Well, it has been cooling off here, and the days are getting shorter than the nights, which has a definitive effect on both my mood and my garden’s productivity. I went to pick some tomatoes this afternoon, and only got a quart or so. I figure it’s about time to do a post on lessons learned from the summer crop. Expect a post on winter plans in the near future.
Tomatoes
The tomatoes were well worth the money. I’ve been planting in 18 gallon stainless steel drums, and put an heirloom yellow pear cherry (I don’t know the real name for it) and a hybrid “normal” cherry into one drum. I also planted some corn and some carrots in this drum. In another drum, I planted carrots, an heirloom slicer tomato, and a winter squash. I didn’t stake or cage them, and they really need the support if you don’t want to be wading through sprawling vines to find the tomatoes. They also need space and probably more water than I was able to give them early in their life. If I were to do it again, I’d plant one tomato per drum, cage them early, and plant fast-growing, space-friendly radishes around the border of the drums.
Corn
I started by asking the corn to share its space with tomatoes, and ended up with stumped plants and tiny ears with almost no kernels. Then I asked it to share a space with just one squash, and got slightly less stumped plants and… tiny ears with almost no kernels. I finally gave a late crop of corn (planted in August) its own container and have been feeding and watering it heavily. My feed is basically dissolving a quarter cup of rose fertilizer in a 2-liter full of water, then adding about a quarter cup of this to my 5-gallon watering containers before watering the corn with it. They seem to love it, and I have high hopes for some late season corn from the last late drum. While it is definitely possible to grow corn in such a small space, I won’t do it again unless I can commit to excessive watering and fertilizing.
Peppers
I planted three pepper plants in one drum: a bell pepper, a New Mexico Big Jim, and Fresno chilies. The chilies have been a bumper crop, but the ‘coons steal the bell peppers and the Big Jims. In the future, I would like to build a removable wire cage to house my sweeter peppers, and leave the hot peppers to fend for themselves. I get little shivers of glee when I think of that raccoon stealing and loving a sweet red bell and then thinking it’s dying when it munches down on a hot green Fresno!
Potatoes
I had some aging russets and some baby reds that I was probably not going to use in time, so without even consulting Contra Costa’s guide to recommended varieties and planting times, I tossed some in a drum in August. I probably wouldn’t have done this had I consulted the guide first, and I’m glad I didn’t. The baby reds took hold and have produced lots of beautifully tasty potatoes. I’ve dug up enough for two meals, and I know there are more under the surface. When we run out of the 10 lb bag of russets we found for $2, I’ll dig up the rest and put something else where the potatoes are, but as it stands we have quite some time before we get to that point. The russets did not take hold, and my guess is that I let them get too ancient before planting.
Squash and Cucumbers
The squash has grown wonderfully, and flowers regularly, but generally either in all male or all female flowers on any given day. Because of this, only three squash have developed and begin their slow growth to maturity. Thankfully, they’re still putting on flowers and seem to be just fine with their cramped living quarters, since each squash is housed with either tomatoes or corn. I will definitely do squash again, but I will probably want to plant 5-10 plants instead of just two to help improve yield (hopefully with more plants, I will actually have some male flowers open on days when female flowers are open). The cuke’s are holding in there, but I did not give them enough space and even though they are trying they just haven’t been successful. I’ll try something else for the winter season and let you know how it goes.
Radishes, carrots, okra, lettuce, herbs
The carrots couldn’t get enough light or probably nutrients, and slowly wasted away after sprouting, in every instance that I tried them. I don’t particularly know what I’m doing wrong with them. I’ll let you know if I figure something out that works. If carrots were my first big failure, radishes were my early success. These guys grew to the size of golf balls while I wasn’t paying attention, and I get a couple huge ones a month after every planting. My only complaint is that I don’t have enough space to keep planting more and more of them. The okra actually did very well considering I planted it in with a tomato and forgot about it. Then one day I’m hunting tomatoes and am rewarded with some okra! That was an unexpected surprise, I thought it had followed in the fate of the carrots. I thought I just wasn’t a lettuce grower, because all my early attempts led to failure. Now, after consulting the literature, I realize I was planting them when it was way too hot for them and not watering frequently enough. The crop I planted last month is already thick enough to thin back, so yay! All my herbs have done quite well (mint, thyme, oregano, and sage), and it’s been great to save money on fresh herbs. I would put in some rosemary if they didn’t have a hedge of the stuff a block long and growing faster than they can trim it outside my office – I help keep it in check between hedge trimmings and have all the fresh rosemary I can possibly use.
Conclusions
When you read something about how to care for a plant, don’t assume you know better until you do. Corn needs lots of food and water and doesn’t appreciate competition very much. Lettuce tends to hate the heat of summer. People are adamant about staking or caging tomatoes for a reason, and the “3-ft” plant spacing guide isn’t there to take up space on the seed package, somebody thought long and hard about it and we should take it as good advice that we paid for when we bought the seeds. Find information from your local agriculture office, and use it to your advantage. Good soil, lots of light, lots of water, and lots of fertilizer does wonders; but I moved my garden from full sun and heat into a slightly more sheltered corner after even the peppers began getting sunburned. This probably wouldn’t have been a problem had the plants been in the ground, but the soil in the containers can get hot enough to fry tender young roots. I’d be interested to hear your summer gardening trials, tribulations, and massive successes, so please post your comments!
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