I can't believe it has been a week since I posted. It was a busy week, my wallet was stolen, Mark was out of town, Logan was sick, and I've been preserving what I can (that will be another post).
I decided to do a garden journal of what I grew and how it did mostly for my information so that when I plan next years garden I remember what happened this year. I'll post it in 2 parts so it doesn't get to be too much. If anyone has any advice on any of the things I planted that didn't do that well, I'd love to hear it. I planted everything in containers so I think it explains some of my failures.
2-Cherokee purple tomato – I wasn’t thrilled with these, they all split before they got ripe and were too liquidy to make a good sauce
Purple russian tomato – these never germinated
3-Amish paste tomato – These are pretty good but I need to plant a lot more because they are small and don’t go very far in making sauce, I only had 3 plants I would need at least 3 times that many
1-Pickling cucumber – worked out well and I’ll grow again, just remember to check them closely, those stealth cucumbers are tricky!
2-Jack Little Pumpkin – the vines grew really well and I got a ton of flowers but only 2 pumpkins grew to full size and ripened. They are cute little guys though.
1-Thai hot peppers – This grew really well and got absolutely covered in little peppers that all ripened. The peppers are really small though and you need about 5 to equal 1 normal size pepper. But you get so many, they do go a long way. 3 plants would probably be a good amount.
3-Thai basil – a success, it really has that Thai flavor
2-Basil – always a winner, the only problem I had was keeping up with it, it kept trying to go to seed on me, but I have lots of pesto put away for the winter
1-Marjoram – grew well but we didn’t find as many uses for it as I thought we would and then it died one day out of nowhere
1-Rosemary – also grew well but after using it a few times in cooking I had to stop since everything I used it in tasted like Thanksgiving to Mark and that wasn’t a good thing. Hopefully the plant will last until Thanksgiving.
2-Cilantro – I’ve never had any luck growing this. It grows a little but never gets to a decent size and then goes to seed. Any cilantro advice?
10-Blue potato – grew well even in a container, they didn’t get really big but I didn’t expect them to in a container
1-Sweet potato – out of all the slips I started only 1 grew into a full size plant, but grow it did! I’ve never seen a plant grow so quicky and it had really pretty flowers. I haven’t harvested any of it yet so I have no idea what my sweet potato yield will be
1-Brocolli – this grew really well and was making a good size head and then the caterpillars (worms?) got it. I’ve got more going now and we’ll see how they go
8 comments:
a few people have complained about their amish paste being too small. ours were wonderfully large. we are sending documented seeds for christmas. our amish paste will be included. i hope you have similar luck with them as we have. further more don't be scared of these cherokee purple because they are absolutely wonderful. if i were forced to grow only one type of tomato it'd be the cherokee purple.
once again i am confident in these seeds because bob grew them almost as large and prolific from our seelings this year. bob did nothing special except watered them and on occasion fed them fish emulsion.
we'll also include a link to our strategy for germinating and nurturing the seedlings. we had some failures but all of our pertinent gained knowledge will be documented.
this link has a photo of a bucket of tomatoes the amish paste is the largest tomato in the center of the bucket. that was an average size for this variety for us--about the size of my closed fist. i wear an xl glove. well you can see the the scale in relation to the five gallon bucket.
btw i think this is a wonderful mime and plan to follow your lead, crediting you of course.
I agree with Karl, my Amish paste were the largest sauce tomatoes of the bunch. Largest sauce tomatoes I've ever seen actually. So maybe your seeds are mislabeled or they don't do well in containers or something.
I didn't have any luck with cilantro in a container either. I thought maybe it had a germination problem, so I sowed it pretty heavily in a small patch in the garden, and what do you know? It all germinated and took right off!! Maybe it likes to be sown thick? You really have to keep up with cutting or it will go to seed pretty readily. Of course, then you have coriander seed to enjoy!! :)
Karl - Thanks for the comments and the seeds for Christmas. I'll try the cherokee purple again. They did grow well they just always split before they got ripe.
Farm Mom - I just read that cilantro has a long taproot so you need to grow it in a deep container, like you would use for carrots. If I have to grown in containers again next year I'll try a deep one. I really hope we move before growing season next year.
Karl - my amish paste were about the size of the smallest tomatoes in your picture.
Nah, maybe it was the weather. We're not too far from Christy, regionally, and our Amish paste were really small, too. Suffering severe drought didn't do much for any of our 'maters.
Christy, I have to share this awesome new journal with you... Jenny from Ironwood Farm Project showed hers to me, and I just ordered one for my birthday. It's too cool with ten years all on a single page and lots of carry over pages for sketches and more details. I spent all yesterday logging back entries into it from last year and this year.
Danielle, yeah the lack of rain could have had a lot to do with it. The journal is really cool! I may have to add that to my Christmas list.
Although not a farmer :D, I do have an herb garden, and you have summarized my feelings about marjoram perfectly. Except mine keeps growing and growing.
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