Potager Lessons 2020
A blank garden plan - thrilling and terrifying!
The best way to create the most productive garden that we can is to build on what we learned in last year’s potager.
Main Seed Sowing Observations
Even though there was lots of south light, our house just wasn't warm enough for the peppers to be happy.
It wasn’t warm enough for the peppers and they could have been sown earlier so that they were better developed by the time they got out into the garden.
The melons were sown at the right time but needed more heat. Or just wait and sow them directly in the garden.
Grow lights!!! No more leggy brassicas.
The brassicas could have been sown much earlier, at least 2-4 weeks.
Tomatoes and squash were a good size, same time next year should be fine.
All of the flowers could have been sown a little earlier and probably needed more room.
The peas, carrots, beets, spinach and chervil could have been sown outside earlier.
Don’t use paper pots this year, they stunted a lot of the tomatoes. The plastic cups (though plastic) worked perfectly and can be reused this year.
Paper pots ended up stunting seedling growth.
For sowing seeds outdoors I learned about a really interesting method.
It now makes sense to me why some perennial flowers are so ubiquitous. They were the indicators in the flower garden that helped you with your vegetable garden.
Seed sowing based on Phenology
Trees, shrubs, and flowers are sensitive to temperature and day length, and develop on a regular schedule based on local conditions. Following them gives you an indicator of soil temperature and what you can plant when.
Plant radishes, parsnips, and spinach.
Forsythia
Plant peas, onion sets, and lettuce.
Daffodils
Plant beets, carrots, and chard.
Dandelions
Plant potatoes.
Maple trees begin to leaf out
Plant perennial flowers.
Quince
Transplant cabbage and broccoli.
Apple trees blossom
Plant bush beans.
Our crabapple blossoming
Apple blossoms fall
Plant pole beans and cucumbers.
Lilacs in full bloom
Plant tender annual flowers and squashes.
Lily-of-the-valley
Transfer tomato transplants
Full-sized maple leaves
Plant morning glory seeds.
Bearded irises
Transplant peppers and eggplant.
Peonies
Plant heat-loving melons, such as cantaloupe.
General Garden Observations 2020
Tongue of Fire bush beans did alright. We enjoyed a couple meals and had a reasonable amount dried for seed. Orca did not do as well, maybe it was because of the seed soaking before planting. I think they both could have used more sun.
Blue Coco pole beans did amazing, I was really pleased with these as both a fresh and dried bean and they were prolific. The Scarlet Runners were very slow and didn’t really do much.
Touchstone Gold beets were super delicious!!! Definitely plant again.
Detroit Dark Red made really tasty Rosemary Beet jam.
De Cicco wasn’t a great success. Either sow much earlier or try as a fall crop.
Copenhagen didn’t do so great for me. Again either sow much earlier or try in the fall.
Waste of space, we didn't really eat them.
The Rainbow variety is gorgeous and I would use it as an ornamental in the flower garden. It was delicious and we used it in many meals and froze a good quantity. It kept producing, even past the first couple frosts until the snow fell. And the chickens thought it was a good treat too.
All of the varieties I tried failed. I don’t think I started them early enough. The ones I planted directly outside seemed to do better but by that time the beans were already well established and choked them out. Maybe try with the peas next time instead of the beans for more sun and space in the summer. I’ve also heard of people sowing them in the fall instead to try and miss the cucumber beetles.
Black Beauty was another fail because I just didn’t start it early enough. There were flowers by the end of summer but no fruit. It definitely needed more time.
We enjoyed eating a couple salads but they were using up a lot of space. The flea beetles also really got to them so if we don’t want holey leaves we’ll have to look into floating row covers of some sort.
They were unfortunately a waste of space. Not a long enough growing season from when I planted them and so much real estate. Maybe try trellising if I do them again.
They took up a lot of space for not a huge yield. We enjoyed eating them fresh in the garden but we didn’t get any to save for the winter. This year we’ll probably grow less to snack on when we’re in the garden or try to figure out some way to successively plant them with beans or something else, maybe cucumber, to save that space on the trellis for something else.
We were so close with both the hot and sweet peppers but they just didn't quite mature before frost took them out. They needed more heat in the beginning to grow properly. This year we have seed heating mats and grow lights so they should do much better.
Blue Kuri was a fail, so much space for so little produce and so many squash beetles. Will definitely try trellising if we grow them again to cut down on the space they need.
The Golden Scallopini were amazing!!! Even with the beetles they did really well and produced a lot of fruit. They needed more space - the borage really crowded them. Next time the borage will be on the outside edge, not interplanted. Unfortunately they did succumb to powdery mildew part way through the summer. I could have had a lot more fruit if I had sprayed them with hydrogen peroxide to stop it from spreading. Next year. I also think they would benefit from more sun.
The tomatoes did amazing!!!
Black Cherry was the absolute favourite. It took a while to get started but produced heavily to frost. And the green tomatoes ripened well in the house and made excellent chutney.
Gardener’s Delight was alright, a quintessential red tomato taste. Not too exciting. Did their job.
Galina’s Yellow disappointed compared to the others. It was very productive and the acidity was great in salsa and tomato jam but it stopped part way through the summer and just wasted space after that. We wouldn’t plant this variety again.
Flowers
The Bergamot started tiny and took forever to grow. Once it was finally out in the garden it did alright and hopefully this year we’ll get flowers for the bees.
The Borage was definitely a bee magnet. They loved it!!! And it brought lots of pollinators to the squash. But, it was also huge and I never should have interplanted it. Next year it will be garden edging ahd I’m going to try to make Borage Jelly.
The Calendula was prolific. It really filled out and provided masses of flowers until frost. Pollinators loved it, especially the bumblebees. I was able to dry a good amount of petals for the apothecary and I have already used them on our Orangerie soap.
The Marigolds took a long time to get established in the garden. I probably should have started them a couple weeks earlier to put larger plants out in the garden. They were quite small. Once they got going they did really well and by fall were producing masses of beautiful blooms that I dried. They are a fantastic colour and would make an incredible red orange natural dye. I have some silk scarf blanks that I may try dyeing with them.
The Nasturtiums were the same. They could have been bigger when they were planted out. It took until fall for them to really get big and bloomy. The flower and leaves were tasty, like greens with pepper on it. I want to try to make jelly with the flowers this year. I think it would be so pretty.
So ends the 2020 recap.
So ends January 2021.
What’s next?
Oh, so many exciting things...
And it all starts February 1, 2021!
