We really enjoyed our first year of gardening in the raised beds that Mr. Handsome built. Our tomato and lettuce plants were bountiful. In fact, our tomatoes were still going strong when the first hard frost hit in the second week of November.
Our peppers took longer to get going, but they gave us some tasty treats at the end of summer and into fall. Almost exactly one month ago, when we were outside enjoying the last warm day and anticipating the freezing weather that would roll in that evening. Little Buddy reminded me to pick our remaining peppers. They were still green, but I ended up gathering enough for a delicious meal of stuffed peppers.
The green beans we got were delicious, but they weren’t many. And our carrot crop was just downright unsuccessful. The plants looked great all summer and fall, but the carrots themselves were only about an inch long. Next year, we plan to sow a bigger crop of tomatoes so I can make more fresh tomato sauce. I would also like to experiment with different varieties of lettuce, since it did so well.
If you planted a garden this year, how did yours do?
I’ve found that carrots are best left to the professionals to grow. One disturbance of soil, nutrients, temperature, light, or insects can cause a homegrown carrot crop to fail, as you saw. Sometimes you never can pinpoint what went wrong. You can get carrots so cheaply in the store that it may not be worth it to try at home. Better to use that garden space for something else.
I just looked it up because I didn’t know if carrot greens were edible, but they are, and with your baby carrots, I’d say you did have some mild success.
Has anyone else had trouble growing parsley lately? Two years in a row, mine has failed. (Parsley and carrots are related.)
We have been buying cherry tomato plants from Costco & planting them in a raised planter- table top (also from Costco). They have been growing so well in that planter.
We grow almost everything in pots. We have no tilled garden space but lots of sunny deck space. We have some square planters on wheels that are good for growing lettuce. We wheel those into the shade when the weather starts getting too warm.
Nothing better than picking fresh vegies from the garden for a snack inc a carrot or 2! I have been growing carrots for years and the carrot seeds and young carrots need loose soil in order to grow as they are a root veg tunnelling down in length. If it is compacted down they will become stunted, deformed etc. a good amount of light in needed as well. Another tip I do is to take a pkg of carrot seeds and mix it with about a bucket of sand. I mix it altogether, think about an ice cream bucket of sand and evenly distribute it over the loose soil and then thin the little carrots as needed. Works really well! Keep them lightly moist as they germinate and start.
Lettuce doesnt like hot weather. Doesnt need lots of sun and grows best in spring and fall months. It will bolt if it is too hot.
Cutting or removing leaves promotes growth. Check varieties for hardiness and against bolting re weather. I like a seed blend of different varieties and grow loose lettuce leaf types.
I use marigold plants grown around the perimeter of my veg beds to help prevent pests. I use marigolds with bright yellow flowers, small height size, that look pretty as well as helpful.
Hope this all helps Ellie. You grow in a very different climate than me but I think some of this is universal. Eileen
That’s very helpful! Thank you Eileen! Sounds like you are quite the gardening pro. How many things do you grow each year?
This summer I tried two different types of tomatoes. One of them I kept outside, the other in our very small green house. The first was not very successful. I think the spot was too warm and sunny even if I tried to water the plants a lot. The latter gave a nice crop. I also had five plants of cucumber. I planted the seeds early, end of January I think, with the intention to move them outside in early summer. The problem was that they grew really fast! So they were impossible to move. So I grew cucumbers in the livingroom. The crop was fairly good. I had three regular plants and two mini cucumber plants. I think I bought only two cucumbers from the grocery store end of May-early October, the rest was from our own plants. I also grew some peppers inside. That crop was mediocre but tasty. I usually also grow carrots, lettuce and beef root, but not this year. Btw I have only bad experience with raised beds and carrots. Mine always grow better in a regular beds. This year we grew sunflowers in the raised beds. We also grow strawberries, raspberries and black currant berries. Oh, and we have a big apple tree + a small cherry bush. We are in Finland. I dream of a bigger green house.
My parents grow a large and impressive crop of carrots in their garden yearly. From looking at your picture, I wonder if your carrots didn’t get thinned?
That’s a good suggestion. We did thin them, but I always did wonder if we thinned them enough.
Our tomatoes and green beans did good this year. I haven’t try planting carrots. Ellie, Merry Christmas to you and your family and a blessed New Year!
Merry Christmas! 🙂
You didn’t thin them out. You’re supposed to sow them, then after they come up, thin them and leave about an inch between each carrot. They need space to grow. Didn’t you ever read Christian youth literature such as the “little house” series? It’s explained in nearly all those books.