So yeah

Honestly, this year was so disappointing that I didn’t want to record it. Deer. Raccoons. ROBINS. Grosbeaks. Stupid weather patterns. (Warm weather started late- then immediately got over 90 then cold again.)

Green beans recovered after I fenced them in against deer, but other than that and some excellent carrots everything was a bummer.

Here’s hoping 2024 is better.

Yesterday we pulled the tomatoes (all green) and planted garlic. Duganski & Italian late & music (in that order starting from shed).

Green tomatoes went in a box, and I dug up some of the peppers and bagged them for the greenhouse.

Deer proofing

I think next year we’ll need to build a sheltered garden area. I’m assuming we can’t get all 11 beds in on the action, so here’s some note on how we might rotate half the beds. *Plants are deer favorites.

Protected Beds

solanaceouscucurbits legumesalliums
Tomatoes*Squash*Runner Beans*Garlic
Tomatoes*Green Beans*

Safe (?) Beds

solanaceouslegumesalliums
TomatillosFava BeansGarlic
PeasOnions

From the Farmer’s Almanac, for reference.

Here are the major family groupings:

Alliums: Onions, shallots, leeks, and garlic.

Legumes: Green beans, green peas, southern peas, peanuts, soybeans. All legumes are soil “fixers” and share the benefit of adding nitrogen back to the soil. 

Brassicas: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, radishes, collards, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, and collards. Share pest issues and often need to be netted to block cabbage moths. Need nitrogen-rich soil. Plant after the legume (bean) family.

Nightshades: Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. All heavy feeders which need rich soil. Affected by the same diseases. Never follow tomatoes after potatoes.

Umbellifers: Carrots, parsnips, fennel, parsley, and dill.

Cucurbits: Zucchini and summer quash, cukes, pumpkins and winter squash, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe), and gourds. All heavy feeders that grow best in rich soil. 

Oh Deer. Challenges and Modest Rewards

I’m not really sure what to say about the garden this year. We’ve had a persistent doe that wanders and enjoys everything, even the plants she’s not supposed to like (tomatoes). Chemical means haven’t stopped her (she doesn’t mind Irish Spring or Deer Spray) and only fencing things in with more panels seems to have made any difference.

I’ve had a handful of cherry tomatoes- mostly from the bagged plant on the porch. The asparagus is still shooting up a spear or two a week, the peas have dried out, I’ve harvested garlic and onions to cure. The tomatillo plants are starting to make fruit, and there is some green fruit on the tomatoes, but they aren’t abundant. The new artichoke bloomed and we’ve got it on water. Carrots have been GREAT and beets have been okay.

The deer ate the growing tip off of each of the summer squash, so I’ve replanted some seeds to see if we still have some time left in the season. There appears to be some growth on the back of each plant, so maybe it will grow some blooms on that? I miss my zucchini overload.

The beans (especially green) seem to be recovering from the deer now and I’m getting an ok harvest. Hopefully we’ll have enough to pickle.

The peppers in the greenhouse are SO happy- although I pulled the plant out for the heat wave. They are setting fruit just fine into the 90s. The eggplant is doing well too- a few fruit are forming.

Inside- Little Lemon 2 has 4 fruit that are roughly 2” long as of today (Aug 14).

I’ll write another post about planning for next year- I think we’ll need to finally bite the bullet and build a fenced in area to keep the varmints out.Th

I haven’t been great at posting

I’ve gotten some small harvests of peas, asparagus, beets, carrots, and squash. Still no tomatoes. Something is eating my beans and onions, so I’m going to put a Game camera out and see if I can catch it in the act and protect from it. Some garlic was ready to harvest today, most is still growing.

Site problems

6/12/23. I’ve been having some site problem, so my last several posts are MIA- but the work I did still happened so that’s ok I guess.

We’ve finally had some warmer weather- although it was coolish and dry for a while. We’re still getting some asparagus spears, beans sprouts are coming up, peas are available, favas beans are forming, garlic is bolting, and so are the confused onions. I planted some flower starts from R, and keep reseeding things. Here are photos from the last few weeks.