I had one singular goal this summer and that was to make a garden that would harvest salad that I could eat. We have roughly one week left until it’s officially Fall and I feel like a garden update is needed.
I have good news and I have bad news.
The bad news is that half my garden died. I put too many plants in my little raised bed. The cabbage, zucchini, and tomato plants FLOURISHED and the spinach, strawberries, and squash all went to hell in a hand basket. Who knew cabbage took up so much space? The lesson I learned here is that when the package a plant comes in says to space other plants 2 to 3 feet away…it should be given some consideration.
The good news is that we got tomatoes, baby carrots, cabbage and zucchini and TECHNICALLY…that’s a salad folks! Albeit, perhaps not the best tasting salad and I still haven’t actually ‘harvested’ the cabbage because I don’t know how…but I’ll take it!
I win at half living gardens!
Next year? I’m sticking with ONE tomato plant, strawberries, and maybe something else that I actually eat and that doesn’t take up 5 feet of growing space. Cabbage is a hog.
Now what do I do with this thing until next Spring? Pull all the plants out? Cover it? Bury it?
DGMommy (Tamara) says
You did great!! Your garden looks delicious! You can harvest until frost, then everything will die anyway. Your strawberries may come back in the spring, but nothing else will, so leave it until then. You don’t have to do anything at all. The plants will bring nutrients to the soil. :)
SmithShack71 says
Looks good!
Several years ago, mom’s husband grew salad. He let his young son wash it all for dinner. They had guest. Sat down to eat to each bowl moving with tiny snails.
Yes, they did. Wash that shit. And good.
-Angie
ReneeJay says
You did great! And that’s coming from someone who for the first time ever in my 56 years grew something from a seed (if you don’t count my 3 sons). I planted tomato seeds this spring and ate my first full grown tomato last week. I had mixed feelings about eating it, though, because I felt like I was eating my child.
Shana Norris says
I want to do a raised bed next summer. I think I’d have more success than I did with the patio pots this year. Were your tomatoes the Juliet variety? They’re my faves!
Gigi says
You can just leave it – it will all die anyway. If you can’t stand looking at the dead stuff – just pull it up and call it a day.
May says
I am impressed! Wish my tomatoes had done half that well.
Andrea says
Wow! Your tomatoes are beautiful! I mean that in a nice and not perverted way.
I agree about planting things you will actually eat. Like, I know cabbage is supposed to be easy to grow, but what else do you make with it besides coleslaw? And there my creativity in the kitchen ends.