Garden Report Card

 The garden is done, except for some carrots hiding out underground. A bad day gardening beats a good day working, but this year demonstrated that I still have much to learn. The details:

Okra: D. While almost all of the okra plants generated at least one edible pod, I've had better crops. The variety I used (Parks Silver Queen) didn't do any better than the Clemson Spineless that I can get at the grocery store. I got maybe 2 decent servings, which isn't much. Pondering whether to skip it next year.

Green Beans: D. A promising start, but one turned yellow early, and I only got about 3-4 decent servings. I grew them as a vine plant (Park Seeds Kentucky Blue).  Will probably plant a bush variety next year.

Carrots: B. Carrots appear to be something I can't screw up, and I appreciate that. Garden carrots are so much better than store carrots, and I like store carrots. I planted some leftover "heritage" (Jaune du Doubs) seeds, some rainbow carrot seeds, and some other leftover ones, and they all worked.

Onion sets. A. Idiot proof, perfect for me. 

Radishes. C. If I were giving semester grades, it would have been A first, D- the rest of the year. The first planting was spectacular, the rest were poor. I wonder if it was just from using old seeds, or if I shouldn't replant radishes in the same space.

Tomatoes. C-. The cherry and roma tomatoes were OK, but not as good as prior years. The full-size tomatoes all got the rot before ripening. I also am convinced that, contra my Square Foot Gardening book, I planted them too close together. I think that's a problem with some of my other plantings too. Next year I will plant 8 plants in the space where I planted 12.

I also think the derecho hurt, by bending over all the plants at a 90% angle about 3 feet off the ground, but it only worsened existing problems.

Cucumbers. C+. I actually got some cucumbers, which has never happened before. Progress!

                                                                 

                                                           

Sweet Corn. F. The derecho was pretty much a mercy killing of an already struggling crop. I think I may have planted them too close together, but I may skip it next year and use the space for something I've actually been able to grow.

Why am I posting this? To remind me of my mistakes next spring, and to give my readers the opportunity to tell me all the things I'm doing wrong - though I may need a bigger blog for that.