With all the action going on about our move, I realize that I forgot to post the final tally from our 2023 growing season harvests! See below – this is the last harvest at our old house. I’m writing this from our new home that doesn’t have yet have a garden. I’m unsure what this growing season will bring but as we build the new garden out, things will be evolving over the next few years. 🙂 Stay tuned!
Radishes: 73
Spinach: 12 cups
Arugula: 8 cups
Napa Cabbage: 7
Snap Peas: 1,484
Buttercrunch lettuce: 3
Con salad: 9
Buckley lettuce: 13
Garlic scapes: 17
Romaine lettuce: 24
Garlic: 22
Turnips: 49
Carrots: 122
Beans: 676
Chard: 65 leaves
Cherry tomatoes: 1,608
Slicer tomatoes: 6
Green onions: 30
Chamomile: 1 tea tin, dried
Basil, mint and lemon balm: Lots, eaten fresh
Impressions from this growing season: I planted enough cherry tomatoes (14 plants is the sweet spot), I need more slicer tomato plants (or just find a variety that produces more) – I only planted 2 but only got 6 tomatoes – that seems low. I also need to plant more lettuce. In 2022 I planted too much so reduced the number of plants for 2023 but it turns out, I need something in the middle to keep us in lettuce all spring and early summer.
Another year has zoomed by faster than we thought possible! Travel was still on hold for us but we’re expecting to start up again soon. This past year was mainly spent on home and gardening-related items. Although I didn’t tackle as much as I planned to, it was still a year of learning and accomplishment.
Of the foodie items I wanted to do, I only managed to complete two:
Make brisket
Maintain extended pantry (have several months’ worth of food)
For the gardening ones, I completed some but encountered a soil issue (depleted nutrients) which impacted my yields this year.
Grow herbs and greens indoors over the winter. SUCCESS!
Try the lasagna method (plant bulbs layered in containers) SUCCESS!
Plant more lilies: UNSUCCESSFUL I planted bulks but no bulbs came up – I suspect plated too deep.
Store amaryllis bulbs and have them bloom next season. SUCCESS!
Grow flowers from gathered seeds (columbine) SUCCESS!
Grow melon successfully – PARTIAL SUCCESS – I grew 2 melons and we ate them. I’m planning on growing more plants in 2023 to increase the yield.
Grow squash successfully SUCCESS!
Collect rainwater (in jugs / rain barrel) DID NOT COMPLETE
New garden shed SUCCESS!
Grow new things in 2022 (planned were: butternut squash, sugar snap peas, napa cabbage, sorrel, golden beets, yellow pole beans) PARTIAL SUCCESS – The peas were a big success, Napa Cabbage was OK but the rest was impacted by my soil issue
Research growing fruit trees (for future plans) SUCCESS! I did the research around fruit trees, varieties, etc. and will continue this in 2023.
Buy local / in-season and preserve/freeze SUCCESS! I like doing this with corn since it’s so inexpensive and I blanch and freeze a bunch to enjoy summer corn over the winter.
Dehydrate herbs for tea SUCCESS! I dried one tea tin each of dried chamomile, mint and lemon balm.
Preserve/freeze harvests for winter eating PARTIAL SUCCESS I grew and froze peas, green onions, parsley and bok choy and we ate most of the rest.
Succession planting PARTIAL SUCCESS I did this but with mixed results due to my soil issue.
Vertical planting SUCCESS! I managed to grow beans, peas and tomatoes vertically but was hoping to have more success with melons.
Protect crops with row covers SUCCESS! Best thing I ever did was get row covers.
Take advantage of shoulder seasons (spring, fall) SUCCESS FOR SPRING, UNSUCCESSFUL FOR FALL (due to soil issue)
And for my usual 3 sets of goals:
Read 10 books: UNSUCCESSFUL I read one. Yes, one. Terrible terrible, I know. I’ll do better this year. 🙂
Watch 50 movies/shows: SUCCESS I blew this out of the water. I spent a lot of time watching Netflix and Prime and clearly need to balance things out a bit more in 2023.
Cook 30 new recipes – I only managed to complete 12.
