Next Year I'm Gonna......

[so lucky]

So now that the main growing season is winding down for many of us, what changes are you thinking of for next spring? More of something? Different supports for tomatoes? Different concept, like container gardening or square foot gardening?

I have discovered that I can buy organic tomato products and fresh organic kale cheaper than I can grow it. That bums me out, but also kind of relieves me of some burden.
So I am not going to try to grow enough tomatoes to preserve. Just enough for eating fresh and giving away. (My yoga class is a prime target for excess tomatoes, peppers and cukes) I don't want to forget how to can stuff, as there is a part of my brain that is expecting the apocalypse, but if it doesn't happen, I don't want to waste my time and energy doing something needless for years. I may as well grow some more flowers.

I am always having to buy potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions. And they are not organic. So I think I will concentrate on growing more of these.

The Fortex pole beans were wonderful producers, and freeze well, as well as canning well, so I will plant more of these. But I have to move the poles over to the other side of the garden, because there were many volunteer (from years past) beans of an undesirable variety that got mixed in with the Fortex, and I don't want to nurse along some
unwelcome plants.

My strawberry patch has gotten totally out of control. I don't know whether to tear it all out, or try to salvage about 1/3 of the plants.

I need to re-think the fencing situation, as the bunnies were running amok in the garden this year. Maybe next year will be a good year for coyotes or foxes.

Anyway, that's what I've been mulling over. What are you thinking?

 

[baymule]

1st year garden=total failure

2nd year garden=total overhaul

Even a tomato plant in a bucket next year would be more that i produced in the spring/summer garden of 2015.

 

[ninnymary]

I have a bed where strawberries were planted. They didn't do very well but I think it's because the soil wasn't very well amended. Now that it is, I have to decide whether to plant strawberries again or hot peppers. I would like to perennialize the peppers so that I don't have to replace them each year. With our mild winters, I can easily put a cover over the hoops.

I know the strawberries will do much better but am concerned about their lack of sweetness. I have beautiful plants in a large container with big strawberries, but they are your typical unsweeten flavor that you get everywhere. I guess I just expect them to be very sweet, which they're not.

Mary

 

[so lucky]

1st year garden=total failure

2nd year garden=total overhaul

Even a tomato plant in a bucket next year would be more that i produced in the spring/summer garden of 2015.

Bay, you have the best reasons for not having a good garden this year. But next year, we're watching you for a bumper crop of everything!

 

[so lucky]

I have a bed where strawberries were planted. They didn't do very well but I think it's because the soil wasn't very well amended. Now that it is, I have to decide whether to plant strawberries again or hot peppers. I would like to perennialize the peppers so that I don't have to replace them each year. With our mild winters, I can easily put a cover over the hoops.

I know the strawberries will do much better but am concerned about their lack of sweetness. I have beautiful plants in a large container with big strawberries, but they are your typical unsweeten flavor that you get everywhere. I guess I just expect them to be very sweet, which they're not.

Mary

Mary, could it be the variety of strawberry that is causing the un-sweet flavor? If they are known for being big and perfect looking, maybe they are known only for that?

 

[ninnymary]

so lucky, I've tried several different varieties and they all are not very sweet at all. My current ones are Chandler. I've tried Seascape and others and they are all the same.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Don't berries need heat to make them sweet or did I just make that up?

 

[thistlebloom]

Next year: No potatoes and am planting oats as a cover crop to till under.
Less peppers, but more jalapenos specifically.
More cardboard and straw on the paths, that worked well this year where I used it.
More sugar snap peas.
More green beans now that I have a pressure canner.
A salsa recipe that my dh likes as much as the neighbors.
Yes. Total salsa envy going on here.

 

[catjac1975]

I have a bed where strawberries were planted. They didn't do very well but I think it's because the soil wasn't very well amended. Now that it is, I have to decide whether to plant strawberries again or hot peppers. I would like to perennialize the peppers so that I don't have to replace them each year. With our mild winters, I can easily put a cover over the hoops.

I know the strawberries will do much better but am concerned about their lack of sweetness. I have beautiful plants in a large container with big strawberries, but they are your typical unsweeten flavor that you get everywhere. I guess I just expect them to be very sweet, which they're not.

Mary

Is the lack of sweetness because of your climate or variety? Try a new variety. Smaller berries are usually sweet. The older varieties were very sweet. Are their heirloom varieties?

 

[Beekissed]

I think I'll just put more chips on the garden and wait. By next spring it should be perfect for planting just about anything I want. Will be putting ashes on all winter, adding leaves and other yard things, any manure I can scavenge and also composted manure from my coop. Need to kill a few rabbits before spring.

I would love to plant my potatoes this month, as well as plant some onion seeds, while also trying to do some fall planting of tomato seeds for spring "volunteers". Hoping to have all three things ready to grow in spring by just raking back the covering of the chips at the appropriate time.

I might plant a winter garden as soon as I have the summer/fall garden "put to bed"...have a few ideas for that and some winter hardy romaine, spinach and kale to try.

Right now I still have squash, tomatoes and beans still trying to produce, chives and rhubarb are going strong and the flowers are at their peak.