Past the Peas

Yesterday, I got the questions.
How did your garden do this year?

My answer? And I promise this was not just because the person asking was selling the last of the garden yummies planted by my CSA maestro of last season. My answer is, "I miss my CSA." Not so good is the answer.

I love this gardening thing, but true to form, I've lost the momentum a bit. Don't get me wrong, we're still producing tomatoes and cukes as fast as we can pluck them. The basil has been like arugula and we have so much PESTO!  It's fabulous.

Yet the patty pan, zucchini, melons, pumpkins and butternut never actualized. I plucked two small spaghetti squash, three white melons, six or seven patty pans and one butternut squash. That is all, folks.

It's time to reflect upon what worked, which is what I've been dodging. Like listening to "You Bet Your Garden" with Mike McGrath. Like weeding in 100 degree heat. Like replanting for a fall rotation. I pulled out the pea seeds I bought two weeks ago to plant this weekend. "Plant two months before the first frost" read the directions on packets promising a fast production.

TOOOO LAAATE.

So, for this first year and first reflection, here's what worked:

1. Window boxes of Arugula work. Move indoors at the first sign of heat and kick any large Garfield colored long-haired monstrous cats who sit on and poop in said boxes. I'm not kidding about the cat. Kick it. I like arugula more. It doesn't try to rub affection out of me when I'm not feeling affectionate. And I can eat it. Even if I ate meat, society frowns on stewing up cats.
2. Add a lot more manure and dirt to my boxes. The front ones are not attractive but prolific. They had the most dirt. I started this yesterday. after volunteering at Achaius Ranch. I threw two large 20 gallon buckets of green fresh horse manure into my ghetto sled (a dottering old Toyota Sienna). Then, I drove 2-60 down the roads to keep the tiny flies from biting us and to push that smell out the window vents in the back. At home, forty gallons of manure only surfaced the one 5'x5' box out back.  It needs several more cubic yards. That one was my squash box. I got the six patty pans from it.
3. Re-arrange where I plant what. Cukes were great next to the fence row. They climbed my pallets and fences. I will mix in lots more of the cherry tomatoes for snacking. I will create much better tomato cages and let the cukes and maters compliment each other. Summer squash will stay out front, with basil, climbing spinach, peas, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and rutabagas. These are prettier and I can show them off. I will put some climbing winter squashes alongside the house, maybe. Out back? Some maters, some taters, and lettuce. I want be more conscious of how the seasons can compliment the growing. 
4. Stop being a summer only gardener. I did start seeds early, but only for summer plants. I didn't put out broccoli or other items like that this year. I was jealous at the success of Dianne's--her shared tastes whet my appetite without the the havoc that grocered items produce. This year, I need to learn more about rotation. I need start really cold plants in January and have 'em ready for those boxes. I need two rounds of peas and beans. 
5. Find out why my sweet potatoes didn't grow, and where to get good starts. That's my plan.
6. Rinse and repeat on all herbs. That worked very well! Pallet gardens were good for herbs, edible flowers and lettuce, until the summer heat. It didn't help that I was gone four long weeks of the irascible Indiana heat. It's hard to teach the kind friends how to water. So much for early morning, drip and deep watering. These are better than throwing beats of water all over the leaves of plants in mid-morning, which is either like a magnifying glass to burn leaves or a mere cloud, evaporating away without ever reaching the belly of the plant down there in the dirt.

Okay, this is like a gardener's journal. Here's my confession. I justified paying more for seed-savers heirloom species. My plan was to save and regrow. Considering this year's production, I think I need more work on basic. We'll get to the art of seedsaving after I learn plant rotation.

In other news- our hens have moved to Tom's a block or so away. They are producing shiny blue feathers mixed with their rustic red ones. Coxcombs are appearing. Poo is flying. I'm ready for eggs, brotherman!

More to come on next year's watering and vermiculture.