Last year I planted only four foods: tomatoes, cabbage, kale, and one pepper plant. This year, I skipped the pepper and added some others to see how well they will grow here. I chose mostly heirloom organic seeds that can be planted "as soon as the soil can be worked." Our last frost can be as late as mid June around here, and many plants don't mature before the first frost in September. I chose seeds with the shortest "days to maturity" label that I could find, hoping that these varieties taste good, too. We haven't harvested much yet, but should be pretty soon, so taste commentaries will come later.
So what did I plant this year?
- Three varieties of tomatoes, two heirloom and one hybrid that I bought as relatively large plants at a local nursery.
- Kale
- Cabbage
- Swiss Chard
- Walla Walla Sweet Onions (hybrid bulbs)
- Beets
- Carrotts
- Two varieties of potatoes (this is Idaho, after all)
- Watermelon
- Sunflowers
Unless otherwise noted, I planted from seed. The potatoes and watermelon and sunflowers went in extremely late (late July) while most of everything else was planted in Late April and early May.
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| Two varieties of potatoes with one water melon plant at the bottom left of the picture. |
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| Three varieties of tomatoes surrounded by two varieties of sunflowers. |
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| Walla walla sweet onions, beets and carrots. We have a lot of rabbits, so this bed is fully enlosed--top and bottom. |
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| Chard (mostly eaten by the deer), cabbage and kale, one of our favorite greens. |
After last year's experience, I knew that a fence was mandatory if we wanted to eat our food and not feed the deer. Nonetheless, the deer got to the chard before I could get the fence up, so we won't have much chard to eat this year. The location of the garden is still tentative, and even if it is to become permanent, I would want to clear some small trees and expand it, so wanted to spend as little as possible on the fence while keeping it effective. I found some cedar poles that a previous owner had cut and left lying behind the barn that were about 12 feet long (maybe longer). I figured that should be high enough to keep the deer out. I opted for six-foot welded wire fencing mainly because it was cheapest and could be most easily moved. The cedar posts wrapped were put at the corners and 8-foot T-posts were used where needed along the edges. It's not a very sturdy fence, but it seems to be doing the job with the deer as they seem to be avoiding it. I doubt it would stand up against a moose, though, and I saw one just yesterday, but it got scared and ran off when it heard us watching it.
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| Our temporary garden fence. The final fence will probably be chicken wire on the bottom to keep out small animals topped by electrified wire to keep out the big ones. Welded wire fencing doesn't work so well on such hilly terrain. The orange tape is to help the deer see that there is a new obstacle in their way. |
There are also some wild raspberries and plenty of thimbleberries growing on our property. I'm told thimbleberries are best eaten as jam, and I'll say I'm not very fond of them fresh off the plant. My daughter seems to like them though. When I take her picking with me, they all go straight to her mouth and none make it back home in my bucket. I estimate I've been able to pick about a cup of raspberries over the last few days, and they taste much better this year than they did last year when i sampled some. Yeay!
Our blueberry bushes are growing nicely. I plucked the flowers off the bushes this year to encourage them to fill out. I did save just a few flowers, though, and one berry has made it to maturity without falling off early. We split it three ways, and it was delicious! I'm really looking forward to next year, when we should at least get a handful or two of blueberries.
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