Temps began dropping below freezing here overnight last week. While our unheated greenhouse can hold some extra warmth during these early shifts, the vegetables inside began showing the strain. So, with all that excess time I have right now, I began our final harvest. I am NOT one of those people who wax on about the beauty of autumn because frankly this time of year makes me sad. It’d say melancholy, but that’s a word closely related with cornucopia — which is forbidden in our house. (That’s a story for another day.) So, it’s with a hint of seasonal boo-hoo and a scoop of something other than gardening success that I offer our final greenhouse report for the 2009 season.
{I’m sorry to say that all the photos from this post went missing in a great blog photo glitch.}
SALADS
Lettuce and spinach stood out as the one area where I had measurable outcomes on the dinner table. We had everything we needed and then some. So, farewell, fresh greens. Your store-bought brethren will have to suffice until next year.
The tomato plants I bought did produce consistently as well, but they turned red while still quite small.
SQUASH DRAMA
Considering we had zero squash last year after my single-sex fiasco, where no female flowers meant no squash at all, I bragged earlier this summer about the plants producing real, flowering squash. My celebrations came too soon. We got 1-2 decent sized squash (both green and yellow), but the others became stunted, withering examples. I don’t know if the soil wasn’t fertile enough or if my timing and pollination techniques were flawed, but this is what remains of those efforts.
If you know why they would stop growing and turn yellow on one end, let me know what I’m doing wrong.
PUMPKINS
I had high hopes for at least TWO carve-worthy pumpkins this year, but alas … I produced just this one. It’s pretty small, but I’ll still count it as a victory of sorts.
BEANS – PEAS – PEPPERS
Neither the beans or peas produced anywhere near enough pods for anything more than a couple tiny snacks while watering.
Despite buying larger pepper plants, rather than trying from seed, we only got a few diminutive green peppers all summer.
ROOT VEGETABLES
Come one, come all! Feast your eyes (since they’re too small to fill you up) on the rare Rocky Mountain “Rice” Carrot. I know you’re thinking they’re simply immature roots, but NO! These take an entire growing season to become culinary marvels.
OK, there were one or two bigger than this, but not by much.
The radishes mostly became twisted, bamboo-like oddities — just one edible one in the bunch. I let Tom have it. I know it’s blurry, so before you run off thinking it’s a UFO hoax, let me assure it, this is a true, but tiny radish.
Beets, on the other hand, went a skitch better than the other roots and better than last year. I grew a couple that came near in size to those you can get at the grocery store. Whoo Hoo! But, the cynic in me must ask, if a season’s growing is worth just one dinner side dish of roasted beets.
HERBS
Most of the herbs did fine, though the parsley didn’t get very big. I am attempting to overwinter them inside, like I did last year with rosemary, if I can find a place for the big pots.
BUT, I still need to figure out what to do with the spearmint and lemon balm I grew. Thoughts?
Also, can you make pesto without a food processor? I have lots of basil, but rudimentary equipment.
***
I haven’t quite figured out this greenhouse thing yet, which is really the only option due to our short growing season. So, it’s either an exercise in amusing futility. Or, it’s another example in my life on recognizing incremental improvements — be they in vegetables, dog training, or draft edits.
Well, I’m no green thumb – I leave the gardening expertise to Mr. Geek, but I know that both tomatoes and zucchinis/squashes are susceptible to blossom-end rot, which means not enough calcium. Stunting can be caused by not enough available nitrogen. Adding lime can correct calcium and pH problems, which can also make other nutrients more available. Probably the best thing to do is have your soil tested – we have soil samples tested every year and get a report back that tells us exactly what we need to do to balance pH and nutrients – we take the test results to Southern States and have them mix fertilizer specifically to our needs. Of course, we get our fertilizer in bulk quantities for the hay fields, but I’m sure you could find commercial mixes that would have close to what you need, if you don’t want to have some custom mixed. Anyway, you might want to look into the testing rather than just taking stabs in the dark about what the problem might be.