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Re: So how did my garden grow in '97?

This was my first year using the SQFT method for an entire spring/summer season
and I had a lot of fun.  Tried many different things to see what I could
grow...  I'm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana--normally very warm and very wet, but
we're having a little drought this summer (hasn't really rained in about 2
months) and I'm having to do lots of watering to keep things going...

Spring garden:

sugar snap peas: didn't do much.  I think I ate them all standing in the
garden--not enough to harvest and bring in the house...

broccoli: had 8 plants--got one main head and several side shoots from each.
Must be a different variety from the grocery stores--florets not as tight.
Problem with cabbage worms that I treated with BT.

Carrots:  tried 3 different varieties.  Probably planted too close, but what the
heck.  Thumbelinas were little round ones--looked like orange radishes and not
much flavor.  Two others were more traditional and kids and guinea pigs enjoyed
eating them.

Potatoes: red and white.  Planted in wire cage filled with compost (added to as
plants grew).  Got lots of potatoes, but the vines got some kind of infection
(they turned spotty and yellow-reddish and then died).

Tomatoes: harvested first Better Boys and Early Girls in May.  Had a pretty good
harvest for 6 plants total.  Vines were affected by blight and pulled them all
out in July and put new plants in.  Have green fruits now and lots of flowers.
Since nighttime temps are below 70 now maybe I'll get more fruit set.  By the
way, everything they said about homegrown was true!  Delicious!

Cukes: did fairly well.  harvested maybe 30 cukes from 4 vines before voracious
beetles destroyed them.  Have 4 more vines going now, but they haven't exactly
"taken off".  Blossoms, no fruits yet.

Yellow squash: did terrible this year.  Very little fruit set--I think I got
maybe 4 off 4 vines.  Then borers took over and that was that.

Lettuce: tried from seed with no success.  Transplants fared better--we enjoyed
a few salads before it bolted.

Cilantro: 2 plants produces madly until it bolted.  Searched all summer for more
transplants but none of the nurseries carry it--why??  May try from seed, cuz
there's nothing better for salsa--whether you're making your own or adding it to
store-bought...

Onions and garlic : did not do well at all and then became impossible to weed
without pulling up shoots. Gave up.

Basil: one of the few things I started successfully from seed.  Interplanted
with tomatoes, but had to pull them out because they were getting too large.
Left one--I've cut it back by two-thirds and it's still 5 feet tall, 3 feet
wide, covered with blooms and has seeded itself all over the place.  I'm just
going to let it go until the frost gets it--and harvest the baby plants for
pesto in the meantime!  I wonder if the seeds will overwinter and I'll have
basil as a weed in my SQFT plots?!?

Summer:
3 types of tomatoes: Celebrity, Pelican, and Heat Wave. Vines are 5 feet
tall--few fruits and lots of flowers.  One type looks like it has a blight
problem--others are fine so far.

Added okra, which is doing very well. Have to harvest EVERY DAY or the pods get
too large and tough to eat.

Watermelon: tried a small melon (supposed to be 8#).  Ate one melon--it wasn't
quite ripe but my daughter couldn't wait any longer.  Had 4 other fruits, but
the vine withered before they matured.

Fall:

Have lettuce, chives, carrots, summer savory, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, and
sugar snap peas.

 One thing that I learned this year is that I placed my garden too close to my
neighbors' 8 foot wooden fence.  I left space to walk around, but didn't allow
for the fact that the fence shades part of the SQFT plots--especially in
Oct-March.  So one of my projects for this winter is to move my entire garden
about 15 feet out into the middle of back yard so that I have sun all year.  One
of the challenges (after killing the grass) will be to figure out how to mulch
and discourage the weeds the grow around the perimeter of the raised beds.  Had
a real problem with that this year.  Morning glories especially--they came out
of nowhere and grow over and up anything they can get their vines on.

I just love this gardening stuff!  Spent the weekend planting the new flower
beds in front of the house that I've been planning for a year now.  It was a lot
of work but it looks great--getting compliments from neighbors and from my kids,
which is saying something!

Jane Patterson
Baton Rouge, LA
zone 8b
jpatter@la.net

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