A series of articles presented by Candy Horton, an OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer
Over the past couple of months while dealing with a knee injury and surgery I have been reflecting on my garden project. I thought I would be in a much different place with this project than I am. I had some unrealistic expectations considering my situation but also in how my situation has changed over the past few years. Because of my situation I need to change my decision-making process.
Let me share what I mean and what I have had to reconsider. I have had a vegetable garden in the location I have chosen for the potager garden for years. During that time, we always had cats and dogs and there was lots of help in working in the garden. With becoming an empty nester and my knee injury, I have been hindered in how much I could do so the garden is not as far along as I had pictured it to be. The compost bins are working well. I have the leaves decomposing in the first bin and what I have in there, I will be moving into the bed that will be sitting fallow over the winter, making room for this fall’s leaves. The animal feeder that I was using for lettuce, carrots, radishes, and spinach worked great too. The plans were to plant seeds every other week and continue the planting and harvesting process all year round. The problem that showed up was that there was not enough room for all the plants using the continual process as often as I had planned. I think that if I were to plant only one type of plant and plant the seeds in the spacing that they need, I will not have to thin out seedlings and I would be able to plant enough rows to continually plant and harvest without any issues. I will be able to put hoops and plastic over that bed to continue the growing season throughout the rest of the year and into the next.
The bed that I planted my onions in has been doing well and I have been able to continually harvest onions all throughout the season. I will be planting more this week and into the fall. I am clearing another bed to get the garlic in by the end of September. The tomatoes and peppers that I have planted have not done well and that is where the cats and dogs come into consideration. For the past two years I have really loved watching the bunnies playing and scampering around in my yard, I did not even connect that they would love to eat my plants, nor did I consider the moles that are setting up house in my yard. In all the years that we have lived here, we have never had to contend with these issues because we have always had barn cats and my Yorkie. They both loved to hunt and dig in the yard which drove me crazy, but I now realize served a greater good for my gardens. This new issue will change how I plan my garden and what I will need to do to protect it from the animals that I share this garden with.
Another issue that I realized that I must overcome is my own thought process. I would get frustrated with something and realize that I am still thinking in seasonal planting timelines. With the year-round garden method, you are always planting and harvesting something all year long. It is more a matter of how you are managing the planting, harvesting, and caring for the plants that are different. For example, with it now being August, I need to start looking at what I want to harvest all winter. What I need to do to protect those crops through the winter and how they will grow during that time. For example, lettuce, I will need to make sure to have row covers over those beds with plastic that can handle snow and winter temperatures. I also need to get them planted soon so that they will have plenty of time to get a good root base before it gets cold. I also need to take into consideration that it will take the plants longer to get to the point that it can be harvested during the cold winter months. And the last thing that I realize that I must work on is the idea that nothing in the garden is a failure. It is more of a lesson learned.