Hits and misses.

[Skinny rooster]

Try anything new this year? New veggies or old standbys, what worked well for you, what didn't? One thing I tried this year was those small water melons, it is a hit with me! Taste great and hardly took up any room. I would give a warning that they can't compete against any other plants so give them space. The other thing was that I only got one melon per/plant but I think tweaking the amount of water and compost I use will help that. The miss was my cucumbers, lots of vines very little fruit. I have come to the conclusion however that I don't really like cucumbers anymore, I think it's just easier for me to buy some local for the odd salad and not bother growing them.

Corn was both a hit and miss, first taste was good but not quite ready, waited a few days and suddenly the ears were too mature, tough and milky. Strange because I sowed the corn at different intervals and yet it was all ready at the same time.

[goatgal35]

The hot dry summer did a number on everything here. We're on sandy and we have very little water. I tried albino beets this year. They did really well, not messy and matured early. I prefer the regular old red ones though, I found the texture of the whites ones a bit to soft.

[Flat Rock Farm]

Tomatoes and sweet peppers did very well this year and are even re blooming!! Bumper crop on the apple trees as well, and my beets where huge. The duds were my potatoes, only a 6 quart basket full as opposed to the full bushel basket I had last year from the same size bag of seed potatoes.

[WLLady]

My summer squash was a bust this year
And cucumbers. Water issues for the cukes and vine borers on the summer squash. Pumpkins were too early. Everything else did amazing. I just harvested sunflower heads that are 18 inches across!! Problems with getting lettuce to sprout. Brussel sprouts are bumper crop. Carrots not so much-carrot fly. Looks like my sweet potatoes were all eaten by something....

[windwalkingwolf]

It's been a weird year for sure... yellow beans did great, green beans planted in same row did nothing but rot/rust/stunted etc. Green cabbage great, red cabbage is still working on heads, some will not head. Lettuce and spinach did pretty good first planting, until bolting in the heat, New York (head) lettuce did much better than Great Lakes...but second planting of lettuce and spinach never sprouted. Corn had a slow start but a strong finish, BUT, some (thankfully very few) kernels are tough/crossbred with field corn even though the nearest field corn is almost a km away and there's a tree line. Tomatoes did awesome, though some late-planted varieties did not ripen before frost hit night before last, so now they never will, GRRRR. Of the ones that ripened, when processing they were so sweet that I had to cook low and slow or else get sugar burnt to the bottom of the pot. Some peppers (hybrids) did great and some (heirloom varieties) look like they're starved for minerals and did little but drop leaves and flowers. Turnips did not germinate at all, not one. Celery sprouted and then all but one wilted despite regular watering. Rainbow Chard is HUGE, pumpkins and zucchini exploded. Tried a variety of cauliflower called MinuteMan, it is only just NOW starting to head (started indoors in March/April), so I won't be trying it again next year. I've grown melons, great ones, for the first time ever though not for lack of trying! Crimson sweet watermelon did fantastic, Black Diamond watermelon not so much--it took a lot longer to set fruit than Crimson Sweet, and although it's a nice dark green uniform colour, it's lumpy and ugly lol, and none got big before frost. Cucumbers--my long-time favourite is called Bushmaster, and for a short time it performed as I've grown to expect, but then we got a couple cool nights in a row and fungus killed off the plants. Sugar snap peas (Sugar Ann and Sugar Lace) were as annoying as ever, but both plantings did OK until they got rust at the same time the cukes gave up. Beets have done the best for me this year--I've grown Cylindra beets for years and years, and NEVER had any get as big as this year. Mangel-Wurzel size, 8-12 inches long not including tail and tops, and 3-4 inches across! One beet sliced fills a liter jar packed tight, and they're NOT woody at all!! Sweet and tender and earthy and delicious.

[Killerbunny]

Jans cantaloupes were AWESOME!!!!! My beans were the reverse of hers (we're 20 mins apart), great greens, no yellow but now my yellows are coming on well. I don't like winter squash much but I tried a highly recommended variety called Gills Golden Pippin which is a 2 person size. What can I say, OK ish but a disappointment. Was hoping it would be a small version of the Red Kuri which really does taste like chestnuts. Won't plant next year. Trail of Tears drying beans were very good but Good Mother STallard have gone mouldy in the pods. A later germination so I think the weather is the issue.
Now we can dream about next year.

