Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Garden 2010

Garden 2010: Used the Mittleider Method for the layout of the rows. This involved making "u" shaped rows about 2 feet apart; think I'll increase the initial space between rows this next year. Ended up with 6 rows in a 25' x 16' space. This type of row worked well for watering as the row slopes from top to bottom by about an inch.
Row 1: tried growing runner beans...beautiful vines~no fruit!
Row 2: 3 types of tomatoes~Sweet 100's~very prolific for just 3 plants
~Roma's~ended up with several of these; bought 3 plants,
but snapped off the suckers and just stuck them
in the ground~they ALL survived so ended up
with 8 plants!
~Cherokee Purples~very good tomato; will plant more
~Better or big Boy~WILL NOT PLANT ANOTHER OF THIS
KIND! Never get any fruit!
Row 3: Cucumbers! galore!~Vanessa West gave me a great pickle receipe (she doesn't even
like pickles!).
Also tried cantelope on this row....will probably try again, but offer more support for
the fruit.
Row 4: 3 kinds of squash~Butternut~got about eight fruits from 2 plants.
~Zucchini~not very prolific~will try again
~Yellow straight neck~again, not very prolific, of course, more
than a couple plants are probably needed.
Row 5: 3 kinds of peppers~jalepeno~good~will try canning these next time
~bananna~good~tried canning some~will grow again
~bells; 2 or 3 colors~did okay and will grow again
Row 6: potatoes~didn't work! May try growing in barrels this next year....

This was a "natural" garden. I tried to use only products in their most God-given form. For pest control I tried to keep a clean garden and used NEEM tree oil. This worked very well. I ended up with one squash vine borer, but caught him early; smushed him then buried the part of the stem it had damaged.

I really enjoyed canning the things I tried...everything was pretty much successful....this was my "learning" year. I asked lots of questions and read an Extension office booklet about canning.


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