Garden Lessons

Tomatoes – I loved having a fresh supply of tomatoes. I didn’t purchase a single grocery store tomato the entire summer. Some of these worked better than others. All were bought as plants except the Sungold Cherry (seed) and the Beef Steak (started as seed, but plant gifted to me). I’d like to try some more interesting varieties next year in addition to the ones that worked for me. The purplish colored tomatoes look especially cool! I’m also going to keep the vines seperate from the non-vines because this year 3 were vines and they kind of overtook the rest of the tomato area even though I was constantly trying to tie everything up all nice and neat. By the end it was all just a huge mess and the vines blocked out a lot of sun for the others.

• Roma Tomatoes (x2) – Once I got past the blossom end rot early on, these did fairly well. I’ll probably plant one of these next year because they’re a good basic tomato, especially for sauces.
• Better Boy – These were a disappointment for me. They didn’t produce too many and the taste wasn’t anything spectacular. I’ll be skipping them next year.
• Yellow Pear – These were probably my #1 producer. I’d think I had picked all the ripe ones off only to find clusters and clusters more buried deep inside. It’s a vine, which I didn’t realize, so plant accordingly. Unless you want it growing all over and under the other plants too. I’m definitely planting these again since I know they taste great, are versatile for different dishes, and grow easily without any specific disease problems.
• Beef Steak – These tasted great, but were so slow to produce. And they seemed to stay green forever. I don’t know if that’s the nature of this variety or if the plant wasn’t getting enough sun or even some other factor.
• Mr. Stripey – These were a fun, different tomato. They’re yellow inside, so it was great to add some to pico de gallo in addition to the red tomatoes for a really colorful look. They seemed like they started off the year well, but once the yellow pear got too big Mr. Stripey suffered. Crowded and not as much sun as it probably needed. I’d plant this one again.
• Grape – Definitely planting these again! My #2 biggest producer. Delicious, versatile, and super easy and fast to grow. This one is a vine too.
• Sungold Cherry – These were so delicious! I think they were only a poor and late producer because the grape and yellow pear crowded them out. I’m going to give them a try again since I already have the seeds. This is also a vine.

Zucchini – Just planted one this year and it was the perfect amount. Next year, in addition, I’m going to plant a yellow squash too for variety.

Rhubarb – I harvested just a bit of this because you’re really not supposed to the first year, but it was growing so enthusiastically that I figured a few stalks off each of the four plants wouldn’t hurt. I made mini strawberry rhubarb tarts out of some of it, and I’m sorry to say that I never even got one. I gave 2 to the neighbors leaving 4 for us and Eric ate every single last one. I guess they were that good. Another perennial, so the work on this is done already for next year.

Bell Peppers – Disappointment! Most of mine never got very big. I don’t know if it was the soil or bad plants, but all of them were about the same (red plant, yellow plant, from see plants). Lots of them got soft brown spots on them too as they started changing shade. The green ones did pretty well, though still not as big traditional bell peppers. I may try two plants next year and in a different location just to see if anything changes.

Sugar Snap Peas – So glad I planted these! They were a good producer and easy to start from seed. I think I might start them a couple weeks earlier next year, or even indoors first, so they get to be a little bigger. I also want to put chicken wire on the gate, because even though they supposed to be able to climb on the gate, they had a hard time and climbed all over each other to get up to the gate.

Honeydew Melon – It wasn’t any tastier th
an grocery store, I’m the only one that likes it, and it was a waste of space. Probably won’t try again.

I’m hoping for even better luck next year. Albuquerque doesn’t have soil, it’s just sand. In our garden space we already worked in about 15 bags of organic compost just this year. We also had to haul several loads of rock off the area. I’m not expecting perfection the first year. There will certainly be more nutrients added to the soil with all the organic compost we’ve collected this year and just having the experience I did this year and knowing what works and what doesn’t. I’m so grateful for all we harvested and all I learned (and taught my kids) through this experience. I feel incredibly lucky for how well we did our first year. This was a wonderful experience that will only get better as time goes on.