[TomK]

This is a thread to enjoy and learn from..not very poultry related but what the heck...so many places online that promote gardening but never anything pertaining specificaly to ones particular growing area and at ground level so to speak....i have a fair size garden and in some ways it got away from me this year because all of a sudden,in July, my off site work load exploded but i managed....I'm always trying new stuff and new methods...the heat this year didnt help much....for the first time ever I lost zuchinni to pests..like wtf!!!!!...the borer found me..I'll have to figure this one out...managed to get just enough to put ip our favourite zuchinni relish...hardly any for the birds...have 5 varieties of tomatoes going and one plant of a no name patio tomato that i picked up at Candian Tire when they were shutting down the garden center...i have tomatoes coming out of my seams..just like the apples...all the squash are doing great, especially he butternut and pumpkin...spaghetti squash is bountiful....tried pole beans on straight yp poles this year..big failure....usually do tripods of cedar saplings and should not have changed my method..a variety called. Blue Coco...great dark purple bean...prolific..got enough to eat but they didnt climb well for some reason on the straight up poles....not sure why....wax beans (bush) did well, lima beans not so much..lotsa flower, no bean...turnips were ginormous...beets, kohlrabi, kale and cabbages all did well although the green cabbage split a lot in the heat...had some carrots the other day...super tasty and sweet..oh my....i leave the parsnips in quite late but they grew great...no brussel sprouts again....wonder why i can grow cabbage easily but never get any brussel sprouts off beautiful plants..onions seem to like the soil here and tried multipliers this year for the first time, not a fan...red, white and yellow singles from now on...we did those too along with the multipliers but found the multipliers to be a pain to harvest..garlics did great but theres never enough...jays and chipmunks and assorted birds are enjoying the line of huge sunflowers we alwas plant...and my strawberries are still yielding...they truly are everbearing....oh, and the chard is delish

[WLLady]

tom if you have beautiful brussel sprout plants about 6 weeks before your frost date break the top of the plant-remove the growing bud at the top-the plant will then put all the energy into making the sprouts. if your plants are still up, they're frost hardy, do it now, and hopefully you'll get some sprouts. i broke tops off mine a month ago, and i'll be swimming in sprouts, they're ready, and i'm just waiting on a frost to sweeten them up a little bit.

[WLLady]

oh, and definite did great here: garlic!!!!
and definite did NOT do great here: onions. i planted over 200 and didn't get ANY. nothing made bulbs, nothing matured....so i give up growing onions. period.

[Jaye]

QR_BBPOST tom if you have beautiful brussel sprout plants about 6 weeks before your frost date break the top of the plant-remove the growing bud at the top-the plant will then put all the energy into making the sprouts. if your plants are still up, they're frost hardy, do it now, and hopefully you'll get some sprouts. i broke tops off mine a month ago, and i'll be swimming in sprouts, they're ready, and i'm just waiting on a frost to sweeten them up a little bit.

Thanks for the tip, WLLady - I didn't know that about brussel sprout plants. I have several growing well as plants but not much happening in the way of sprouts. I'm sure the chickens will appreciate the tops I cut off.

I don't have a big garden, but enough to feed hubby, myself and the chickens well during the growing season.
My beets did great this year, like WWW's. They were a bit slow to germinate, but once they got going, there was no stopping them. BIg and tasty,
My zucchini plants were a bust - only two actually germinated and grew, and one was a quitter, so had one plant that produced a grand total of four zucchinis before dying back. My grape vine went crazy this year, with tons of blue grapes. I had four tomato plants that took over everything in their raised box area. As a result, I didn't get any red peppers, or runner beans - the tomato plants grew too tall before the pepper and bean plants had a chance to grow tall enough to grab the sun.The sweet potato vines also went mad. I haven't checked on them for size yet. Didn't get very many strawberries, so will plant Everbearing next year. My one rhubarb plant flourished as usual. I'm still picking stems, although it is pretty much finished for the year now. The kale forest is still going great. Hubby hates kale, so I grow it for the chickens, and just break off outer leaves for them regularly. - that's why they look like trees now. The Swiss chard continues to produce new leaves - I harvest the outer leaves of all season for us and for the chickens. My sunflowers never germinated. :-(