Well, here we are at the end of the growing season for Northern New York and New England. It’s been quite a year for many of us; there is a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world, but gardening must go on. This year, I grew most of my standard crops. These include Boston lettuce, carrots, potatoes, squash, and peas. In addition, I also grew parsley, which I elaborated on in an earlier blog. Boston lettuce grows extremely well around here, and always tastes delicious. My problem being, I bought double the amount I’d need. You see, earlier in the spring, my sister’s rabbit (my main customer for lettuce) died suddenly. So I had all this lettuce but nothing to feed it to except myself and my family. Unfortunately, a lot of it went to feeding my worms. Oh well. For potatoes, I grew a blue type; bluish skins and blue flesh. They have an interesting flavor and texture, but they’re not very good for baking. Most other dishes, however, benefit from them, and they are actually healthier than those with white flesh. Peas are pretty much peas; you can’t really go wrong with them. Every time I plant them I get a great yield, and they are super easy to care for. My one mistake was that I did not stake them. You see, last time I grew peas, I did stake tem, but they refused to climb the stakes, so I thought “well, I guess peas don’t climb.” Wrong; some do and some don’t. My carrots did not do well at all, due to poor planning on my part. I typically plant lettuce and carrots on different days of the year, and I like to companion plant them. This was not a good idea. I accidentally dug up the carrot seedlings while planting the lettuce. So there will be a dearth of carrots this year. This year, I planted butternut squash. Last year I planted acorn squash. While I had an impressive yield of squashes this year, I don’t think I will plant butternut again. They take an extremely long time to ripen as compared to acorn, and with our growing season being as short as it is, I simply can’t afford that. Next year, I may plant zucchini. Of course, I always plant a hedge of marigolds around my vegetables to deter any pests that might find them attractive. Marigolds are useful, hardy plants and that every gardener should grow. In summary, I’d say 2020, for all the mayhem, was a good year for gardening.
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AuthorI'm Ian Wilson, a slightly eccentric amateur horticulturist bumbling his way through the garden. Archives
October 2021
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Photos used under Creative Commons from PAUL (Van de Velde) -Fotografie, NSPaul, Acabashi, amandabhslater, Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel, WILLPOWER STUDIOS, krossbow, Monkeystyle3000, TwinPeaks99, ungard, RifcaPeters, Sustainable Economies Law Center, daryl_mitchell, wuestenigel