By all counts my first attempt at a vegetable garden was a mixed success. I planted all the cool crops too late to really be successful I learned, but they did grow and we got some small carrots, a meal of peas and some really woody radishes. I planted the spinach and the lettuce in too much shade and they never got past a second set of true leaves. Rodents were a problem, eating the cukes at only the first leaves stage, strawberries all the time and sweet peppers as they budded out. Groundhogs, rabbits and deer gave everything a good trimming before I learned about deer netting.
Tomatoes on the other hand did well. I used the single stem method and a 5′ trellis. The vines were to the top and zigzagged across the top and back, about 10 feet of vine per plant! I learned that peas grow back after they are groundhogged (yes, that’s a verb now) that string beans did well too. Potatoes did well for a small planting.
So this year I plan on screwing up different things and learning more. I’ll fence the garden from rabbits and groundhogs, cage the seeds and the crops that the chippers are after. I’ll plant the cool crops when they should be started, and I’ll get the lettuce and spinach into the light. So far so good, except I’m out of room for the potatoes and carrots until the beds are ready, so a few things to learn yet. Once the rest of the beds are in place next yea,r planting should be as easy as it was this year in the original beds. Progress.
