Recap of 2009: I grew mostly in self watering containers on our sunny deck. Yields were good, considering that I continue to be much better at planning and planting than I am at weeding, watering, and harvesting. Tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, lettuce, radishes, potatoes, onions, beans, nasturtiums, thyme, stevia, basil, sage, and hazelnuts were grown in containers. The onions never really grew and the hazelnuts were eaten by squirrels. Everything else did well, although the potato yields were disappointing.
After a season of growing in SWCs, I've decided to dedicate the containers to those vegetables that are most heat and sun loving, such as my tomatoes and peppers. Our yard, while large, is more shady than I would like. One of the sunniest areas in the yard is our deck. So, it doesn't make sense to have vegetables like lettuce in those containers.
In ground there were: scarlet runner beans, mint, lemon balm, rhubarb, raspberries, and Egyptian Walking onion. In late Fall, I dug a bed and planted multiplier onions, shallot, and garlic. I also transplanted my sage from a pot to this bed.
Plans for 2010:
(clicking on this picture should bring up a larger image)
Moving existing plants: The raspberries and rhubarb I planted are in areas that are a little too shady for them. As soon as I can dig, they will be moved to areas that get more sun. The raspberries will go against the fence on the east side of our yard, adjacent to the deck and new garden bed (dark green area above). The rhubarb will be moved to the narrow strip on the west of our propertly, between the driveway and the property line (not shown).
Think about new perennial plantings: Perhaps a few container blueberries this year? I'm planning to expand the strawberry bed, transplanting the strawberries that were in containers to the bed with the others (you can see this area in the garden plan picture). Additionally, I would like to decide on sites for a future planting of a few (2-3?) dwarf apple trees. I doubt we will get them planted this year, but I can begin to prepare the soil for a planting next spring perhaps? If we had blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, and apples I would be quite content to never buy fruit again!
New garden beds:
As soon as the ground can be worked, I will be double digging a new 5 x 20 foot garden bed (bottom light green bed above). I am planning on planting this *roughly* according to the One Person Mini Garden, Year One from the
John Jeavons' book.I will be making several changes: herbs, tomatoes, and peppers will be planted in self watering containers on our deck. I have already planted alliums in another bed. This will leave some open space in the new 5x20 bed. To fill in, I've added spinach and wheat to our 100 sq. ft. bed. I added spinach because we like it and eat it often. Wheat was simply added because it seemed interesting and different. I'll be impressed if we can grow enough to grow a loaf of bread.
I also plan on preparing a smaller bed adjacent to the allium bed, between our gate and the garage. I do not plan on planting it this year, so I will experiment with the lasagna (no till) method of bed preparation. Hopefully this will result in a ready to plant bed for spring 2011 without digging. Our container space, the 5x20 bed, the allium bed, plus this smaller bed will be equal to the 200 square feet the Jeavons book sets out for the One Person Mini Garden, Year Two.
Seed ordering:
I'm planning 3-4 seed orders this year: spring orders from
Bountiful Gardens (done!),
Baker Creek, and
Ronniger, and a possible mid-summer order from
Territorial Seeds. I am also considering an order of blueberry plants.
This was the Bountiful Gardens order:
Laxton's Progress peas
Winningstadt cabbage
Russian red kale
Chantenay carrots
red spring wheat
red winter wheat
mini-sickle
widger
innoculant
From Baker Creek I will be ordering:
Formanova (cylindra) beets
Five color silverbeet (swiss chard)
zinnias, calendulas, and stocks
I am still mulling over potato varieties. I can get Yukon Golds and Pontiac Reds locally. They are most likely conventionally grown, but are also much, much less expensive than ordering online. I am also unsure what is a reasonable number of potato varieties. I am planning on planting about eleven pounds of seed potatoes. I'd like to plant 2-3 varieties but I wonder if starting with one variety would be a wiser choice? I am looking for an early potato that is a good keeper. Any suggestions?
In addition, I'll be planting from seed I already have:
broccoli
head and leaf lettuce
carrots
cucumbers
peppers (sweet)
tomatoes
basil
more onion
radishes
pumpkins
zucchini
cosmos
beans, several varieties
corn
I may also place a mid-July order for some winter hardy vegetables. I have enough old storm windows stashed about the house to put together a rough cold frame. If time and materials allow, I'd also like to try to build a low tunnel or some other structure for season extension.
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