I have no idea who,
if anyone, is interested in my gardening experiment. But here is my
update, Spring 2015.
At first I was not
going to have a garden this year since I have learned most of what I
expect to learn and since I have much less time than before.
But I decided to
plant another round anyway for the following reasons: the incremental
work since everything has been set up is small, I own all the seeds
and materials I need for most of this next season (e.g. insecticidal
soap, copper solution, time release fertilizer), and because I wanted
to see if I could get better results from the peas and beans disease
wise by spreading them out. Also to see if I could get the lettuce
to not bolt so fast by planting them in the shade.
So we planted
4 x rows pole beans
4 x rows sugar daddy
peas
2 x rows oregon
sugar peas
1 row and 1
container romaine lettuce, 1 in shade and 1 not
2 x containers basil
4 x containers sweet
100 cherry tomatoes
2 x rows carrots
I will plant a few
containers of cucumbers and a few of semi-determinate hybrid tomatoes
if I can find any.
In the past, a
planting of this type has resulted in occasional useful crops of all
the above vegetables, with some disease and bolting problems. As
long as you are not depending on them, they are nice to have fresh
from time to time. The pole beans and the peas are by far the most
regularly available and actually useful (as I do not normally buy
them at the store due to the prices).
The garden
experiment is mostly over. It is fascinating to get a feel for the
genetic and development issues in plants, and it is also fascinating
to see with my own eyes the continuous struggle with disease and
pests. If you have never seen this before, it is worth it. As an
economic or health activity (e.g. save money or improve health with
fresh vegetables) it is marginal. I would have to invest much more
and scale way up before the incremental value was worth the
investment.
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