It's been a busy summer, although thankfully less hot than it could have been. I was finally able to get everything in the ground by the end of April, and got a huge response. Here's what it looked like by the beginning of July:
The farthest tier has sunflowers along the fence; watermelon and cantaloupe on the left; beans, peas, and raspberries in the middle; and cucumbers and eggplant on the right. The middle tier is tomatoes on the left; strawberries, borage, and collard greens in the middle; and okra and peppers on the right. The top tier has sage, carrots, and garlic on the right, mostly weeds and a straggling lavender in the center, and potatoes and blueberries on the right. If it should like a lot, that's because it is!
The eggplant and melons immediately got attacked by various pests, and haven't done well at all. The cucumbers did ridiculously well for about a month and a half, and then died off. Everything else has produced wonderfully- despite a few pest issues- to the point where I have a much better idea on how many plants of each item to plant next year (a lot fewer, in most cases!). Just a few weeks after the above picture, it looked like this:
Some of the harvests:
Unexpected lessons included:
-Apparently, a number of things from bugs and beetles to rabbits, love collard greens, and will eat them over everything else. This is absolutely fine with me.
-Garlic protects carrots from almost everything, including the aforementioned rabbits.
-Bees adore borage and sunflowers. (Support the poor bees!)
-Even cold-damaged seedlings will rally and overproduce. Don't listen to advice that tells you to toss them.
-Carrots cannot be judged by their tops. The leafiest ones were close to baby carrot size, and some unassuming tops produced monster carrots.
-Big tomato cages are more expensive, but worth it.
-Pests don't always mean a ruined crop. Mexican bean beetles skeletonized the bean leaves, and left the beans alone, perfectly ready for harvest.
Sadly, I'm losing the bottom tier to a county easement, but I will absolutely be doing this again. It was fun, it was a workout, and we got some good food out of it. Chees!
