2021 Lessons Learned

Every so often I will post lessons learned from the garden. Although there are many successes, there are also many failures. Some are EPIC failures. Here I am revealing it all (good, bad, and ugly). The bright side of the ugly gardening is that you can compost it to promote future growth.

Lesson 1: Frozen Pineapples

Last year, I started a couple pineapple plants in the greenhouse from the crowns of my Maui Gold pineapples. What I failed to do is keep them warm enough through the Winter in order for them to survive. Yep. I froze my pineapple.

I tried to keep the plant in the greenhouse with wool blankets around the pot. This is to try and keep the warmth into the pot. The temperatures at night got way too cold, even though the daytime was a pretty good temperature in the greenhouse.

The optimum temperature should be between 68 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit. My hubby was nice enough to have more pineapples shipped to me. So here I am trying to grow my pineapple plants again. For now, the pineapple plants are in the “She Shed” and doing amazing. I do plan on bringing them into the house come late Fall.

Lesson 2: Marking Planted Seeds

When I plant seeds, sometimes reply on my memory of where I planted seeds. On the flip side, sometimes I actually put a garden marker where I plant seeds. Relying on memory does not always work, especially with a memory like mine. Garden markers are great, but make sure you use a garden marker…

1. …that does not melt and falls in the hot sun.
2. …with lettering that fades or washes away.
3. …that are too short to see when the plant grows.
4. …and not remove it before you are absolutely sure you will remember what is planted.

Yes. I have experienced each and every one of these this past Spring. I am pretty good about identifying plants. But, introducing new plants, especially ones that are pretty similar leafy greens, I may not always remember which is which. There were way too many veggies that I would say, “I have no clue what that is.”

Clay garden markers are great, but they do not stand up well in the heat and rain. They will melt if not properly dried and protected. Now, those plastic garden markers where you can put the empty seed packet are also a good option; however, if your packet is paper, it does not hold up well in the rain. The popsicle stick written with Sharpie also does not hold up to the weather… or a watering can.

The two garden markers that did very well in the heat and rain are the metal garden markers and the kiln-dried garden markers. I found the metal garden markers at Hobby Lobby, and the kiln-dried garden markers were found at a local arts and crafts show.

Lesson 3: Plant Placement

I could probably spend an entire post or two just on lessons learned from plant placement. I have read books on square foot gardening and read many publications on planting, but I always seem to learn more lessons. This year there were three really big lessons.

1. Do not plant yellow squash among corn without allowing enough space between the planted corn. I did not follow the Three Sisters Method as I should have. The corn was so close together that it will choked out the squash. The good news… I did have lots of corn this year, but no yellow squash.
2. Speaking of corn, this brings me to my next lesson learned about corn planting. I stand by the success in being able to plant and grow corn in a small space, although my mistake was to plant sweet corn next to my popping corn. I was researching various drying options for popping corn when I found a YouTube video from a pop corn farmer. He said to not plant sweet corn next to popping corn, because of cross pollination. He did not say what happens. But, I did find out that cross pollination will affect the flavor of the sweet corn. In the case of my sweet corn, this was not the case; however, the popping corn does not seem to be popping after drying. I tried to oven dry some of the kernels. But, only a few kernels popped. I decided to let the rest air dry for a couple months. I did try to pop some kernels after a week of drying, but it only burned. This is NOT a good sign. The saving grace for this lesson is milling the popping corn. I made Ree Drummond’s recipe for Blueberry Corn Muffins with Vanilla Butter. So good and a must try.
3. Avoid planting tall growing plants next to low growing plants. If there is not enough space between the plants, the taller plants will crowd the lower plants, stunting the growth. I did this in several areas throughout the garden. The beets did not develop as well as they should, and the peppers still have not produced anything. The peppers do have flowers. Right now my rosemary is starting to grow into my sage. This is currently not a huge issue, but the rosemary will need more room very soon. And the lemon grass is starting to take over the parsley. I do have a major herb relocation plan in the works.

Lesson 4: Pumpkin Takeover

In the Spring, I had a great idea to plant one pumpkin seed in the garden. This seed was from last Fall’s hybrid pumpkin. ONE SEED! Well, that one seed has taken over about one third of the garden area with it’s vine. Granted, I will have many awesome pumpkins. However, I did not anticipate the amount of space this vining plant will actually take up from one seed. Lesson learned. If, and that’s a big IF, I decide to plant another pumpkin, I will plant it outside of the garden. This way it can just grow as long as it wants.

My little backyard garden (mini farm) has two type of fruit tress – peach and nashi (Asian apple pear). I love both, but having fruit trees does mean you really should prune them regularly. Prune forty percent (40%) of the peach tree every year. We prune peach trees every other year, and sometimes we let it go an extra year. Bad, I know. The three of the trees are approximately 20 years old, so it’s fruitful life is coming to an end. The fourth peach tree is an offspring of one of the other trees. This year is the first year with peaches on this very young tree.

Lesson 5: Forgetting to Prune Trees

As far as the Asian apple pear tree, we did not prune the tree in a couple years. Because of this, the fruit is getting way too heavy for the branch to support it. We gave the branch extra support. This Fall after harvesting, we definitely need to gift this tree a major trimming.

Lesson 6: Not Enough Water

In the past, the growing season has been rainy. This year, I have let the garden go too many days without watering. The outcome is a crack in the tomatoes and nashi. Surprisingly, the melons are still progressing nicely, but the tomatoes do have some cracks. Make sure you water your garden early morning or late evening and really soak the base of the plants. This will keep them nicely watered. I am usually water every other day. Unfortunately, I have been skipping extra days and it shows in a bad way. Luckily, herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme, chives and tarragon can tolerate longer periods without water. Mint, basil, lemon balm, and stevia will let you know that it needs water by it’s curling leaves. Just like water keeps the human body healthy, plants need water to keep them healthy.