What did We Learn?

[digitS']

Kale ... DD will ... take home ... DB and DS like kale ... DS really likes COLLARDS ... does not like cabbage ... DD likes collards but SIL hates it. He will eat kale ... DS ... wants ... greens .., but hates broccoli.

i still haven't decided what i think of collards

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

I've learned not to buy multi grafted fruit trees. At the beginning I bought multi grafted apple and plum trees. I thought this would give me variety for a small yard and also help with pollination. Well years later, the tags have fallen off, branches have died and been cut off. This is my biggest regret in my garden. Sometimes I want to take the apple and plum tree out and plant a single variety but then I quickly switch my thinking!

Mary

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

i still haven't decided what i think of collards

Steve

I am not sure if they are healthy the way I cook them. I chop and put in water with smoked paprika, salt, pepper, beef bouillon sometimes and boil them and then they are very tender by the time the rest of the meal is done. I need a different way of cooking them or if I am losing nutrition in the water??? If they are not boiled, I will not eat them. DD will eat them steamed like chewing leather.

 

[ducks4you]

OMGOSH!! These are some of things I learned this year:
1) Warm weather crops REALLY, REALLY HATE the cold!
2) Tomatoes/peppers/okra/corn need to be In the Ground by June (here) to produce
3) Pumpkins really are easy to grow
4) Corn really is easy to grow
5) Starting a 2nd crop mid summer withOUT a soaker hose is a waste of time
6) Straw is a Great weed surpressing mulch
7) Mowing/Mulching weeds that do NOT have seeds (like 1st year burdock) is an excellent mulch. I put 3-4 inches of it around my peppers and it kept down almost all of the weeds that wanted to sprout. It also turned into dirt in about 3 months
8) Onions need to be started indoors in January
9) Strawberries love to spread where you give them room
more as I think on it...

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I also learned:
1. I cannot do everything and I have decided to stop trying to turn everything into compost. I am going to have one bin in the garden where the sprinkler will hit and only put rabbit manure, and things from the garden, some leaves, but no hay, straw or grass clippings. I cannot get the compost hot enough to kill the weed seeds and I am just making weed compost and I do not have time to make it.
2. I am going to buy organic compost when needed.
3. Health is wealth.

 

[canesisters]

.... the garden doesn't produce if you never get around to planting it ( best intentions and all that)
There is always next summer.

 

[digitS']

1) Warm weather crops REALLY, REALLY HATE the cold!
4) Corn really is easy to grow
8) Onions need to be started indoors in January

I liked all ... except, I don't like how the temperature drops like a stone in my garden as night falls with almost 0% afternoon humidity. The warm season plants must hate it even more. This year, i think that they may have actually exhibited suppressed flower development because of unusual daytime heat while they suffered the usual suppressed growth from overnight cold. At the same time! It wasn't terrible, terrible but I was surprised how even the early tomato varieties came on like gangbusters very late after ripening so few thru the summer months.

Corn does seem easy to grow but it's "grass country" around here. They are big grass ... and like a big share of everything. They really appreciate fertilizer twice during their season and I have to do better about timing that 2nd application - I say that most every year!

Onions can be a little difficult for me while they are still in the flat waiting to go into the garden. It's a long time for even the skinny onion to be stuck in those flats waiting and waiting. And, they also like fertilizer ... almost as much as they hate competition. Oh, one onion doesn't take up much room but they can be overpowered by most anything.

There was a recent thread on "difficult to grow" ... I was tempted to comment on eggplant and peppers and temperatures. Say something about how long it took me to find melon varieties that could amount to something. However, what I really wanted to say was "focus on what works well for you!" Then, "tinker with everything else."

If you can do it once, chances are you can make it happen again. Failure isn't very inspiring and it is easier to learn from if something throws the train off the rails only once in awhile. What was that "something?" Meanwhile: Celebrate Success!

A lot of the measurement of success has to do with what can be done with the winners. That may have to do with creativity outside the garden. If something is important to the gardener, it's likely to happen even with the hard-to-grow if there is an investment in tinkering and tweaking that continues long enuf. Okay, maybe you should ask me what I'm gonna do about sweet potatoes!

Steve
leaving okra off the table for another decade

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I

Okay, maybe you should ask me what I'm gonna do about sweet potatoes!

Steve
leaving okra off the table for another decade

What are you going to do about sweet potatoes? lol I am the only one that eats them, except DD will eat sweet potato pie, but I liked mashed with salt and butter.

 

[valley ranch]

Uuughmmma~ gim me a minute an I'l thnk a somthng```

 

[Nyboy]

My mother candied sweet potatoes, she baked them with orange juice and brown sugar