This was only my second year gardening, and first year with my own yard 😤 Everything is in containers. I struggled a lot with figuring out a good place to put containers that got enough sunlight. I was trying to avoid the front yard because I was worried about car exhaust and grossness getting onto veggies, but when I finally caved and moved everything to the front it started growing much much better. Lots of things also got chomped by deer and groundhogs in the backyard. I had hoped that big containers would keep the groundhogs out but I caught one climbing up onto the top and eating all the seedlings. Lots of failures, lots of dead plants. I tried to plant some native flowers in the backyard hoping to get them to spread to the empty lot behind us, but no success. A lot of seeds got eaten by birds.
I had better luck with both veggie and flower starts that I bought from the local farmer’s market. I was SO CLOSE to getting sunflowers, the flower heads were coming out but then we had a big windy thunderstorm that knocked them over and they got all crispy after :( My only harvest this year are a couple of jalapeno peppers. I didn’t start anything indoors this year, but I definitely see the value in it now and I’m hoping to get a rack with grow lights set up over the winter.
What about you guys??
This is my first year with an in-ground garden in Zone 6a! Here’s what I’ve got:
-Plant more peppers, I eat a lot of peppers and could use more
-Plant beans/peas earlier
-Plant okra later
-Only ONE cucumber plant!!! Just one! No one needs more than one!
-More ground cherries, they did great and I love 'em
-Wouldn’t bother with celery again, probably
-Would give radishes another shot, they did okay. I’d do kohlrabi again too
-Planted too many types of lettuce
We gave up on celery and have instead planted one or two individuals of lovage (Levisticum officinale) for the times we need some additional aromatics beyond the carrots, onions, and parsnips.
Ground cherries are the best! Homegrown ones are so much better than grocery ones (although this is true for many fruits and vegetables)!
I have two cucumber plants and three zucchinis so imagine what my diet is like.