2023 in Review

Plot on June 6, 2023, just after transplanting the tomatoes.

2023 was an unusual year for me in the garden. My timing in the spring was off because of the weather and because of my travels to Germany for two weeks in the middle of May. Here in the Boston area, spring was warmer than normal, but much wetter in early spring and drier in late spring. This made the timing of direct-sowing and transplanting my seedlings difficult. With my travels and the water not being turned on in the community garden until late May, I did not want to risk my plants drying out, so I planted everything later than normal, in late May and June.

Overall, it was a great year for tomatoes and garlic. I had a decent squash harvest. Sadly, I had almost no flowers in the plot this year; none of the seeds germinated. I was sick all of September and kind of neglected the plot a bit during late summer/early fall. Lots going on this year in my life, so I did not document my garden as well as in previous years and took fewer pictures and notes. I am hoping to change that in 2024.

Tomato harvest August 5, 2023

Fruiting crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants). It was a very good year for tomatoes and a decent year for cucumbers and eggplant. This year, I had 9 tomato plants (7 different varieties). There was Ailsa Craig, Black Prince, Striped German, Green Zebra, Ananas Noire, Paul Robson and Dr. Wyche Yellow. All of my favorites. I roasted some, but mostly used them up fresh. In October, I pickled the remaining green tomatoes to use as sandwich topping. Ailsa Craig was a gift. I had never heard of this tomato before. It is an early tomato, a super high (and long!) producer and really quite tasty. I will definitely plant this one again. The pickling cucumbers did well, and I made several batches of refrigerator pickles. I also had plenty of fresh cucumbers for salads. I had planted 3 pickling cucumbers and 2 slicers (Tokiwa), a good amount. For peppers, I only grew one hot Thai pepper in a container on the back porch, but the plant did not grow very well, I think, in part because it was crowded out by the three Thai basil plants in the very same pot. I therefore only had a handful of hot peppers, just enough to use for cooking but not enough to preserve any. The eggplants in my plot (I had 2 plants) stayed small, but I got a few harvests out of them.

Butternut squash, October 1, 2023

Squash. I grew one zucchini plant and 4 winter squash (2 Butternut, 1 Delicata and 1 Honeynut). The Delicata squash plant died. Again. The others produced a decent amount of fruit. Unfortunately, the biggest and ripest Butternuts were stolen from the garden on two occasions. The zucchini did really well, and I harvested a ton from my own and my neighbor’s plant, while she was on vacation. I had so much zucchini that I donated some to our neighborhood community fridge. I discovered this zucchini grilled cheese and made it on a few occasions. I also prepped some zucchini and froze it for later grilled cheeses. I still have some in my freezer. Just last week, I made butternut squash soup with Gruyere croutons and fried sage leaves. So good! There is something about the combination of squash and cheese. I still have one Butternut and two Honeynuts left.

Beet harvest, August 12, 2023

Root vegetables. I planted beets and radishes. No carrots this year. The radishes in the plot turned out woody and were eaten by something or someone. I should know better and just plant them in containers. Or harvest them really young. The beets did really well. I had Chiogga, Golden beets and the regular Dark Red.

Kale (and other) seedlings, May 6, 2023

Brassicas. I again only planted kale this year. I had three plants (the fourth one was eaten as a young seedling) and they stayed small. I did get enough out of them for my personal use, but I am still wondering why the plants stayed so small.

Merlot salad, June 6, 2023

Greens and lettuce. I planted Swiss chard and lettuces in the community plot, as well as lettuces on the back porch in the spring. The Swiss chard in the plot started slow and then perked up in the fall. Same as last year. I had some good lettuce harvests from the plot in the month of June, and in May and June from my pack porch containers.

Peas, June 6, 2023

Legumes. I only harvested peas this year. Both sugar snap peas and snow peas. I had planted green beans (both bush beans and pole beans) in August, but all the seedlings were eaten by something/someone. The peas did great as the birds left them alone this year.

Hardneck garlic after cleaning, July 30, 2023

Alliums. It was a good year for garlic. I harvested 38 heads total, 21 softnecks (Transylvania) and 17 hardnecks (Red Russian). This is more than I use these days as an empty-nester, so I have been baking a lot of focaccia lately, serving it with a roasted garlic dipping oil, which is a super delicious way to use up a head of garlic or two at a time. For next year, I have scaled the garlic operation down a bit – but only slightly. I planted 12 hardnecks and 15 softnecks, but I also planted shallots (12 total, each of them should yield 4 to 12 shallots). I am very excited about the shallots. I also planted leeks, which are all still in the ground overwintering. I might harvest a couple over the next few weeks.

