Summer Garden Wins and Losses

I've been having a bit of an uneven success rate with this summer's garden.  I'm 99% sure it has to do with my use of the new brand of soil and compost/manure mix.  The other 1% is weather.  It got warm towards the end of June and never topped 85, which is perfect for what I planted, just a little late.

The other problem I had was a poor germination rate for some crops.  When I looked at the back of the carrot and cauliflower packages, they were almost 5 years old.  Ok, that's my fault, and I transplanted some other things into the locations I had set aside for them.

The hero of this summer's Pond garden is the lacinato kale.  It loves the compost amendment and all three are still going strong long after I thought I would have to pull them.  I gave my boss some because I can't eat it all.  I've been harvesting every couple of weeks and chopping it up for the freezer.  I'm going to have to cook it up frequently over the winter, before the next round starts producing.

Another winner is the stevia.  I'm trimming it every few weeks, like I did the year the basil did well, and it is responding in a similar manner.  I've almost filled a quart jar with dried leaves, and have tried using fresh ones in my teas.

I'm finally getting eggplant.  The plant hated the mid-seventies weather that I personally love.  Once summer truly hit, it grew by leaps and bounds and started to flower at the end of July.  That didn't help the meal plans I had made, assuming there would be some before then, so I had to buy eggplant for those.

My attempt at green beans in the Dollar Tree planters was a bust, but I'm blaming the soil.  Same with the beans in the window box and 6" pots against the wall, which were all from the same batch of soil mix.  The same packets of seeds in the Pond are going to town.  I'm going to try lettuces and herbs this winter in the Dollar Tree planters with a more broad-spectrum vegetable potting soil like Miracle-Gro.  And fresh seeds.

I don't think I've mentioned my bowl of herbs from a free packet of seeds in a long time.  A few dill, basil, and one savory survived.  I can't seem to grow marjoram to save my life.  Really, a mint-family plant I can't grow?  I'm going to set up another bowl once the weather cools and give it another try.  I still have plenty of seeds in the packet.

The mystery gourd in the front yard is a pumpkin, but I can't get it to produce mature female flowers.  The tomato plants in that area are producing, but not well.  That spot is always a challenge, and I did get a boatload of thyme out of it last year, so it isn't a total loss.  The pumpkins in the Pond are much closer to fruiting.

I'm already starting next year's celery, since that needs about three months of babying before it can be transplanted.  Broccoli, kale, and herbs will be started in the next couple of weeks.  I'm going to direct-sow lettuces, but that has to wait until it is reliably under 80, preferably with nights below 60.