[2022-06-05] Garden 2022
Even though it's still early in the season, I'm already applying what I learned last year to this year's experiment with container gardening.
Last year, I attempted to grow tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, herbs, zucchini, patty pan squash, peas, beans, beets, spinach, kale, lettuce, onions, garlic and radishes. I had varying success with these vegetables. So this year, I settled on fewer types of vegetables that are more likely to deliver the biggest bang for the buck: tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, herbs and zucchini. Despite the nasty squash vine borer that attacked my zucchini last year, I'm giving this vegetable another try and will do my best to thwart the pest.
While I once again planted cucumbers in one of two troughs on my sunny balcony, I opted for peppers over tomatoes in the second trough. Pepper plants are much smaller than the indeterminate tomato plants I grew last year, and they love the sun and heat.
Because my indeterminate tomato plants were too large for the balcony trough, I moved them to individual containers on my deck, where I can give them more space and better air flow. This year, I will experiment by putting tomato plants in different locations in my backyard with varying amounts of sunlight, and I will compare indeterminate varieties to determinate varieties to see which ones grow best in my conditions and produce the most flavourful tomatoes.
This year, I limited the number of plants in each pot to give them more room to grow and breathe. For example, instead of one large container with multiple herbs, I gave each herb its own space: curly parsley, Italian parsley, cilantro, dill, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint and chives.
I missed the beauty and colour of flowers in the backyard last year. So making a return appearance to the garden this year after last year's absence are flowers: red begonias (the kind that look like roses), white impatiens and a variegated, trailing ivy. While the pesky squirrels that run amok in my neighbourhood play in my flower pots a little, they are less likely to make a meal out of my flowers than my vegetables.
New this year is a huckleberry plant, which is a complete experiment.
Regardless of the outcome of this year's gardening adventure, I'm enjoying the process, which feeds my passion for organization and learning.
