2012 Garden in Review

 Hand-drawn Garden Plan

 This is the rough plan I drew up in 2012 for our garden layout. 

May 27th, 2012 
Pictured below are the two raised beds we constructed out of pine in 2012.  The vegetables are just starting to grow.  The layout and spacing we used is from the Square Foot Gardening Method.

In the closest bed (#3) we had: (2) Butternut Squash which would grow on the trellis, (12) Eggplant- two different types: (6) Lavendar Touch and (3) Black Beauty, and (171) Bush Beans- Bush Blue Lake 274 variety. 

In the farthest bed (#4) we had: (3) Straight neck Summer Squash, (2) Cilantro, (1) Green Bell Pepper, (1) Yellow Bell Pepper, (1) Pepper Carmen, (4) 1 year crown Asparagus, (256) Yellow Onions. 

We also planted (2) Bush Zucchini plants on mounds.  You can't see them in this picture but they were located to the left of the first raised bed.                                                                 

New constructed pine beds with vegetables growing

Pine beds a few weeks later.

 
July 7th, 2012
This was a very exciting month because we were finally starting to see some eggplant, beans and peppers that we could actually pick!  However, towards the end of the month it also became disappointing when the squash vine borer attacked both zucchini plants, and several of our summer squash. 

Eggplant & Green Beans

Lavendar Touch Eggplant

First harvest of green beans for the season.  

Watering the raised beds is a family affair.

Bush Zucchini plant before the Squash Vine Borer attack 

Potted Plants on Deck
I also like to do some plants on the deck.  Its very convenient to open up your back door and grab some fresh parsley or basil for dinner!  In 2012 we had: (1) Marglobe Heirloom Tomato, (3) Roma Tomatoes, (1) Basil and (1) Parsley plant all in their own pots on the deck.

Potted Roma Tomatoes

September 30, 2012
I put together this quick poster along with family photos to share with friends and family at our son's birthday party.  It was a great way to share with everyone the fun we all had and what we had learned.  Overall it was a really good year.  We learned so much growing new crops and having a greater variety of plants.

Garden harvest totals for the year

Lessons Learned from 2012 & Goals for 2013:

1. Stop the Squash Vine Borer- Our strategy is to use Floating Row Covers and some of the other organic pest controls listed here: Squash Vine Borer Control moving forward for 2013! 

This dreaded pest attacks when you least expect it.  The moth lay eggs on the leaves of your squash and when they hatch the larvae bore their way into the stem of your plant.  They injure the stem and before you know it your entire plant has wilted on the ground.  One day everything looked great the the next day the zucchini plant and several summer squash plants were laying on the ground and dead.

Squash Vine Borer Moth

2. Harvest peppers more frequently- I learned after 2012 that if you harvest them when they are small and often they will produce more!  This is also true for summer squash and zucchini.

3. Learn more about growing onions- The bulb size of ours grew slightly, but they didn't grow as large as they were supposed to.

4. Don't listen to the neighbors- Yes technically the deer could choose to jump over the new fence if they really wanted to (can you tell everyone has told me this) however, we had no such issue.  I am proud to say that in 2012 the deer, rabbits, and dogs stayed out of our raised beds!  

Deer surveying our fence after we harvested all the vegetables and removed the fence panels for storage.

5. Try some new types of plants- Its always a learning experience to grow something new!

6. Add 2 more raised beds to complete the garden and grow more vegetables in 2013.