This summer was our first year gardening in Austin. Our garden started out as a very modest endeavor; it still is but we have visions of grandeur. We've enjoyed some success considering the record-breaking heat. It just seems like it is always hot. Most days are over 100 degrees so we've had our challenges. Michael and I took a stroll this morning and visited each little bed all the while discussing what we did right, wrong and what we would do different in the future.
Basil
The basil was very satisfying. We started with 4 small plants that we bought at the nursery. We now have a jungle of basil. We've had LOTS of pesto and a few dishes of roasted zucchini-basil. You really can't tell that I've clipped at least 6 cups worth of leaves from the plants. Not all at once but so far this summer I've probably collected a solid 6 cups. I added another 4 basil plants that I started from seed and they are also enormous.
All of the basil plants are mature and growing in a mixed 4x4 raised bed. The roots have made their way into the neighboring square foot plots and have grown so densely that they choke out anything else that grows close. I thought that with the raised bed the roots would want to travel downward, not sprawl out but that hasn't been the case with the basil. Next year we will grow all the basil from seed (no need to spend the extra money on plants) and we will "quarantine" it in it's own bed.
Peppers
The peppers have been under siege by ants and aphids for weeks now. I was slow to identify the pests and I think that the peppers are pretty much stunted now. I may be wrong, wouldn't that be wonderful?
I didn't realize that the ants and aphids had such a special relationship. The ants are like little cattle ranchers and the aphids are their herd. The ants enjoy the sweet excretion that the aphids release. They accumulate around the pepper blossoms. I was afraid to kill anything beneficial so I let them be but now that I know who's taken up residence in my pepper plants...Well, it's all out war.
Tomatoes
Hybrids vs. Heirloom. Simply put, I was seduced by the heirloom. I relished the thought of growing an open-pollinated plant (pollination by insects, birds, wind), a plant that had been passed down through a family for generations, a plant with a history. I liked the imperfections that I saw, the cracking, the irregular skin color. Some, I imagined, probably had a natural hardiness specific to their geographic area. The hybrids, I thought, would be like growing clones. No variation, one just like the next. My plants would be exactly like my neighbor's, whose plants would be exactly like his dad's, whose plants would look exactly like his neighbor's. Little clones growing all over the country.
I've learned that there is something to be said for hybrids. They are hardy and disease resistant. They may even produce under adverse conditions such as unrelenting heat. We just picked our first tomato today from our Early Girl. She's fairly unassuming in her foliage. Not especially dense, not especially tall. But she produced for us a perfect little red globe of fruit. It is even in color with no cracks, no insect infestation. Our heirloom on the other hand, is very tall, leafy, lots of blossoms that wilt and die. She has not produced a single tomato. I still have hope. She reminds me of me last weekend when we took the neighbor's chicken coop apart. I can practically hear her panting and heaving in the heat. She just wants to sit a minute in a shady place to catch her breath. She's full of good ideas and intentions but just needs to summon the energy. Perhaps when it cools down a bit.
Zucchini/Squash
The zucchini/squash bed is beautiful. Unfortunately the plot has been invaded by enemy combatants. I looked out the window yesterday and saw that one of the squash plants was completely wilted and hugging the ground. I went to see what would have done this and found a vine borer in several stems. I don't know what to do about this. I removed the stem and hoped for the best. This morning it looked good but I can see similar looking holes in several stems and am preparing for the worst. Complete annihilation. I'll have to do some reading and see what, if anything, can be done to prevent this in the future.
Miscellany
The marigolds are beautiful and growing strong. Next year? More, more, more. The cucumber vines and cantaloupe vines are just that. Vines. No fruit yet. We'll have to be patient. The eggplant leaves are regularly gobbled up by something. I never do see the creature, just the gnawed leaves. The cardoon seedlings have yet to get past the cotyledon stage. Next year I'll grow them in containers until they are more mature and a little stronger before putting them in the ground. I won't spend money on begonias again. We don't really have a good place for them and they look washed out. I'll put marigold or purple heart in their place.
In Summary
- Throw any preconceived ideas out the window. Gardening is organic, not fixed.
- Plant science in not all bad; hybrids are workhorses.
- The internet is a good place to gather information, a fellow garden is very often an even better source of information.
- What you learn in the garden is cumulative. You can apply what you've learned this season to next season.
- Worms and frogs are for good, not evil.