It’s a very fruitful harvest summer in the #MaryaGarden this year.

It was my first year using a raise garden bed. The Mister and my Father in Law built it for me, upon my request last year. After my success last summer, I felt excited to go a little further. And this year’s victories felt really good.

Initially it was just 1 big rectangular box, but when I started planning my garden I realized that wouldn’t work. I asked the Mister to 2 add planks to create 3 sections to plant in, I ended up only using one. Reason being 1) I didn’t buy enough garden soil when I bought the plants and 2) the weather in late May / early June was still unpredictable (ie: some days were still dipping around 10 degrees Celsius). I decided to keep things small and more manageable for my first time with the larger space.

I ended up planning 3 tomato plants (slicer and small fruit: cherries and grape) as well as a zucchini and cucumber plant. I also used the large railing planter for herbs (cilantro, mojito mint and basil) We didn’t receive any veggie harvest until around some time after July 20th. Which was much later than 2018, when we got our first cherry tomatoes on July 10 (thanks Instagram!).

But since then, we’ve had a steady harvest of toms, cukes and zucks. The first two of which I’ve had no problem incorporating into our diets, Our go to salad is tomatoes, cucumber, cilantro and avocados. As for the zucchini, we took a few to the cottage which was used quickly. And for the remaining zucchinis, I’ve shredded and frozen them to be used for zucchini bread, muffins or veggie dippers.

The herbs were used on a daily basis. I would put them in salads or infused my water :)

Of course, with any of my endeavors, there is always goals set and lessons to be learned. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that good note talking and revision of my progress, really help my future success. And as the garden season winds down, it’s the perfect time to think about what worked, what I’d like to improve on and what I’d like to try next year!

Lessons Learned:

1) Plant cucumbers and zucchinis further apart and in their own box

1) Trim back tomatoes (the crop near the top) earlier on to allow the nutrients (water / sunshine) to feed the stronger growing fruits (near the bottom)

3) Tie plant stalk to the fence earlier in the season (to avoid the tomato jungle).

4) Build better trellises, this year I found that the dollar store trellis just couldn’t hold up a strong plant with large fruit. Will need to do more research on Pinterest for this one!

5) Add more flowers in between the veggies (lavenders and marigolds). Flowers attract the bees (obviously) and the bees help with the pollination of the vegetable plants (not so obvious)

Goal setting for next year:

1) Research the crop that we want to grow, research vertical gardens and garden bed layouts

2) Plan plan plan!! Create the garden plan on paper! Grouping types of plants together (herbs vs root or green veggies)

3) Mark my calendar for the tasks that support our garden (prep the soil, organize the garden beds, break up the soil, remove the weeds, buy organic seeds/plants, start seeds indoors and do the actual planting!)

4) Try something new: Garlic, Pumpkin, CBD, Hungarian wax peppers, carrots, lettuce (ok definitely not all of these, just putting some ideas down for next year)

5) Figure out how to get my cilantro to grow for longer (I think I end up planting them too late and because the temperature and combined humidity is unpredictable in July I only get maybe 4 weeks of cilantro)

6) Install more dividers earlier in the season if needed

7) Create a mini greenhouse / tent to support plants during older evenings

Do you have a backyard garden?  If you could successfully grow any vegetable or fruit what would it be?