Another gardening season wrapped – see the final harvest tally at the bottom of this post! It wasn’t as successful a year as 2021 (that was the best year ever so a hard one to follow) but decent nonetheless! I discovered a soil issue (nutrient depletion) and learned from it, and got some pretty good harvests and have a plan for the next growing season.
The big stars this year were garlic, tomatoes, lettuce, sugar snap peas and herbs.
I’ve been learning about growing melons and squash and although better than las year, the soil issue impeded any significant harvests there. I usually grow green beans like a champ but again, between the soil issues and the delayed planting, beans were lackluster. Root crops – and my fall crops in general – didn’t do well.
But not to worry – there was still lots to cheer about! 🙂
Tomatoes remain a mainstay in my garden and I usually do a mix of different colored cherry tomatoes (14 plants in all this year), plus 2 plants of slicers – this year I grew Celebrity tomatoes and they did great. That many plants keep us in tomatoes from mid July until end of October, when I pull up the plants and let the green ones ripen inside for another 2 weeks.
Herbs typically do well in my garden too and I grow them in my raised beds (parsley), in containers scattered throughout the garden (dill, basil, chamomile, mint, lemon balm) and planted in the ground around the pergola (lavender, oregano). I use them in cooking, dehydrate them for tea, and dry the lavender to make sachets to tuck in drawers and closets.
Here’s the 2022 tally:
Cherry tomatoes: 2164
Sugar snap peas: 757
Radishes: 124
Garlic: 84 bulbs and scapes
Carrots: 65
Beans: 53
Slicer tomatoes: 29
Bok Choy: 12
Green onions: 12
Crookneck squash: 11
Turnips: 4
Napa Cabbage: 4
Melon: 2
Romaine lettuce: 24 heads
Buttercrunch lettuce: 16 heads
Buckley lettuce: 12 heads
Spinach: 12 cups
Parsley: 12 cups (chopped and frozen)
Arugula: 8 cups
Kale: 1 cup
Chamomile: Enough to fill an entire tea tin (dried)
Mint: One tea tin (dried) and lots harvested fresh
Lemon balm: 1 tea tin (dried)
Basil: So much basil – harvested fresh
Things planted but got no successful harvests: Beets, rutabaga, butternut squash, cabbage
Last fall I thought I’d try out the lasagna planting method for my spring container which is essentially planting layers of bulbs according to their proper depth and overwintering them so they would be ready in spring. I purchased some bulbs (blue hyacinths, daffodils and pink tulips), selected 2 containers, and filled / layered them, then hoped and prayed they would come up next spring. I kept them in my unheated garage over the winter (zone 6A, Southwest Ontario, we get snow and below freezing temps). Here’s what happened:
I planted in late October last fall:
In each container, I added about 4-6″ of container soil.
I spread the tulip bulbs in a single layer.
I added 2 more inches of soil.
I layered the daffodil bulbs.
I added 2 more inches of soil.
Then spread the last layer of hyacinth bulbs.
I added 2 more inches of soil.
I added some chicken wire to prevent any critters from eating the bulks come next spring.
Then added more soil to the top and sprinkled chicken manure (to deter rodents).
I watered everything in well.
I left the pots inside my unheated garage and checked every 2 weeks and probably only watered every 3-4 weeks when they felt dry.
I did this for 5 long months.
And then, on March 5th, this:
I was so excited! 🙂 I kept them inside the garage for another week. This is March 12th – they were ready:
I moved them to my outside planters on March 14th. I just dropped the pots in so as not to disturb anything,
Then things really kicked into high gear. This is March 26th – hyacinths and daffs coming up:
April 2nd:
April 8th – hyacinths are about to bloom:
April 13th hyacinths smelled amazing! Daffs starting to bloom:
April 17th:
April 19th – daffs!
April 21st: – hyacinths at peak:
April 27th – tulips making an appearance:
May 3rd:
May 6th – hyacinths fading and tulips picking up steam:
May 12th:
During the following week, the daffs and tulips faded and I replaced the planters with summer annuals. 🙂
I loved having color so early in the year – it was super cheerful and nothing beats the smell of hyacinths in the spring! I’m doing it again this year with a different color combo. Bulbs have already been ordered. Can’t wait!!
