2013 Season Overview

The potager has seen better days. The lovely Rugosa hedge gracing the front of it was removed to accomodate 3 new beds which I won't be keeping after all. I extended the potager on the side, instead, to accommodate the asparagus.

Higgledy-piggledy potager, early August

 

* Weather

Cold and sluggy. Nothing like last year which was our best season so far. We had late spring frosts and frost warnings well into the first week of June. A new record low was established in late July and September was exceptionally frosty.

 

Other than that, it was lovely. :D

* Cucurbits

I chose to container-grow my cucurbits because of last year's cucurbit pest fest. The containers were dotted around the yard. I kept having to reseed because of slug damage and crops were late as a result. Yields were mediocre. Plastic containers did poorly. My wire baskets did ok.

On the bright side, I'm glad to report that the pest population was down. Cucumber beetle was fairly easy to keep in check. Squash bug shone by its absence. In all fairness, however, I credit Mother Nature (not my setup) for that. (Did you also notice the butterfly population was down this season?)

Gourds and caigua (separate post)

* Solanums

Tomatoes did alright despite the weather. Cherry varieties started cropping in late July; main varieties in early August. The main harvest was gathered in mid-August and plants were pulled in early and mid-September. I won't be growing as many toms, next year.

Tomatillos did fine. I made plenty of pineapple tomatillo jelly. Yum!

Peppers, slug damage aside, did OK. Peppers are becoming a favourite crop and more space will be reserved for them next season.

Potatoes (separate post)

* Root Crops

Carrots, the first crop was plagued by some kind of nematode. The second crop did fine.

Beets, the slugs did most of the first crop in and the second crop didn't take off. (sniff)

Crosne (see previous post)

Jerusalem artichokes, not harvested yet.

* Greens

Needless to say, the slugs had a field day on my direct sowings. Thankfully, I have a few perennial crops to fall back on, like sorrel and orach (not perennial, per se, but reliable self-seeder). I let my 'Speckles' lettuce go to seed last year and got plenty of volunteers which didn't fall under attack (go figure). I'm considering fall sowing my greens from now on. I've also introduced Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus) to the potager, as another perennial crop.

 

The Brassica greens did ok. I let the arugula go to seed because it has such pretty flowers. They're still blooming as we speak!

 

Well I haven't covered everything but this post is already too long. Will update photo album eventually.