Anyone can be a gardener. You just need to get ready, get set, and grow!
Garden 2013
The summer of 2013 was our 4th year as gardeners.
Returning Plants this Year: cabbage, banana peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, greens, strawberries, lavender, and basil
New Additions this Year: Brussels sprouts, onions, watermelon, oregano, and tarragon
Dropped Plants this Year: honeydew melon and zucchini
Changes:
My husband wanted a change from the honeydew melon, so we decided to switch to watermelon this year.
Although the zucchini did exceptionally well, we just wanted a break. We soon learned that our extended family did not want a break.
Successes
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Our banana pepper plant grew well all summer long. We froze lots of peppers and used them up until the polar vortex arrived.
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We decided to purchase a 3 x 3 bed for the strawberries. Only one strawberry plant survived over the winter. We placed it in the bed and added some new plants. The strawberry plant from the previous year produced well, although we were able to pick a few berries from the newer plants.
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All of the herbs produced well. This year we decided to not only cook with fresh herbs but to dry some of the herbs. The dried herbs literally lasted right up until we put down new herbs for our 2014 garden.
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Our tomato plants did what our zucchini plant did the previous year; it took over the bed. We ate as many of the tomatoes as we could and we gave the rest away.
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This year was the first year we were able to get our boys involved in gardening!
Struggles/Disappointments
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When the Blizzard of 2014 came to Indiana, we lost power for several days. This caused us to lose the banana peppers we had frozen. Had that not happened, we probably would have had peppers up until our 2014 garden.
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Although we did grow a bell pepper plant this year, we were only able to get about six peppers. I'm not sure why we can't grow more bell peppers.
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This was an extremely hot summer. Our greens and Brussels sprouts died.
New Experiences
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My dad has a strawberry patch and a grapevine. Using his strawberries, I made strawberry jam for the first time and let our boys help. On my own, I made grape jelly and grape juice.