Next I have to figure out what to do about the little garden area out back. No one has done anything with it in many years, and I hear that there are just some flowers and weeds that grow back there. The landlord actually mentioned ripping it out and letting it go to lawn, but I quickly assured him that I would be using it.
But what to do with it at this late point in the season? I've been helping out on the UW farm - if not for that, I would have thought it was far too late to do anything with it (I'm from Wisconsin, you don't do anything at this point to a garden other than harvest what you already have and maybe throw on some compost!). But I've learned that there are options - winter vegetables and cover crops. I'm actually not certain that I can START even the winter veggies right now, but maybe fava beans or the cover crop. I just signed up for the 'green team' at the UW farm - they're the ones that decide what crops, where, and when they go in. This should be helpful in my planning my own garden - I just hope they start meeting soon.
If not this year, then next year I will have a better idea on what can and can't be planted as well (and of those that can be planted, which do the best). The UW farm practices 'natural pesticide deterrents' - or something like that, I forget the correct terminology. Basically, growing things in certain areas that naturally deter pests from other plants, is what I'm getting at.
We grow a ton of things on the farm, and I've seen what has done well and not so well there. The quinoa, I'll have to ask about, but I don't think it ever did real well - sure, it grew quite large and had a lot of seed on it (grain), but I don't know if it ever changed the correct 'color' before it was time to harvest it, or if all the aphids finally took them all out. It's hard to know these things since harvesting is seldom announced and even when things aren't finished (like the ton of green tomatoes that were growing in patches around the farm) they get ripped out and a new crop of something else is planted. Maybe they're sticking to schedule, or maybe someone is overly anxious about rotating crops, I don't know, but it annoys me when a crop that wasn't finished is suddenly gone the next day. At least they announced that the tomatoes were being pulled.
The potatoes had fungal issues, but some of them still produced quite well. I don't think I'd plant them though as organic potatoes seem easy (and cheap) enough to get from the co-op. The peas even had an issue because someone vandalized them one night, but obviously, that wasn't a growing issue. Still, I'm not sure if beans and peas are something I want to plant either. The corn didn't grow well - I don't want corn though. The cucumbers did ok, but I think they would've done much better with some extra watering.
So what DID grow well? Well - tomatoes (though they didn't ripen before being ripped out), carrots, kale, chard, joi choy, kalarabi, beats, radishes, lettuces, spinach, eggplant, artichoke?, sunflowers, fava beans, squashes, turnips, brussel sprouts, chives, onions, leeks, tomatillos, basil and other herbs, rhubarb, strawberries, etc. The artichoke - I think there was only one, and I certainly didn't get to eat it. We have a fig tree, raspberry and blackberries bushes, a black currant bush, and gooseberries as well.
From this, I've learned that I LOVE kale, and it grows really well. The chard, lettuces, and spinach too. These last three things are great for a home garden because you can then just go pull it when you need it - generally (for me at least) it doesn't take them long to go limp in the fridge, so fresh is far better! Beets are definitely a go for my garden, and probably eggplant and brussel sprouts too. Definitely onions, and maybe leeks. Ok, I've started my list... now I need to figure out what I should do at this point in time...
I saw this guy hiking (this is my excuse to throw in a picture) -
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