Summer of 2012

So, today I moved into my winter residence. Time for a summer summary:

What grew particularly well:

– Cucumber. Besides pickle cucumbers, I tried a bitter-free F1 hybrid greenhouse cucumber, and while that is in some ways evil (not least because you can’t save the seeds!), they tasted really awesomepants and were extremely productive. They very much enjoyed the watering system I set up with unglazed terracotta pots buried in their pots.

– Beans – especially the scarlet runner beans I grew in boxes on the wall of my trailer. The fava beans got a bit wasted by aphids farmed by ants, but at one point the aphids disappeared and the fava beans picked themselves up again.

– Chard – I tried growing some for the first time this year and was not disappointed!

– Cutleaf groundcherries. I seeded them way too late, but unlike the fuzzy Starhair groundcherries, they still managed to make lots of fruit.

– Ruccola did better than ever – maybe because I actually gave them their own pots this year …

The peas did just as well as last year. They are really great to grow outdoors in the ground since the slugs aren’t interested in them at all, but I certainly am.

Nasturtium and borage have established themselves already, and I didn’t have to seed them anew.

What did not grow so well:

– Potatoes: either they didn’t like the bed, got too little water and nutrients, or some small animals stole them underground??!? Or maybe it was a global phenomenon this year, since at least one other gardener has complained about her potatoes this year. Last year they did very well in comparison.

– Plums and grapes – just a handful of fruit from both of them, compared to buckets of them last year.

* * *

Can’t wait until spring next year …