The Modern Victory Garden

The old year is fast away and the near one approaches.   I spent several hours today doing some updates on the website to prepare for 2011 including the final update to the 2010 Harvest Tally.   2010 was not a banner garden year due to crummy weather during the critical summer growing season.   Despite that we pulled in just a little less than 447 lbs of produce.   Dragging the harvest total down was the lack of winter squash (0.00lbs) and the light tomato (37.00lbs) and pepper (1.25lbs) harvests.   The missing winter squash was caused by the purchase of bad seed.   I purchased butternut squash seed from a source I normally do not buy from (and will not ever again!) and it turned out not a one would germinate.   By the time I  figured out what was going on, I had run out of the window of time to get them planted.   The tomatoes and peppers were just a victim of the miserably cool and damp summer we had.   The peppers basically gave it up entirely but I did get some tomatoes from the Market Miracles and the Siletz plants.   On the bright side, the potato (170.25lbs) and zucchini (48.50lbs) harvests were particularly good this year.   I used the John Jeavon’s method of planting the potatoes and I saw a significant increase in yield per square foot of garden bed used.   I will be using that method again in 2011.   The zucchini bounty is entirely attributable to my switching to the Partenon variety.   The seed for this variety is rather expensive but in our cool maritime climate it was well worth it, as the plants will set fruit without pollination.   Those plants just kept pumping out the zucchini all summer and into the fall - despite the miserable summer we experienced.                  

The long-term weather forecasts are not terribly encouraging for the 2011 summer season.   A possible repeat of the 2010 summer according to a few sources.   In order to manage through that here are the things I will be doing in 2011:

• The pepper plants will be back in the greenhouse in 2011 where they will get more warmth and protection from chilling rains.
• Sticking to tried and true short season tomato varieties with the exception of a few plants of Sun Gold cherry tomatoes which I am going to give a try.   Otherwise, I am only growing Stupice, Siletz, Market Miracle, and Legend tomatoes.   All of these have proven they can produce in our challenging maritime climate.
• The tomatoes are likely going to get a cover over them of clear plastic for the entire growing season to keep them from getting rained on and hopefully to keep them warmer too.

I have got the garden planned out for the coming year and the seeds have all been ordered.   Got started on the prototype of the second generation of the horizontal pea trellis this past week as well.   I will do a blog post about it once I have it all hammered out.   The weather has turned very cold this week and the ground is frozen solid.   As a result, I have to feed my garden interest with indoor pursuits such as garden planning and shop projects.   However, even with the frigid conditions there are some signs of next year’s garden to see.   The garlic is all up and doing fine despite the big chill.                 

Happy New Year to everyone!   I wish for all of us good health, bountiful gardens, and the real wealth that comes from having true friends in our lives.    

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener