2014 morphing into 2015

[Dotch]

What? No posts in Lawn and Garden since the end of December?!?!?

Still picking away at the squash, potatoes and carrots stockpiled this past fall. All are keeping well and occupy a special place on the menu especially when looking for something to eat not out of a box.

So what went well for your garden in 2014? What didn't? What are you trying for 2015? Inquiring minds want to know!

What went well: String beans, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, gourds, sweet corn, Gold Rush & red Pontiac potatoes, zucchini, fall lettuce planting.

What went just OK? Squash, pumpkins, fall and winter radish plantings, watermelon, muskmelons (powdery mildew issues on 2 varieties)

What bombed? Fall snap peas, fall seeded kohlrabi, beets (bunnies sure liked them though)

What are we looking at in 2015? Probably fewer vine crops, especially gourds although we'll go for a Heart of Gold or delicata type squash again. Also looking to relocate some of the garden potentially as it has become more shaded in areas than we'd like. Easily expanded into the pasture for the small area we'd need. Will want to work on a little better N management and earlier planting date for the Indian corn. Tough to recover from 10"+ of rain in a week come mid-June. Shoot for late July seeding on the brassica's to be sure they make it.

[Early Riser]

Dotch that all sounds really good.

What when pretty well for me in 2014: tomatoes; zucchini, yellow squash, beans, beets, carrots, onions, lettuce, kale, chard, cabbage. My winter squash, peppers and potatoes were sub par due to early flooding issues. Unfortunately a lot of the winter squash I left out in the shed froze solid in that early cold snap.

We are eating a lot of tomato sauce, green tomato relish, pickled beets, zucchini relish and dried herbs to go with all our ground venison, canned venison, canned fish, fresh fish, grouse, and canned garden and meat brunswick stews. Our grocery bill for four, including two teenagers, is less than $400 per month.

I built six 8'X10'X8" raised beds to help with the wet pattern we seem to be in through early season well into July. I plan on building several more this year depending on how it goes.

For the first time ever, I was out gardening Christmas morning during the warm spell, and was able to turn all the raised beds and the compost pile. There were earthworms still going strong near the surface in the beds, and the compost was still cooking.

I have gone to a no-till method with both raised and dedicated beds. I mulch with leaves in the rows, and now just till around the perimeter. I compost all our grass clipping, kitchen scraps, and leaves. I bury all fish carcasses in-between the rows.

I fence everything against the rabbits except tomatoes, rhubarb, squash, and potatoes. They don't bother any of these. We don't have deer, other than the odd one or two that wander through now and again.

As much as I love fall and winter, gardening makes summer a great season each year as well.