Red currants before harvesting, July 5, 2023

Fruit. I harvested a good amount of red currants from the bush in our back yard, which is doing really well. I used them for baking, and we also ate some (just macerated with sugar) as ice cream topping. So good!

Back porch cosmos, November 8

Flowers. I had hardly any flowers in my plot this year. Not sure what happened, but none of the seeds (Zinnia, cosmos) germinated. That was a big disappointment. So, there were only nasturtiums and marigolds (and the ever self-seeding borage) in the plot. I had quite a few flowers on my back porch, which I enjoyed all summer and fall, but because of the lack of flowers in the plot I did not have the amount of cut flowers I had hoped for. Hopefully next year will be better.

Back porch parsley, July 8, 2023

Herbs. In the plot, I planted basil and made a good amount of pesto from it. I also did a few succession plantings of cilantro in the spring, which was very successful. I had two parsley plants on the back porch, which I loved and used a ton of. I experimented with lemon grass, a big success. I have been making lemongrass ginger tea (from the leave bundles), but have not used the stalks as much as I thought I would. I will try to find some recipes soon. I also had three Thai basil plants in a container on the porch. I want to grow more next year to make more Thai basil pesto, which we love to use in this recipe of Thai pesto noodle bowls with crispy ground pork. So good!

Rhubarb, March 18, 2023

Perennials. The rhubarb I planted last year was significantly stronger this year, but I left it alone for one more year and did not harvest any. Can’t wait for next year! Sadly, the asparagus I had divided in November 2022 did not come back at all.

Porch herbs (mint, lavender, parsley, camomile), May 7 2023

Porch. I grew mostly herbs and flowers on the porch this year. For veggies, it was only one Thai pepper plant and in the spring radishes and lettuces. It was a perfect use of my containers. I loved the flowers (I grew zinnias and cosmos, but also nasturtium and an English lavender plant) and made good use of all my herbs.

Seedlings, April 20, 2023

Plans for 2024. Next year, I want to grow more flowers, more Thai basil and experiment with growing ginger (in a container). As for tomatoes, I had 9 plants this year, which was a good amount. I plan to grow about the same amount and stagger them again, so I have a mix of early, mid-season and late tomatoes. I loved all the varieties I grew in 2023, so I might just stick with the same next year. I will plant hot Thai pepper again on the porch. One plant should be enough to make my home-made Thai hot sauce again, but I will give the plant plenty of room this time. Perhaps a Jalapeno as well. I think I will skip eggplants next year. Alternatively, I might scale up the operation and have 4 or 5 plants. Those will be an Asian variety. The amount of cucumbers I had this year was perfect, so I will again plant three (or four) pickling cucumber plants and two (or three) slicers. I will grow one zucchini and also winter squash. I will try my luck with Delicata again, my favorite. Butternut of course, and perhaps Honeynut again. Radishes on the porch only (not in the plot), and carrots and beets in the plot. I plan to have three or four curly kale plants, but probably no other brassicas. As for greens, I will grow different kinds of lettuce on my porch and in the plot and rainbow Swiss chard in the plot (about six plants). I will definitely plant a fall greens mix, something I missed in 2023. I will grow snap peas and try pole (and/or bush) beans again, the beans as usual later in the season for fall harvest. I need to work on my trellising game. Maybe invest in a real system instead of cobbling together a trellis from bamboo poles and sticks. The garlic is already in the ground as are the shallots, and I will grow leeks again. I will definitely grow flowers. I will direct-sow zinnias and cosmos, and get a few dahlia tubers in the ground as well. I had no dahlias in 2023, and I missed them. Those will be my cutting flowers. As always, I will also grow nasturtiums and marigolds for pest control. For herbs, I will continue to have my container kitchen garden on my back porch (basil, Thai basil, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint), and will grow basil, Thai basil, parsley, mint, lemon balm and cilantro in the plot. Maybe sage as well. As for perennials, I hope the asparagus will come back (though I am doubtful) and that I will be able to enjoy the first harvest from my new rhubarb. On my porch, I plan to have herbs, hot peppers and flowers (Alaska nasturtium, cosmos, zinnia, lavender). And lettuces and radishes in the spring. I plan to grow lemon grass again and want to experiment with ginger. I am looking forward to a successful 2024!

2022 in Review

August 19, 2022

My gardening year 2022 started late because I had COVID, which kept me unable to do much for most of the spring. So, I did not start planting until the very end of April. We had a very dry and hot summer, which was great for tomatoes, but terrible for cucumbers and many other crops. Like last year, I did not mulch with hay, trying to get the pill bugs under control. They appeared to have been reduced in numbers, so hopefully next year, they will be even less of a problem.

