This is year two of our backyard garden. We’ve had successes this year that were failures last year, but continue to have fun seeing what grows in our yard. In year two, I’ve finally accepted that I have a dilemma: I want to grow things that need a lot of sun. I want to live among tall trees.
I grew up on a lake with tall trees all around us, so that feels like home. When we bought our home three years ago, I was insistent upon trees and a neighborhood with personality over a new development that was recently flattened. However, the dilemma is real. I also want to grow plants that want the sun we just don’t have.
In preparing for our three raised beds, I found the sunniest spot in the yard and have rotated what I grow in these beds. This year, my sunniest bed was for tomatoes and that was a great success. We have 10 tomato plant varieties and have been eating tomatoes all season. My peppers were more successful last year, and I think I made a mistake in fertilizing them too early this year after transplanting. Cucumbers have been more or less a bust, and rabbits ate all of my peas and beans. Corn I’m just giving up on, but potatoes in grow bags and garlic planted last October and harvested in June was so satisfying and we have garlic to last us through our next harvest.
However, I’ve come to accept that in the early gardening journey, any success should be celebrated, and any failure is just a lesson for next year. It is October, and while frost is coming soon, we have things growing that I anticipate developing a bit more before picking. We still have green tomatoes, so many tomatillos, and jalapeños, habaneros, and poblanos coming in. Tomatillos have been interesting. This was my first year growing these and they were my first plant to flower in the spring under my grow lights. However, they grew tall with several flowers before anything fruited. I read that they are a stickier flower and that pollination isn’t easy in the humidity. My pollinators were busy working all spring and summer, and their hard work is finally paying off. This is a beautiful plant with their balloons finally appearing, and I’m hoping that they grow a bit more before I’m forced to harvest.
