2016: My Year In The Vegetable Garden

Happy New Year!  A bit late, for sure, but then I am a bit late in sharing this post.

Nevertheless I wanted to share my results from last season in the vegetable garden as I am already underway with 2017 plans.  I have worked my way through the seed packets I have on hand and have flipping through the variety of catalogues that have arrived in the mail.

I am excited that my overall harvest for 2016 at 218.9 pounds was an increase over the 186.4 pounds in 2015 (a 17% increase)!  And it was mostly thanks to my huge harvest of peppers - a very successful year with 36 pounds of mostly sweet peppers (Xanthia, Gypsy and Feher Ozon being the largest yields).

It was also a slightly better year for cucurbits - mostly winter squash in my case.  I had moved my squash patch to the other side of the property in the hopes of escaping the mass of squash bugs from the previous year.  I also treated the plants with neem oil more often than the previous year plus switched to some different varieties that were supposed to be vigorous growers in the hopes they would be sufficiently mature and sturdy by the time the bugs found them. I definitely had less problems with pests, but I still only managed 13 pounds more than 2015.  Still, a positive result and I'll rotate that crop to yet another area this year to confuse the critters again.  :)

This was my second year weighing and tracking my harvests.  More importantly, I had started in 2015 to note the date when I first started seeds, where they were started (indoor, direct seed into garden, in greenhouse) and so was able to simply replicate the timing in 2016 or adjust for those that needed some scheduling change.

And here's an example of some of the other pieces of information I keep to help with planning each year ... sometimes I forget to fill in all of the blanks!




As far as new crops for 2016, I had some successes and failures with the following coming to top of mind:

Crystal Apple Cucumber:  I grew these in the greenhouse, and they were not overly productive.  I also found them bitter in taste.  I read somewhere that too much heat can produce bitterness, but ... what the heck ... I thought cukes loved the heat?  Not sure if I'll bother with these again.

Sweet Potatoes:  This was my first attempt and I had found a short season variety that is commonly grown in my area.  I did manage to grow some, maybe about 20 in total from 4 plants.  So not great yield and they were quite small.  I loved the taste and equally love the idea of growing these myself, but they were a tremendous amount of work with developing the slips indoors.  I doubt I'll do these again, but if I run across the same producer at the Seedy Saturday this spring, well, I might be convinced to give them another go.

Hale's Best Melon:  I had fantastic results with this muskmelon and was giving it away to friends as I had so many. I also chunked some up and froze it - actually just ate some tonight!  However, I think this was a function of the great weather I had here last year with high temperatures and just enough rain to keep things going with a bit of help now and then.  I will definitely grow them again, but I believe my success was more luck than skill.

Croatian Chard:  A friend gave me some seeds for what he calls "Blitva" - from what I can tell, it's a Croatian version of Swiss Chard.  It grew like a weed and was delicious!  I have some seeds left from the batch he gave me, but he's going to have to hook me up with his supplier next season because this crop is a keeper for sure.

Fingerling Potatoes:  OK, well, fingerling potatoes are definitely not a new crop for me but I have discovered two new favourites that were new this year: Linzer and Pink Fir Apple.  I found these seed potatoes at the Ottawa Seedy Saturday and hope to find more again this spring.

Feher Ozon Peppers: And I've already mentioned my success with peppers above including the pricier Xanthia (well worth it) and Gypsy peppers from West Coast Seeds.  But I was thrilled with the Feher Ozon which were dried and ground into paprika.  They also had a very large yield although, again, this is likely a function of the very good weather I had last season.

I had some other new crops that I was so-so about such as collards which I enjoyed but didn't love and the mustard greens which kept bolting and I never really had a chance to eat any.  But I think I'll try both of those one more year and see how it goes.

So I hope my next post won't be so late as this one has been, but I'll catch up next when I've got my seasonal seed order in place and will share my plans for this coming year.

And I'll leave this off with a picture of another new favourite experience from last season - I absolutely adore my new dehydrator and the many things I was able to do with it!!

Working Out A Seed Starting Timeline

It is time for me to get some seeds started indoors under lighting to get an advance on the growing season.  In my climate, it would be impossible for many of my favourite crops to mature sufficiently for a harvest.  I definitely have about 4 months fully frost-free, and usually more like 4 1/2 months.

The last frost usually occurs around May 5 to 12.  But last year, we had a frost on May 22nd.  I was excited about the warm spring we were having and put a number of plants out in early May.  When the frost hit, I covered the plants up and most survived but they were weakened and did not do well.

