.
This year, I’m thinking about lifting a bunch more grass outside the back door and converting that self-contained area to a large herb/pollinator garden. It would span a sidewalk to the driveway and therefore is contained by the house on the south and southwest and driveway on the north and northeast The grass there is very lush, but it’s a pain to mow. I have to turn the ride on about eight times to complete the area, getting clippings all over the driveway because as far as a grassy area, it’s quite small. If I didn’t have to mow it, it would save a bit of effort when all is done. Most of the herbs would be perennial and offer a pretty view looking out the kitchen window, as well as be handy and offer a broader variety of herbs, medicinals and flowers.
As far as your question–am I thinking about quitting the vegetable garden? The answer would be yeah, every year;will I? Probably not!
3 Likes
Love this, go for it! post pictures as it grows.
2 Likes