Summer Garden
seed starting in shed
- started tomatoes early March and they did great! Did NOT put worm castings in first potting up (forgot), gave fish emulsion 4/12, and potted up with worm castings into gallon pots on 4/19. They stayed in these pots until planted out Mother's Day weekend. And...I actually remembered to bury a lot of the stem (yea!) which is extra good because some stems were alarmingly weak. :( Not enough fan movement? When I potted them up, they had good root development. Curious!
Mid-July update -- Maybe our best tomato year ever! - started peppers mid March. Potted up (with worm castings) about 2-3 weeks later. Added fish emulsion a week after that (4/19). Mostly looked good as of 4/19, although some yellowing of leaves (maybe due to a small cold snap where I forgot to turn heater on in shed and it got into 40s.) [Corbaci and Ajvarski start small and weak looking but take off later!] Mid-July update -- all peppers in Greenstalks are doing great! No fruiting on peppers in sitting area though. Perhaps if I start them sooner? Or maybe it's a sun thing. They are pretty leggy.
- started eggplant and basils end of March. That was too lateUpdate -- Eggplants are still not producing as of mid-July. They are large and lovely with some flowers, but not fruiting yet.
- didn't start any flowers due to concern over lack of space, but I should do so next year using the small pony packs, NOT the red solo cups. Duh! And start right into the pony packs. Plant just alyssum, marigold, extra basil, gazania, dwarf nasturtium)
- cucumbers and squash -- start my own next year. I have the seeds! When I buy starts, there's always a 30%-ish fail rate. This year we won't have any lemon cucumbers because of that, one and of the zucchinis was stunted. Cucumbers are just barely starting. Not too impressive. Zucchini are doing great grown vertically!
what was planted where [add varieties]
trough 1
- back: 3 cucumbers and 1 tomatillo to vine up a trellis behind it
- front: 4 bell pepper plants with round cages, plus a few flowers (alysum, marigold, basil)
- next year do a better job of vining tomatillo (but can you really?) OR just leave the area in front of the tomatillo empty but with a cage for support. Tomatillos get big!
trough 2
-
back: 4 indeterminate tomatoes to vine up trellis
- front: 4 bell pepper plants with round cages, plus a few flowers (alyssum, marigold, basil)
- next year plant tomatillos on SIDE of toughs since they don't really vine. That will leave more room for tomatoes + going to do small cages for supports in front.
trough 3
-
back: pole beans to vine up a trellis behind it
- front: 4 zucchini plants (2 which will be trained vertically up a pole and 2 that can spill over the sides
- next year plant the tomatoes on either side of trough 3 on SIDE so that they can be trellised up the pot's black trellis
trough 4 & 5
- back: 4 indeterminate tomatoes to vine up trellis
- front: 4 eggplant plants with round cages, plus a few flowers (alyssum, marigold, basil)
large pots between troughs
-this year -- tomatoes vine up trellis in back + bush beans in front
-next year -- 1 vining tomato in back, 1 bush tomato in front, except tomatillo in pot 2. For pots surrounding trough 3, plant back and toward trough so that vines can use trough 3's cattle panel for support (trough 3 has zucchini so trough not used).
grow boxes
- Two sitting area side boxes: 5 eggplant with cages (Japanese Egg and Ping Ting) with a few small flowers / basil added
- One sitting area back box: 8 peppers with cages (Anaheim and Poblano) with a few small flowers / basil added
- Four boxes against house south wall: 1 cherry tomato and 1 bell pepper each, plus a few small flowers
- next year -- just cherry tomatoes and flowers. Peppers didn't do much. Cherry tomatoes looked great but didn't produce much.
- Herb box: perennial herbs sage and green onions + added annual herb thai basil
- I want A LOT of mint next year so maybe devote one of the smaller grow boxes to mint (b/c invasive but also perennial!)
greenstalks
- South (original) -- ajvarski & nardello + companions
- Near South (leaf) -- green onions, jimmy nardellos & nadapenos + companions
- Near North (leaf) -- banana peppers, green onions + companions
- North (leaf) -- shishitos + companions
* see word doc for exact arrangement per tier/tower
- next year do exactly the same. It's doing great!!!
- Thai basil + nasturtium + allysum
- next year try for a HUGE genovese basil and a HUGE thai basil in this area instead of some of the peppers.
- MANY medium pots with herbs and flowers, all lining the back trough line
-4 large pots with clematis in them
-2 grow boxes against shed with astillbe
-2 large pots with rose bushes
-1 large pot with a large vining plant that I can't remember the name
- created organic fertilization plan/schedule using:
- worm castings & fish emulsion for seeds starting, seedlings
- tomato tome & kelp/seaweed emulsion for summer growing
- soil conditioner for Greenstalks
- find schedule in garden/fertilization folder
- picked all peppers in mid-June to encourage pepper plants to flower more update with result
- significantly more tree cover this year, but not paying the $3k that the tree trimmer wants -- we'll see how it turns out update with result
- Save seeds this year because there is practically nothing left in any summer veg seed packets!
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SPRING GARDEN
The spring garden was a big flop! Nothing is ready in time! I have to pull stuff before it's ready in order to plant summer plants. I don't want to give up on spring and fall gardening, but the results were so disheartening!
To document this (in case I'm crazy and want to try again):
- bok choy: direct sowed on 3/19 and a full month later they were just TINY seedlings. And we've had an
unseasonably good spring. theory -- despite what the internet and the seed packets say, these need to be started indoors. I did that in 2025 and we enjoyed a lot of bok choy! Start them indoors next year given how much we
love bok choy.
- snow peas: direct sowed 3/19ish and while they looked amazing, I had to pull all but the ones by the bathroom wall in order to plant summer plants. That bathroom wall cluster gave us one stir-frys worth.
theory -- that area of the troughs is still in the shade. If I decide I want to try snow peas again, need a new location (where they can vine!) And figure out how to start indoors! - snap peas: bought starts from Cooks the week of 3/19 and a full month later they were small and ratty and
yellow. Added fish emulsion and it did nothing. No more buying pea starts.
theory -- peas don't like transplanting. How can I start them indoors myself. Research! Keep these in greenstalk because bushing. - root vegetables: beets, carrots, radishes---direct sowed 3/19 and a full month later, not a whole lot of action. Why do I have such a hard time with root veg! I'm not giving up. I will crack this.
theory: our season is too short. I need to learn about how to start them indoors and transplant, at least those that you can. I've heard it's possible! - onions: planted 300ish starts in large shady west trough, with worm castings using filter. (We bought 4 bundles-- buy 5 next year. Or watch Millenial Gardener about his method for all three onion types from seed.) update result when pull in July
- dill: where's the dill? Oops, totally forgot to plant dill. Make sure next year.
- perennials (herbs and flowers) all started coming in great in early April (except oregano, had to replace 2) Yea perennials!