End of the Garden Year 2015

I know, I was supposed to keep everyone up to date and appraised on how the garden was going this year. Life, of course got in the way every time I thought about sitting down and writing. So now, it's November and the gardening year is past done. I can at least give a look back and provide an overview of how the year went.

For the year overall, the higher than usual heat and lower rains made things difficult. It was a constant struggle to keep the garden from completely drying out and getting absolutely nothing. As it was, if I missed a day or two of watering, the plants started to wither and I would have to try and get them back to something resembling normal. The rains finally came in September, but it was really too late to do any good. And it was a good thing I decided to leave a portion of the garden 'fallow' as they did finally come out to paint the house. They were able to do what they needed to do without endangering the plants.

For specific plants and results I'll start with the seeds. Green beans did well again, I think they seem to be the most adaptable of the plants. We were able to get a fair amount, and it was a nice compliment to our meals. Peas? Again, we got some but not a lot. It may have been the weather, or some other factor that seems to limit the yield. It was enough to add variety to our meals. The carrots were somewhat of a disappointment. They never really got going and so it was a continuing struggle to just keep them from dying. Onions? They also never really got going. I'm not sure what the issue was with them, but I think we can try those again the next time around.

Now for the plants. Tomatoes did fairly well this year, considering they generally do not do well in this part of the country. We got a number of tomatoes to add to our salads. The peppers actually produced a couple, but due to the constant fight for moisture, the flavor was not the best. Lemon cucumbers were the best producers of the bunch, and it was an interesting change from traditional cucumbers. We were only able to get one decent sized spaghetti squash, with two other tiny ones. It is waiting right now for a final decision as the vine it was on died before it was really ready. It may ripen, or it may rot.

As a final bit, this year was a mixed bag. We didn't get as much as I hoped, but that was more due to the weather causing problems than anything else. However, it wasn't so bad that I want to give up on it completely. Some different plants next year, and maybe even changing the direction of the rows of seeds might make a difference. Who knows?