As promised earlier, here’s the final post about the 2022 Garden. 

Overall, it was an excellent year. Each type of crop planted yielded a harvest, and fresh vegetables were enjoyed throughout the season, with plenty put into storage for winter. We are still harvesting broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts as of this writing!

The positive things that stand out in my mind when thinking back across the season:

• The onion crop- both varieties- was fabulous. Hands-down the best production I’ve had to date, made all the better as the onions were grown from seed and not sets.
• Eggplants were more productive than last year.
• Although they ripened a bit later than expected, the number of tomato plants was just right. Two grape plants provided plenty of day-to-day fruits, and the single Jetstar and paste tomato plants filled in other needs nicely. We were never overwhelmed with tomatoes, which has happened in the past.
• Brassica- great yields despite a sketchy start. We’ve eaten a lot of fresh-picked Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower all season. The freezers are well-stocked, despite the initial failures of the early plantings. I’m thinking next year the cauliflower and broc may only be planted later for fall harvest. Sprouts will still go in early, as they produced well.
• Strawberries! This was the first year of full production, and that bed did well. I’m curious to see how many years we get out of that until it needs to be replanted.

There are also some items that need attention next year:

• Something needs to be done with the soil in beds 11-13. Beds 11 & 12 were where the initial broccoli and cauliflower seedlings failed, and where subsequent direct seeding produced small plants. Bed 13 hosted the pumpkins and winter squash, each of which could have had a better yield. I am going to dig them out and redo the soil next year. I may also do #14. The carrots were there this year, and did well, but it has the same soil as the other three, and next year the carrots will be elsewhere.
• Lettuce- need to plant more varieties and improve on succession plantings to keep the greenery coming all summer and fall. I want to add arugula to the mix, too.
• Succession planting again- this time for the green beans. While we did well with what was planted, their season was short.
• I’m considering putting in a large bed just for winter squash on the other side of the house. I’d like to grow more varieties and quantity, and squash typically isn’t bothered by critters, so it doesn’t need to be behind the electric fence. Something to think about.

Back in March I posted the initial version of the tracking spreadsheet used to more or less manage this year’s garden. Here’s the current version, complete with harvest dates and comments.

As noted, it’s been one of the more productive years, and as always, a lot of fun. Some of the tasks not so much – carrots!- but most I enjoy and am already planning next year’s adventures in the dirt. The 2023 seed order will be placed soon.

I don’t think I’ll be blogging quite so much about the garden going forward. This Garden 2022 series was intended to capture a single cycle, which I think it did well. Continuing onwards in this fashion would be pretty repetitious and frankly, boring. I’m sure I’ll mention notable events, but that’ll be it.

So here the garden chronicle stops. I hope you enjoyed following the events of the season as much as I did reporting them. If this has provided any inspiration to do planting of your own- fantastic! I hope you have as much enjoyment and success with your gardening as I do.

Thanks for stopping by!