Lying fallow only speaks to what you see on the surface!
The rest of the year is so busy in a garden that you really need a little down time to stop and think about what's next. What worked, what was a total waste of time and energy (and why) and what do we want to eat next year?
Winners: We have lots of squash still in freezer - mostly yellow but also zuchinni. It was about an hour of work every day or so to pick off bugs, but it paid off with a great harvest. But thinking of trying row covers to keep off bugs this year, as bug picking is a lot of hard work in the heat. As we get our garden healthier we hope that pests/predators will become more balanced, but you gotta start where you are.
Jams/Jellies/Sauces We put up Blackberry jam (yum) no-sugar blackberry syrup (yum), made fresh freezer strawberry jam from local strawberries (yum) and sister Nancy scored big with Apple Butter from our apples (double yum). We still have fig preserves left from 09 so sent the extra figs that Anjie didn't eat to the Decatur Farmers Market, where they were a hit and we made a little money.
Tomatoes. OMG! Mostly thanks to Andy bringing his baby heirloom extras to us, we had great success particularly with Juliets and pinks and sun gold varieties. I longed for more slicers, so that's what we'll focus on in 2010. We made roasted tomato/garlic/onion/herb goodness for the freezer out of the Juliets and throw that on something at least once a week. The sweet little gold tomatoes made excellent salsa, especially with a bit of fresh peaches thrown in. I'll be making double that next year. Everything else got chopped into good spaghetti sauce for the freezer, which becomes great with a bit of Pine Street Italian Sausage.
Potatoes. Who knew that the difference between store bought and home grown is just as big in potatoes as tomatoes? Now we do! Will plant double - both sweet potatoes and everything else...
OK but lots more to learn: We put up lots of green beans, but ran out by the new year. Ditto turnips. Fortunately there are turnips overwintering and we should have fresh to pick before long. Asparagus was great but weeds are a big battle. We wrestled the patch to the ground (til spring, anyway) and Woody doubled the patch setting out more crowns this fall. A superb longterm investment.
Losers: We ran out of time to take proper care of the pear harvest - we enjoyed a few and gave away plenty, but we weren't good stewards on these. These are too good to miss so will do better in 2011. Beets - we ate a few but the fall crop disappeared. We need lots more beets in our lives. Cukes. I may be the only person in the world who failed at cukes. But I didn't have the courage to thin, and they choked themselves, and I'll be stronger next year. Scuppernongs - were pruned so severely to start them on to their new arbor that we only got a few, but just look out for this years! Corn - total zero. But we can only get better, right?
We'll be starting transplants in the next couple of weeks - can't wait! If you want us to grow some for you, too, let us know.
---------- Linda
The rest of the year is so busy in a garden that you really need a little down time to stop and think about what's next. What worked, what was a total waste of time and energy (and why) and what do we want to eat next year?
Winners: We have lots of squash still in freezer - mostly yellow but also zuchinni. It was about an hour of work every day or so to pick off bugs, but it paid off with a great harvest. But thinking of trying row covers to keep off bugs this year, as bug picking is a lot of hard work in the heat. As we get our garden healthier we hope that pests/predators will become more balanced, but you gotta start where you are.
Jams/Jellies/Sauces We put up Blackberry jam (yum) no-sugar blackberry syrup (yum), made fresh freezer strawberry jam from local strawberries (yum) and sister Nancy scored big with Apple Butter from our apples (double yum). We still have fig preserves left from 09 so sent the extra figs that Anjie didn't eat to the Decatur Farmers Market, where they were a hit and we made a little money.
Tomatoes. OMG! Mostly thanks to Andy bringing his baby heirloom extras to us, we had great success particularly with Juliets and pinks and sun gold varieties. I longed for more slicers, so that's what we'll focus on in 2010. We made roasted tomato/garlic/onion/herb goodness for the freezer out of the Juliets and throw that on something at least once a week. The sweet little gold tomatoes made excellent salsa, especially with a bit of fresh peaches thrown in. I'll be making double that next year. Everything else got chopped into good spaghetti sauce for the freezer, which becomes great with a bit of Pine Street Italian Sausage.
Potatoes. Who knew that the difference between store bought and home grown is just as big in potatoes as tomatoes? Now we do! Will plant double - both sweet potatoes and everything else...
OK but lots more to learn: We put up lots of green beans, but ran out by the new year. Ditto turnips. Fortunately there are turnips overwintering and we should have fresh to pick before long. Asparagus was great but weeds are a big battle. We wrestled the patch to the ground (til spring, anyway) and Woody doubled the patch setting out more crowns this fall. A superb longterm investment.
Losers: We ran out of time to take proper care of the pear harvest - we enjoyed a few and gave away plenty, but we weren't good stewards on these. These are too good to miss so will do better in 2011. Beets - we ate a few but the fall crop disappeared. We need lots more beets in our lives. Cukes. I may be the only person in the world who failed at cukes. But I didn't have the courage to thin, and they choked themselves, and I'll be stronger next year. Scuppernongs - were pruned so severely to start them on to their new arbor that we only got a few, but just look out for this years! Corn - total zero. But we can only get better, right?
We'll be starting transplants in the next couple of weeks - can't wait! If you want us to grow some for you, too, let us know.
---------- Linda
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