How Does Your Garden Grow?

I've learned enough over the past year not to call my harvest a success until after it has been stored away. White flies, fungus, mosquitoes, calcium deficiency, hail, frost, and my new nemeses -- slugs -- can descend upon the garden any time.

Potatoes

I will say that the transition from indoor seeds to outdoor plants went better this year than last. Perhaps it was starting earlier and planting later. Perhaps it was not packing them up for a big move in the middle of the spring. Perhaps it was the two weeks of hardening in the greenhouse that we didn't have last year. It could just be dumb luck, but there was very little shock at transplanting and very little sun scald this year.

Tomatoes and Chicken Coop Mulch

So far this year the biggest problems have been slugs. I knew something was wrong when I found a tomato plant stripped with the stalks chewed up with no culprits in sight.  Finally after a few days of inspecting I saw a tiny slug on the straw. Some online research into organic slug trapping yielded many choices, but I settled on beer traps. Slugs love beer so I have been fishing out five or six slugs a day.  The chickens think they are delicious. The damaged plants are coming back strong.

The biggest success of the garden so far is the mulch we made this winter.  I was able to use the straw that we composted in the chicken coop this past winter as mulch for some of the beds.  This mulch had been picked over for hay seeds and mixed with chicken dung over the course of several months. It does all of the good things mulches do, such as shading out weeds and keeping the soil moist, but it also amends the soil with nutrients from the chicken dung. The downside is that it can only be used with produce that doesn't actually contact the soil.  For instance, lettuce growing in chicken manure isn't a good idea, but tomatoes suspended high above the chicken litter are safe.

Per usual, some plants are doing well and some are struggling with the elements, while I am still puzzling my way through trial and error. I spend a lot of time looking and wondering and reading, but here's the report card so far:

Butter Lettuce

• Tomatoes: A-,  The tomatoes began blossoming while still indoors. They are doing fantastic outdoors, but could use some sunnier weather.
• Peppers: C-, Ugh... will the peppers ever grow?  They were planted at the same time as the tomatoes, and are one-quarter the height.
• Basil: B, The Basil is growing well, but fungus has taken out a few.
• Potatoes: A+, The potatoes are growing like wildfire and shading the lettuce.
• Lettuce: A+, Despite challenges from slugs the lettuce is growing very well and it's delicious.
• Kale: B-, The kale took a while to really get started.
• Corn: B-, The corn did great indoors, but took a few weeks to adjust to the outdoors. It seems to be doing well as the weather has warmed up.
• Cucumbers: C-, Per usual, the cucumbers won't grow and won't die. What's that about?
• Pumpkins, Butternut Squash, Ronde de Nice Squash: B-, The squash all look fantastic, but are not really doing much.
• Sweet Potatoes: A-, The sweet potatoes are growing in fits and starts.
• Onions: A-, The third time replanting seems to be a charm.
• Parsnips: A, doing great as usual.
• Carrots: A-, The carrots could learn a thing or two from parsnips.
• Sugar Snap Peas: B-, The peas are beginning to show a few pods, but seem to be struggling.
• Black Beans: C-, The black beans had a great start, but have struggled since moving out to the greenhouse.

It's hard to say how we'll finish out the year, but does the year really finish?  It won't be long before it's time to put in the winter kale and lettuce.