I noticed in general that many plants were kind of stunted and did not grow very tall this year. I think I have to seriously amend my soil early next season to replenish nutrients. It may be time for another soil test. We did have both community garden work days in person this year, which was very nice. It was great to tackle some bigger projects, such as replacing some rotted timber borders, together as a group.

August 17, 2022

Fruiting crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants) It was an amazing year for tomatoes. The dry hot summer provided perfect conditions. I had planted 13 tomato plants (10 different varieties total). My favorites were Ananas Noire, Dr. Wyche Yellow, Green Zebra, Striped German, and Black Prince. The Black Strawberry looked amazing and was one of the earlier varieties, but I did not find the taste very interesting, and the skin was kind of tough. I had a ton of tomatoes. To preserve them, I did several rounds of oven-roasting them together with garlic and herbs. I packed them in jars covered with olive oil and stored them in the freezer for use all throughout the winter and spring. The cucumbers did well until early August when they all shriveled up and died. It was just too hot for them. I only got a few slicers and a handful of pickling cucumbers, just enough to make two jars of refrigerator pickles. Peppers were planted only on the porch this year. The Jalapeno did really well, but the Thai hot pepper plant stayed kind of small compared to last year and also produced small fruit, not enough to make more sriracha. The eggplants were pathetic. They never grew, and while they set fruit, they were too small to harvest.

September 3, 2022

Squash. I had planted three varieties of winter squash: Butternut, Delicata and Honeynut. All three plants looked healthy and well in the beginning of the season and set fruit, but then simply disappeared. The same with the zucchini plant. It had set fruit looking good, but then the fruit stopped growing and the plant died. I did not notice any pests or mildew. Other gardeners had nice big squash, so I am not sure what is going on.

July 28, 2022

Root vegetables. I planted beets, carrots and radishes. I think I did a bad job thinning the beets, as I only harvested a few handfuls and they were small. The carrots did well, especially the fall carrots. The porch radishes were great as usual. It is always great to harvest fresh home-grown vegetables early in the season.

August 7, 2022

Brassicas. I only planted kale this year. Three plants, which was plenty. They stayed small like most other plants, and I did not have the bounty I was hoping for. They also had aphids later in the season, so I pulled them.

May 16, 2022

Greens and lettuce. I planted chard and lettuces in the plot; arugula, chard and lettuces on the porch. The chard in the plot stayed small until it perked up in the fall. I had a smaller harvest than I hoped. The container rainbow chard did very well, and I got a pretty good harvest out if it. Plus, it looked very pretty. The lettuces did great, I wish I had planted them earlier. The porch arugula was great as well.

April 25, 2022

Legumes. I planted peas and Kentucky Wonder pole beans this year. Both did great. As usual, I planted the beans not until late July and had a bountiful harvest until mid-October.

July 12, 2022

Alliums. It was a good year for garlic. I harvested 57 heads total (of 60 planted the previous fall); 27 heads of hardnecks (Red Russian) and 30 heads of softnecks (Transylvania). In November, I planted only 36 cloves, as I am anticipating much less cooking in 2023 with two kids in college next fall. I did not harvest the leeks as they were kind of small, but mulched them well. I hope they will make it through the winter.

September 28, 2022

Corn. I loved the glass gem corn so much that I planted it again this year. The plants did not grow as tall as last year, and the ears stayed small. I also planted King Philip corn, which I was very excited about. Unfortunately, the rats completely raided the King Philip corn. I did not harvest a single ear. They had left the glass gem corn alone last year, but this year not so much. So, I had to harvest the ears that were left a lot sooner than planned, and they were small and not as pretty as last year’s.

November 12, 2022

Flowers. 2022 was an amazing year for flowers. The Zinnias and cosmos had a late start as I did not sow them until early June, but I had so many beautiful flowers all the way until late November. I also had planted marigolds as companion plants to the tomatoes and dahlias. Those were single-flower dahlias, which I did not like quite as much.

July 15, 2022

Herbs. In the plot, I planted basil and parsley this year. Both did exceptionally well. I made a ton of basil pesto and harvested the parsley all throughout the year. The porch herbs did great as usual, and I got to make several batches of Thai basil pesto. My new favorite. The kids and I love to use the pesto in this recipe. I had basil on the porch as well but forgot to plant a second round of porch basil later in the season (July) like I did last year.

