The 2013 growing season came to an end for me just before Halloween, with the first hard, killing frost. I’m still enjoying some of the hardy plants like ornamental cabbage and kale and some of my landscape roses continue to add color and interest to the garden beds even as the chill of late autumn takes hold.
The harvest continues, as well. I waited until after the first freeze to begin pulling carrots – taking only as much as I need at a time and leaving the rest in the ground. I didn’t plant very many carrots this year, but it was a thrill on Halloween to go out and dig a handful of the Nantindo variety I decided to plant. They looked great and I managed not to damage them in the process of digging them up. After a thorough cleaning, they were chopped up and added to a pot of home-made turkey soup.
Looking back at the 2013 growing season, it was a mix of highs and lows in the vegetable/cut flower garden.
The heavy spring rains delayed tilling and I planted pumpkins and squash late – partly because of the wetness and partly to ward-off vine borers. The later planting was effective at controlling the insects and, additionally, I didn’t have the problem I usually have with squash bugs – but my yield of certain crops was definitely limited. Summer and winter squashes did not produce well and my ornamental gourd harvest was also down. The pumpkins did great with a nice yield and the plants were still going strong before the freeze in late October – beautiful new green foliage, blossoms and new fruit.
Other disappointments included poor crops of Tyee spinach, sweet peppers and amaranth – crops that I love and which usually do very well. I don’t know if it was the weather or where I planted them. My Peppermint Swiss chard, however, was fantastic. Even the kids ate it and its success helped to ease the disappointment over the spinach.
Successes also included my sweet corn and sunflower crops, which produced well and looked great into late summer and early fall.
We harvested the last of the sweet corn – Mr. Mini Mirai from Harris Seeds – at the end of September. I had several plantings which extended the harvest to just over a month. For my family that means eight or more ears each night for four to five weeks.
I also planted five rows of ornamental corn this year – a mini variety of Indian corn – which did well but took forever to mature and Strubbes Orange – a full sized dry corn which was ready for harvest in September. The dried kernels develop a dent in the middle which creates an interesting texture. The colors are amazing. Some are deep yellow with a mix of multi-colored kernels, but my favorites are the ears with orange and deep purple kernels – the perfect mix for Halloween.
It can be a sacrifice to set room aside in the vegetable garden for ornamental corn, but it is such a fun crop to harvest and use for seasonal decorations. I’ve used red, stubby strawberry corn with evergreens for Christmas and a blue kerneled variety of mini corn for patriotic displays. Pulling the husks back on an ear of ornamental corn is like opening a present, each ear is a surprise. The ears can also hold up for years, so you don’t need to grow it on an annual basis.
The sunflowers rarely disappoint, and 2013 was no exception. I put in three plantings between June and early-to-mid August. That meant I was harvesting flowers for bouquets from early August through October – they look terrific in autumn displays. My favorites continue to be the ProCut series with remarkable single blooms on very sturdy stems. This variety is pollenless and produces blooms as early as 50 days after planting. Other great non-branching, pollenless varieties include the Sunrich and Sun series.
The apples from our small planting of Honeycrisp have been astounding. We’ve been cutting them up for meals and many have found their way into homemade pies. I still need to make applesauce.
So, despite the hard work of getting the vegetable garden in and growing this spring, the 2013 growing season provided us with many happy and yummy memories.
Photographs by Kristina Gabalski
11/10/13
