Garden thoughts, plans, and daydreams are captured here while sipping a cup of coffee and enjoying some type of food that is probably not good for me.
My List Of Failures
Let me first make it clear that I view each failure as a learning experience that I can use to improve my gardening techniques and abilities. If I will pay attention, I can make adjustments that can lead to future successes.
Onions
I harvested a small crop of onions this year and have been using them in my cooking. They were grown from onion plants. My Spring daydreams included large almost baseball size onions but the reality struggled to be the size of a ping-pong ball. It is my conclusion that the soil I planted them in was not adequate to provide the nutrients needed. Add to that the fact I did not fertilize them at any time. I have since learned that onions are heavy feeders so next year, I will spend more time on providing the nutrients needed to grow larger onions.
Radishes
The same can be said of the radishes. I planted them before I had received my truck bed load of comoost. They grew green leafy tops but no radishes. I am growing radishes this Fall and will amend the soil before planting them. I will provide an update on my radish growing experience afterwards.
San Marzano Tomatoes
Just as these started blooming, we had a rainy couple of weeks. This resulted in blossom end rot. I continued to experience this throughout the growing season even though in my mind I was watering consistently. They were also prone to split. I did not experience this with the 21 other varieties of tomatoes I grew. At this point, I have decided not to grow San Marzano Tomatoes again but if I change my mind, I will grow them in containers so that I have more control over watering and drainage. This past season they were grown in raised beds.
These could have been hybrids. I saved seeds from some San Marzano tomatoes I bought at the Farmer’s Market ini 2020 and planted them in 2021.
Pumpkins
I had never grown pumpkins before and in my naivety, I dreamed of carving Jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. I found a spot where the pumpkin vines could spread out and they did. There were a multitude of blossoms. And then they were hit with Squash vine borers. Watch the video below (not my video) to see what happens when pumpkins are attacked in this manner. This happened too me in 2020. I did not attempt to grow pumpkins in 2021.
Cucumbers
In 2020, I grew cucumbers in containers. And although I did receive a decent harvest, I grew the wrong type. I grew a pickling cucumber and had wanted a slicer but didn’t realize I had made the wrong seed selection until they were growing healthy vines. So, growing cucumbers wasn’t a problem, I just grew the wrong type. In 2021, I planted my cucumber plants late. We had a wet Spring and I couldn’t plant them in the raised beds as early as I wanted. I had selected two different types of slicers and was sadly hit with some type of blight which I haven’t identified yet. The leaves on the vines withered and the vines died. A fellow gardener from this area had a similar situation with her cucumber plants. Honestly, I grew one healthy cucumber. I harvested it, sliced it and ate it the same day.
Not Watering Enough During Hot Temperatures
This past summer in part of July, most of August, and early September, we had temperatures during the day in the 90s. I watered my garden once per day. I should have been watering twice per day. August was a very dry month with very little rainfall. Before I realized it the tomatoes had burned up, dried out, and were done for the season. I have not had this situation at this location before. We have always had enough rain during the summer that watering once per day to supplement has been enough. I should have paid more attention and realized that something had changed but I continued to do as I had always done. This was a gardening wake up call for me and next season I will be prepared and pay more attention to the amount of rainfall received in June and July, and be prepared to water twice per day if the temps get above the mid 80s.
My Conclusions from My Failures
The number one thing I have concluded is that I need to do more research this coming winter, research that is specific to the requirements of growing a specific plant. I also need to learn of the various pests and diseases that might attack that plant, and be proactive by pre-treating before an issue occurs. I will definitely attempt to grow onions, radishes, and cucumbers again. Once I’ve mastered them ,maybe I’ll then consider trying pumpkins again. I have said goodbye to San Marzano tomatoes. I have successfully grown several different heirloom tomato varieties and will focus on them and others that have been recommended.
Cardamom Braid Bread
Several years ago as my siblings and I grew into adulthood, we decided to assist my mother with holiday cooking and divided up the menus for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have always enjoyed baking so I quickly chose to become the family holiday bread maker. I have two different types of rolls that I make for Thanksgiving. I’ll share these and the recipes in a future blog. At Christmas I usually attempt something that I haven’t baked before. One year, I baked Cardamom Braid Bread. It was a hit with the family and the oven-browned braids make a memorable presentation.
I wanted to end this blog with a success. The recipe is Linked below. It is from the Taste of Home website. I have tried many recipes from this site over the years and have been very pleased with the results. Way back in the day, I received the Taste of Home magazine but now I prefer the website. Please let me know if you make this bread and how it turned out for you.
Click here to go to Taste of Home for Cardamom Braid Bread Recipe.