Oh Garden, My Garden

Thinking though my fingers helps me sort what is happening now and plan what’s going happen next in my garden. I like to write and I have been woefully distanced myself from any time to do the things I like. Getting seriously sick makes me think about how I am spending my time, and let me tell you, social media does not provide the same sort of joy that *anything* creative provides. Sometimes I feel like I need to be a little more open about the background this garden is happening in, in order to combat all the tales of perfection one sees in social media. Kind of like beautiful women who contrast their professionally posed, photoshopped pictures with unretouched snapshots. Except, instead of beautiful woman version fake and version real, it’ll be curmudgeonly, not-beautiful old me showing the weeds.

Because, lemme tell you, my gardens are a hot mess this year. I am living proof that even in a terrible weather year, when struggling with personal limitations, you, too, can have some success as a gardener. Maybe you’ll only have amaza-plots amongst a jungle, but you can still make all the jam you want and eat all the soft fruit pies you can handle.

Or maybe all the treefiddy you want. *I* did not get all the treefiddy I wanted, because M took all the treefiddy away. I only got two pieces. Bummer.

The Fall Garden

Stages of the started plants. They grow so beautifully… because the insects can’t get them.

One of the things tasks that got left behind in a three-summer-streak of too many other things to do was the usual review of the seeds, that beloved chore that promises hours of lush garden dreams while you sort through what’s left and decide: Do I grow this one this year, or give that one up? Will the seeds I have last another year or do I HAVE to grow them to ensure I still have viable seed beyond this year? And what is in all these beautiful new seed catalogs that I have yet to try and will immediately lust after once I read the description?

I did not even get to that chore until the end of June this year.

There are a lot of seeds I will have to be on the look out for next year, because they have reached the point of “can’t really expect these to germinate” and must be replaced. ::sigh:: That is a lot of years of picking the plants that grow best in this little micro-climate to get better plants and yields–a simple version of landracing–all gone to waste.

Peas

I think the most disappointing thing was the germination rate of the sugar snap pole peas, which I have been landracing since about 1998. I finally got them from their little starter pots to the spot on the 16th C bed that M and Steve helped me to reclaim. There are only 4 spots of the sugar snap poles; the others are the remaining White Dwarf snow peas. I purchased these from Victory Seeds back in 2013 and saved seeds in 2015. I think that the pots that did not come up probably had the remaining 2013 season peas.

It wasn’t too hard to chose from the many pea varieties I have, because the peas I loved are these and a few empty packets that I held on to in order to remind myself to obtain more. The remaining pea seeds are all things that I was not particularly impressed with, and I am thinking about growing them for their greens under a grow light this winter. That way, I’ll get something out of them.

Next year, I must plant the Carlin Peas. They are no longer available, not even through seed savers exchange. If I lose them, I won’t get them again.

Beans

This is where the hard decisions lived. I have a lot of varieties, and even the ones I like least are ones I will grow again. In the end, I tried to start two (out of 4) varieties of runner beans and the oldest of my other sorts of beans. The Mayflower and Whipple beans I tried to start all rotted in the ground. The Scarlet Runner and the Sunset runner both produced at least one living plant. So I planted more old bean seeds in the pots that did not produce a single plant, this time Baker Creek’s version of Bolita beans, and Bartolotto Lingua Bush–the seeds from a single chance seed that made it through a winter a few years ago. I had planted the seeds there the season before, none of which came up. I was pretty surprised to have one come up the next summer! Anyway, 80% of the Bartolotto lingua and 20 percent of the Boilita did not come up, so I replanted the starter pots with Royal Burgundy in the last days before the fall cut off. I managed to get Royal Burgandy to start in time for there to be a chance of a crop. The Royals were older than the bolitas and yet had better germination. The other thing I love about the Royals is that they will continue to produce even after seriously cold weather kicks in; they have produced well into November for me.

So, my worries are that I won’t be able to save my landraced pole beans (Cherokee Trail of Tears and Turkey Craw) because there was not enough growing season left for them by the time I was planting fall beans. And I’m really afraid that I am going to lose my other two runner varieties (Scarlet Emperor and Painted Lady) and my favas. So they are on the list for next year.

Cucumbers

Likely the second worst set of decisions, because I have so many different sorts. I elected to try the two freshest packs of seed (Soyo Long and Japanese Climbing, which I bought suspecting that they are the same thing) and the one set of seeds that had the best history, Collier. All of those came up, yay. I hope I can get some cucumbers from these plants–enough to eat and enough to save seeds.

Brassicas

There wasn’t enough time to try any kale or collards, and I haven’t started chard or radish yet, so I will not be long-winded about those. I did start some beets, choosing the packets that had the least amount of seed, and we will see what we get. Something came up in every row, but not in every pot.

I hope I get me a little something from each, especially the peas and the runner beans.