It’s been a strange growing season so far – cool temps stuck around and it was quite wet, but we managed to harvest quite a bit nonetheless! Here’s a recap of what we harvested in the spring time; I started a lot of seeds indoors, direct seeded some things, and the garlic (hardneck) was plated last fall.
Garlic – I planted some in 2 beds, 84 bulbs total:
It was a good year for lettuce – I grew arugula, romaine, buttercunch and buckley (red). I harvested over several weeks (cut and come again) but once in a while, I harvested entire heads to make salads for lunches for the week:
It was my first time growing sugar snap peas and we loved them! We ate them raw as a snack, in stir fries, and just sauteed in some butter. Popped a few bags in the freezer too. I’ll definitely add these to the garden plan going forward. Like pole beans, these were fun to harvest, like looking for treasure in the vines! 🙂
Garlic scapes were harvested mid-June (about a month prior to harvesting the garlic bulbs). For the first time, I made garlic scape pesto and it was really good. Warning: It’s got quite the zing – A little goes a long way!!
I also grew bok choy, spinach, napa cabbage and chamomile (which I dry for tea).
I’ve found that having this list posted in the kitchen helps keep me on track of garden and yard tasks throughout the year. I make scribbles to the list then update the electronic version in January. Here’s the updated version below. I live in zone 6A, in Southwest Ontario.
Happy Gardening!
Annual Gardening/Maintenance Checklist
January
Maintain winter containers
Watch for / Remove snow and ice from trees and shrubs to prevent damage
Review gardening journal (to review what worked, what didn’t, etc.)
Plan spring garden (layout, what to grow, succession planting, companion planting, etc.)
Prepare schedule (indoor sowing, set out dates, direct sowing outdoors)
Take stock of supplies and what will need to be purchased/replenished
Order seeds and supplies
Enjoy preserved food from last year’s harvest
February
Prepare indoor greenhouse and clean/prepare containers
Maintain winter containers
Watch for / Remove snow and ice from trees and shrubs to prevent damage
Start seeds indoors for cold weather crops (frost tolerant): bok choy, cabbage, lettuce, peas, parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Start seeds indoors for warm-weather crops that take more time to germinate/grow (e.g. peppers)
March
Start seeds indoors for warm-weather crops or those that take more time to germinate/grow (e.g. tomatoes, marigolds, basil, etc.)
Prepare garden beds (add compost, soil, remove any debris, etc.)
I’m excited to announce that my garden plan for next year’s growing season is DONE! Over the summer and fall, I usually jot down ideas, goals and crops for the next season as I think of things or come across things that worked (or didn’t) but I hold off on any major plans until the winter break. Mainly because it gives me something to look forward to during the “off season” but because I also have the time to spend on all the details. I’m a planner (understatement?) and I put a lot of thought into my gardening goals and what I hope to accomplish, then prepare a plan that will hopefully help me get there. There are many hand-drawn garden plans, lists and seed catalogs involved in the preliminary process until I get serious and organize everything in Excel (my third favorite happy place after the garden itself and the notebooks I scribble in). 🙂
Without further ado, see below for all the gory details including pics of my plans for my spring, summer and fall gardens, my planting schedule for every raised bed (by row), my seed list including the number of plants I need and when they need to be started (indoors or direct sow).
I already listed my goals for 2022 in a previous post but one thing I focused on this year was to have more variety; to grow less of each crop than I have in the past so I could grow more different crops overall.
This is my seed list – I’ll be growing 42 different things! I make this list first, then note down how long each takes to reach maturity, and when I can plan them (started indoors or direct sown outside).
Click on image to open in a new tab (and you can zoom in).
Next I fit everything into a weekly schedule based on the growing space I have (5 raised beds with 16 squares each and some containers for herbs), keeping in mind that certain things need to be planted in certain spots in the garden (e.g. tomatoes on the north side so they don’t share other plants). Also taking into account how long certain things take to grow. I then go back to the plant list and calculate how many plants/seeds I’ll need of each type, take inventory of what I have on hand and order anything I need to, whether it’s seeds, seed starting materials or plant supports/trellises if I don’t have what I need. Doing all of this ahead of time (before the end of the year) ensures I won’t run into any surprises or shortages next spring when everyone else is just starting their plans.
