I have to admit this was a tough year for my veggie garden. My tomatos were an epic failure. Most of my onions refused to produce. Every single carrot seed I planted has disappeared never to be seen again. And the butternut squash…pffft…what squash?
Fortunately not all was lost. I had a bumper crop of sweet chocolate peppers, garlic, sugar snap peas, zucchini and potatoes.
To be fair I did try several new growing techniques this year and “they” do say that gardening has a big learning curve. Rather than plant the “normal” easy to grow tomatos like roma and beefsteak I choose to grow heirloom varieties from seed. While I did have very successful start rate, so much so I gave away more than half my starts to the neighbours, Once I decided to grow them inside the greenhouse it all went downhill from there. It seems not all tomatos enjoy the heat. Some small wrinkly ones grew and I eventually moved them outside but it was too late. I did however manage to grow one big beautiful red tomato in the shape of a heart! Seeeeeeee ⬇️
At the end of the season I oh so subtly (not really) hinted that my crop failed and a few of my lovely neighbours shared their bounty with me. Yay!
My second failed crop was something that I had researched and was oh so excited about, a Indigenous method called “The three sisters”. Basically you are companion planting corn, pole beans and squash as they all compliment and help each other. The sweetcorn did better than I hoped for and the beans are just now starting to come into their own but the butternut squash floundered and I don’t know why. Not a single flower bloomed and the vines shriveled up! Last year I had 15 squash so this was a big blow to me.
It was so hard to not get frustrated with my crop this year and by the time mid-August came around I had all but given up. I’d give the veggies the stink-eye every time I walked by. I stopped watering. I ripped things out and tossed them and replaced them with easy growing herbs to soothe my ego.
BUT despite all that I have already bought and planned for next years crop and I am looking forward to winning the growing season!
How about you – did you grow anything? Successes? Flops? Let me know in the comments.
The Blind Thistle 
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