The first frost is usually in the first week or two of October and last year it came on Oct 7.   So last year I had 138 days frost-free.  Now many crops can handle some light frosts, but definitely not tomatoes or peppers so they need an early start indoors to make sure I have enough time to get a good harvest.

This post is pretty much a repeat of this one in 2014, so I won't go into much detail.  The seed packets are split into piles of which get started indoors and which will be direct sowed when the soil is warm enough.

And the indoor pile is split into timelines.  The "direct sow" pile will also be split into timelines but that isn't necessary for at least another month or two.

For the indoor starts, I have one group which I need to get going very soon - this is basically all of the peppers and tomatoes (plus some herbs that take a while like parsley).  Then another batch is the cucurbits which will be started in late April.  And finally the brassicas which I won't start until closer to the end of May as these are meant to be a fall crop ... if I plant them too early, they will bolt in the summer heat.

And with the greenhouse, I have two new groups.  One contains the seeds that I will start directly in the greenhouse as soon as I can get in - lettuce and other greens mostly.   And then the seeds for all of the flowers that can be started in the greenhouse as well (marigolds, nasturtiums, etc.).

So now that I have that small chore over with, I need to get my grow area set up and get on with it.  Let the gardening begin!!

My 2016 Vegetable Garden Plans

Hmm, I have some time to go before I'll be planting outside, but it is getting close to the time for starting seeds indoors. 

 The list below includes all of the seeds I have on hand and which I expect to plant this coming growing season.  I will also have to pick up some seed potatoes and probably some onion and shallot sets (although I do have some onion seeds this year as well).

I still have to go through and organize what needs to be started indoors versus what will be sowed direct when the soil is warm enough.  But I have a bit of time left ... I looked at my spreadsheet from last year (I am soooo happy that I finally decided to document my planting and harvest dates!) and I have a couple of weeks before I need to get anything started although I definitely need to get the solarium area set up with the growing lights, etc.

I have twice as many bean varieties this year as I have in the past.  I've just enjoyed both the fresh and dried so much that I will just have to find the room for all of these!  Except the Scarlet Runner ... as you can see from my note to myself below.  I liked them well enough but wasn't super successful with the yield so I'd rather save the space for one of the newer varieties I'm trying (like all those great varieties from Heritage Harvest!).




I hardly have any seeds left for broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower and certainly did not purchase any new ones.  I just plan to use up these seeds and do not expect to try growing these again as I have not had much luck (actually I did pretty well with the Tiara cabbage so maybe that will be a keeper).  For these veggies, whatever germinates I'll find a spot for but don't expect to have too many.

But I did get some new kale and kohlrabi.  I'm sure I've mentioned many times that I love to purchase mixed seed varieties.  The kale mix packet includes Fizz, Dwarf Green Curled and Black Magic.  Even though the mix has Black Magic, I also bought a packet of Nero Di Toscano (same cavalo nero type) just because I like it so much and wanted to make sure I have a bunch of those plants.  And I wanted to try the Scarlet variety as well - mostly for looks but this is edible as well (as I believe some are meant to be just ornamental). 




Now this following list seems like a lot of cucurbits!  But I have yet to successfully grow melons or watermelons so this will be my last year for those as well - I'll try germinating whatever seeds I have left and will pick the strongest one or two of each and that will be it. 

SFG Dave had mentioned that mouse melons are often grown in hanging baskets which is exactly what I'm going to try this year.   And I am trying a new cuke this year - Crystal Apple.  I might try that one in the greenhouse. 

And all of the winter squash (my favourite crop!!) will be limited in numbers so that I can really look after them well and manage the squash bug population that I expect to have again this year.




And some greens ... I've gone back to the same arugula (astro) and spinach (reflect hybrid) that I grew a few years ago as I wasn't happy with the variety I grew in 2015.  And I'll be trying radicchio for the first time.






I'm trying shelling peas for the first time this year with the Laxton's Progress.  And the rutabaga was an impulse buy as I had seen the Seeds Savers Exchange packet at a store in Ottawa a few weeks ago.  Otherwise, the rest of the list are the usual suspects.



And other than the regular herbs, flowers and perennials (rhubarb, asparagus, etc.) that I will have, this is the last of the list, but certainly not the least - the peppers and tomatoes.  I plan to grow very few tomatoes, just enough for snacking and sandwiches.  I usually buy bushels at the end of the season to make my jarred sauces, etc.  So for this list, it's all about the peppers this year!  I will pack as many as I can into the greenhouse and the rest will likely end up in containers around the yard.




And so I will look out the window at all of the snow and icicles and dream of warmer days to come ... really soon.  Please.