This summer we planted our first vegetable garden, after moving to Davis, CA last summer. We created 3 connected raised beds, two 4x8 and one 8x12 and are doing most of our veggie gardening in these, due to really poor soil. Results were mixed, though not quite a $64 tomato (unless you count the boxes and dirt, in which case more!). Two kinds of cherry tomatoes were great, but larger heirloom varieties kind of disappointing (my cousin in town grows MONSTER Brandyweins). One patty pan squash failed almost completely, and another squash variety was only so-so. Eggplant somewhat better, but peppers also disappointing. Best crop of all probably 5 varieties of basil. Lemon cucumber--pretty good, at least enough for our family of 2. Biggest disappointment: green be ens--a total failure! Here's what the boxes looked like with our winter crop last fall. Note also the very small trees in background--next post will show them today!
But the sad thing is that most of the stuff in the garden is beginning to peter out. Last night I made a great pasta (taken from one of my favorite websites--
http://thelittlehouseinthecity.blogspot.com/) with one squash (not quite the last) plus two kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of basil, parsley, and anise hyssop, all from the garden. Along with some leftover chicken, a good bit of olive oil, and a lot of
Parmesan, it was great. I should have cherry tomatoes for quite a while, but maybe only a couple more squash and eggplant.
So maybe this weekend it's time to start the fall garden, for vegetables this winter. I bought some broccoli rape in Sebastapol last week, and I'll also plant chard, sugar snap peas, regular broccoli, arugula, lettuce, radicchio and more. The great thing about living in Davis (as opposed to CT, where I spent the previous 23 years) is that you can grow stuff all year. So maybe goodbye to summer food (though a lot more tomato-based pastas and salads lie ahead), sometime soon.
Our summer garden was a bust this year, with small plants and few veggies. We planted 5 tomatoes this year, and even the cherries are doing poorly--barely enough for our salad each night. Luckily, Davis has a fantastic farmer's market, so we've been regular visitors. Our squash and cucumber plants, three in all, appear to be dead or nearly so, and though the tomato plants still have a few tomatoes, they are pretty pathetic. Clearly, we will have to do some major soil amendment next year and maybe rethink our watering system. I'm really not sure what the problem is. That healthy-looking plant spilling over the side is tarragon--much more than we could ever use!
We will probably have basil for a couple more months, but even those plants are much smaller than last year. Four small eggplants may be ready for the weekend, but that plant too is far less hardy than last year's. It's been disappointing, to say the least!