It looks scarier than it is, I promise. For example, if you look at the first 2 rows in the schedule below, I’ll be direct sowing radishes at the end of March in the first row of Bed #1 (it’s a 4×4 bed, so that’ll be in squares 1 to 4, following the square foot gardening method). Meanwhile, I’ll start cherry tomato seeds indoors on April 2nd. I’ll harvest the radishes around May 14-21, harden off the tomato plants the week of May 21 and plant them out on May 28th. These are estimates and depend on the weather but I build in enough buffer to be able to move things up or out by 1-2 weeks if need be. I focus on one bed at a time and look at succession planting from spring through to fall.
Click on image to open in a new tab (and you can zoom in).
I print out the above plan and keep it inside my gardening journal and mark it up throughout the season. It’s how I know what I need to do every week. It’s filthy by the end of the season but it keeps me sane and basically runs itself. Once the schedule is done, I prepare the season garden plans (spring, summer and fall). These plans are what I bring outside when it’s time to direct sow or transplant things so I know what goes where. These get filthy as well but a little soil never hurt anyone. 🙂
Blank squares on the summer and fall plans indicate that a previous crop will still occupy that space (e.g. I plant green onions in the spring – this year that will be in the second row in Bed #3 – and leave them in the same spot the whole season so I can ignore that row in the summer and fall).
Click on images to open in a new tab (and you can zoom in).
Well, several things that I had planned to tackle this year didn’t pan out – BUT – I still managed to get a lot done, mainly in the garden and yard. I didn’t remove anything from my Life List but did add a few more (again, garden and yard-related) since that’s where I’m spending most of my time and energy until we can travel again. 🙂 I’m currently at 345 done of 508 – the list keeps growing!
Completed this year:
Make a macramé plant holder (I actually made three and I love them!).
Make tsoureki (Greek Easter bread).
Grow flowers from seed (store-bought seeds): I grew zinnias this summer.
Grow perennial herbs and have them come back the following year – mint and lemon balm came back.
Save flower seeds: I saved lots of columbine seeds from the ones I have in the backyard and plan on sowing them in 2022.
Grow cabbage successfully: After several failed attempts (and a lot of frustration and swearing along the way), I finally grew cabbage and made lots of coleslaw. 🙂
Plant more lilies: They’re my favorite flower so I decided to plant some to enjoy in our backyard. What took me so long?? I planted a bunch in the planters surrounding our back patio so we can enjoy their amazing fragrance.
Grow new things in 2021: I like to always try new things – this past growing season, I grew arugula, main season cabbage, jalapenos, crookneck squash, mini cantaloupe and shelling peas.
Grow over three seasons (spring, summer and fall): It takes a lot of planning but it’s worth it!
As for my usual annual to do lists:
Watch 50 movies: I blew this away. As of the writing of this post, I’m at 46 but that includes TV shows (and I included all seasons for each show as one item).
Cook 30 new recipes: I might still make this – I’m at 20 of 30 with a few things planned for the holidays.
Read 10 books: Yikes. Not looking good. I’m currently at 2 read and 2 in progress. Not going to happen. I switched to Netflix instead of reading, apparently… I’ll try to balance tat out in 2022.
Once the May long weekend rolls around, there’s lots to do in the garden including pulling up the spent spring crops, transplanting the warm weather seedlings that have been started indoors, direct sowing the quick growers into the soil and the watering and pest control really hits its peak.
I had a good year, both on the harvest front and dealing with pests. Other than the usual onslaught of Japanese beetles for a few weeks in mid-summer, pests seemed lower than last year. Or maybe since I’m writing this in December, my memory mightbe failing me and my recollection ismore rosy than reality. Ha!
Regardless, based on my harvest tally, this year was my best ever in terms of food production. Yay me!