April 25, 2022

Perennials. The rhubarb is still doing very poorly. I bought another plant from the Neighborhood Farm, but I might have ripped it out accidentally while cleaning out the plot for winter. Oops! I guess, we will see in the spring. The asparagus definitely was slowing down. I divided it in November and hope that this will reinvigorate its growth.

June 13, 2022

Porch. I grew mostly herbs and flowers on the porch this year. I grew two cherry tomato plants: one Black Strawberry (grown from seed) and one Super Sweet 100 (given to me by a friend), and they did okay. I really should stop growing tomatoes on containers as there are better uses of my space. I also grew three pepper plants: Thai, Jalapeno and Sweet Pickle. All of them did okay with the Jalapeno being the most productive. The herbs were the stars as usual: basil, rosemary, sage, mint, thyme, chives, Thai basil, cilantro, parsley. The Thai basil did especially well. I got three batches of pesto out of two “plants” (each of them the result of a batch-sowing of four or five seeds). The Swiss Chard did really well. I will do that again next year but in an even bigger pot. The salad greens (May Queen and Salanova Mix) did well.

May 29, 2022

Plans for 2022. I will need to rethink what and how much I grow next season as both my kids will be off to college next fall. The amounts my household will eat will be very different. I had 13 tomato plants, which was great as both my kids were home this summer helping me consume them. Next summer, only my son will be home as my daughter is studying abroad in the spring and summer. So, I will reduce the number to eight to ten plants. Still more than I can eat, so I will make sure to stagger early, mid-season and late tomatoes. I will continue to preserve them by oven-roasting. I will plant hot peppers again, likely only on the porch. Two plants, one Thai and one Jalapeno. If I plant eggplants again, I might buy seedlings. I somehow have not had much luck with home-grown eggplant seedlings. They just stay small. I will probably plant an Asian variety. I will definitely grow cucumbers again, three pickling cucumber plants and two slicers. I will try to grow winter squash again, Delicata and Butternut. Perhaps a Honeynut. I will probably skip zucchini next year. I will plant radishes on the porch in early spring, and carrots and beets in the plot, this year making sure I thin them properly. I will have three or four curly kale plants, but probably no other brassicas. A for greens, I will grow lettuce on my porch and in the plot and plant rainbow Swiss chard in the plot, four to five plants. I am not sure I will grow arugula this year, but definitely a fall greens mix. I will grow snap peas and pole beans again, the latter again later in the season. I will succession-plant those, as this has worked very well for me these past couple of years. The garlic is already in the ground, and I will grow leeks again. The corn harvest was discouraging. I might take a break from corn this year. I will definitely grow many flowers. They were such a joy. I will direct-sow zinnias and cosmos, and get a few dahlia tubers in the ground as well. Those will be for cutting. I also as always will grow nasturtiums and marigolds for pest control. For herbs, I will continue to plant my kitchen container garden on my back porch (basil, Thai basil, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint), and will only have basil and parsley in the plot. As for perennials, I hope that dividing the asparagus has re-invigorated it, and that I did not accidentally pull the new rhubarb. The porch will have herbs, hot peppers and flowers. No tomatoes (just not worth it), but rainbow chard (a larger pot this time), lettuces and radishes. I am looking forward to 2023.

Red Currant Jam

I made red currant jam. I picked 500 g from our red currant bush and made jam by adding 250 g of sugar and a bit of vanilla extract. I also added Gelierfix, a pectin-based gelling agent, according to the instructions to help the jam set. I canned the jam in a water bath for ten minutes, so it is shelf-stable. Looking forward to eating the jam for breakfast or using it for baking in the winter months.

Apple Picking

Cortland

We went apple picking yesterday. We always go to Honey Pot Hill Orchard. It was super nice and since it was a Monday afternoon, not crowded at all. We came home with half a bushel of apples (Cortland and Mutsu only, as these are the kids’ favorites). The sandwiches we had at the orchard were delicious (I used the homemade pickled green tomatoes I made yesterday). It was baguette spread with salted butter and grainy mustard, topped with sharp cheddar, apple slices (from just harvested apples), pickled tomatoes and lettuce. So good! Sadly, I forgot to take a picture.

Canopy walk new England style

Firsts and Lasts

Red currants, snap peas, pickling cucumbers and Swiss chard

Today’s harvest: first pickling cucumbers (they are big!), last peas, and Swiss chard. Also, the first real red currant harvest. I had planted a bush in our backyard in the fall two years ago. Last summer, the plant was tiny and we got only a handful of currants. This year, I harvested a good amount. Pictured are about two thirds, maybe.