The Modern Victory Garden

I am somewhat amazed by the continued heavy production I am getting from the sugar snap peas (Cascadia).   It is almost the middle of August and we had a long stretch of quite warm and very dry weather during most of June and July - and yet the sugar snap peas are producing heavily at the moment and are also flowering profusely!   When I went to the garden tonight to harvest items for the evening meal prep, I ended up with over a pound of sugar snap peas, along with lots of Stupice tomatoes (boy is that plant a prolific producer!) and some yellow zucchini.    

Peas love this region and grow really well here.   Which highlights a key concept related to getting maximum output from your food production garden.    

Focus largely on growing crops that are well suited to your climate. 

My climate is maritime pacific northwest.   The temperatures rarely get extreme (either hot or cold) and it is generally moist most of the year.   This is a "great" growing climate for  peas, spinach, lettuce, cabbages, kale, kohlrabi, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.   It's a "pretty good" growing climate for potatoes, carrots, beets, zucchini, parsnips, onions, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.   It is generally a "poor" climate for cucumbers, winter squash, pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes, corn, eggplant, and most beans.      When most people think of a vegetable garden they immediately envision all of those warm weather crops that are in my last list of items.   I love them too and definitely grow them, but despite that my garden has more than 60% of available bed space devoted to crops that are in the first two categories - either a "great" item for this climate or "pretty good".   I am far more likely to have failures with the crops that are challenging to grow in this cool maritime environment, while the ones that suit this climate are almost fool proof to grow.   Those sugar snap peas are a classic example of that.   When I was living and gardeming in the hot and sunny central portion of Washington state, my list was almost completely reversed.   There it was very difficult to grow broccoli, spinach, and peas - but tomatoes, peppers, and melons, were harvested by the laundry basket full, and on an almost daily basis throughout the long summer.                

While I can work extra hard  to grow those warm weather crops here (and I do!), the truth is that I am better served to devote more of my garden space and energy to crops that are naturally more suited to this environment.    It's for that reason that you see such large plantings of spinach, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, broccoli, and cabbages in my garden.    They are my baseline food production items that have a high probability of coming through for us and keeping us fed.  The warm weather crops like the beans,corn, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers are my indulgence in pushing the garden envelope.   I love those crops and don't want to be without them so I am willing to invest time and energy in their cultivation.   However, I make sure that a greater majority of the garden is committed to crops that are more ideally suited to this climate.               

What about your garden?   Are you growing mostly items that flourish where you live - or mostly pushing the gardening envelope with your choices on what to grow?