For my summer crops, I started cherry tomatoes indoors and ended up planting 15 outside. I bought one Early Girl transplant from the garden centre and 6 oregano plants to add to the area around our pergola for ornamental purposes as well as culinary. I also started turnips, basil, marigolds, chard and jalapenos indoors and transplanted them out on or around the May long weekend. I direct-seeded carrots, green onions, chamomile, dill, green beans, rutabaga, crookneck squash and cantaloupe at around the same time. My mint and lemon balm came back from last year.
Once I had room inside, I started my fall seedlings to be moved out when the summer crops were done including cabbage, beets, more turnips, more chard. For fall, I direct-seeded carrots, arugula, lettuce, radishes and garlic.
After all was said and done, the final tally for the 2021 growing season is below, spread across 80 square feet of raised garden beds and containers for herbs:
Arugula: 46 cups
Buttercrunch: 11 cups + 25 heads (I follow the cut-and-come-again method through the season, then harvest the full heads at the end)
Romaine: 11 cups + 23 heads
Cabbage: 2 heads
Bok Choy: 28 heads
Peas (shelling): 110 pods
Radishes: 72
Carrots: 197
Green onions: 26
Cherry tomatoes: 4,051 (not a typo!)
Early bird tomatoes: 22
Turnips: 50
Jalapenos: 16
Swiss chard: Approx. 160 leaves
Rutabaga: 1
Green beans: 1,181
Garlic (planted in fall 2020): 78 scapes and 78 bulbs
Crookneck squash: 2
Cantaloupe: 1
Beets: 25
Chamomile: 2 tea tins full (dried)
Mint: 1 tea tin full (dried leaves) and so many mojitos I lost count. 🙂 Good problem to have.
Lemon balm: 1 tea tin full (dried leaves)
Dill: I used 12 blooms for pickling but had loads more. I only seeded 3 in a container and had plenty
Oregano: 2 jars full (dried leaves)
Basil: We eat basil mostly fresh in pasta, but I made a couple of jars of pesto
I grew some things for the first time and learned some goodinfo:
Beets: I applied boron at the time of transplanting and they seemed to like that. Most successful beet harvest ever; no more teeny weeny beet roots.
Crookneck squash: I tried to use a cage to let them grow upwards and kept the leaves trimmed. Not great. Had vine borers and some powdery mildew. I’ll try a different method next year.
Melon: Had a false start when I seeded in my raised bed and they didn’t germinate, not sure why. I had also tossed a couple of seeds in a container as a backup and those thrived. Might have been a soil issue. I also waited too long to pick.
Mesh crop covers are amazing to keep pests away from brassicas (flea beetles I’m looking at you).
I had a mix of older cherry tomato seeds and some I bought new for this season. The new ones produced much more than the older seeds. Could be the variety but I’ll keep an eye on that..
Pics of the bounty below as well as pics of my garden throughout the season.
Here’s an update on how the spring garden did this year.
I start my spring / cool weather crops indoors in February/March and move them outside when it’s appropriate to do so. This year, I started romaine lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce, arugula, peas and bok choy indoors. I’ve been using one of those small greenhouses (with the plastic cover removed) with grow lights but think I’ll eventually need to upgrade my setup because it’s not without its challenges…
When it’s time, I harden off the seedlings for about a week, increasing the time they spent outside each day, then transplant them out into the beds.
This year, the soil in my raised beds took longer to thaw than usual, so the hardening off process was prolonged. I checked every day and as soon as the frozen layer could be pierced with the end of a plastic stirring spoon (I’m pretty high tech), I planted them out.
The garlic I planted last fall was already coming up.
I also sowed some radishes and green onions directly into the beds.
Once the seedlings were moved outside, I started my warm weather crops indoors to be ready to plant out on the May long weekend. Things like tomatoes and basil.
I miss seeing green things growing over the winter so watching the veggies grow made me happy. 🙂 I used row covers for the first time which worked out really well to keep the flea beetles away.
Pics of spring harvests:
Arugula and radishesArugula, bok choy and lettuceLettuceBok ChoyGarlic scapes, chamomile and peasLettucePeasArugulaShelled peas
I like to write. About everything. Lately my passions are houseplants, gardening, growing our own food, cooking and working on my Life List. Not necessarily in that order.
Val City Gal 