2024 was the first real year I was able to sit down and begin gardening so I thought I would share some of the lessons I learned the hard way. Maybe to help others, but also to remind myself.
My first lesson was in regard to our walnut tree. From everything I've read, many plants do not do well in soil beneath walnut tree because of a chemical in the tree itself which kills some plants such as tomatoes. So, my first lesson was to figure out a work around. I probably could have tried in ground gardening elsewhere in the yard, but I was beginning late in the season for all of that. I may try it in a patch here or there this year. For 2024, I just stuck with container plants. A lot of them.
Eventually I started numbering my containers so as to keep track of them more easily. My husband had suggested I use Excel to keep track of everything - and at the end of the season I realized he was right, and I suddenly found myself wishing I had done that. In December I started a spreadsheet to keep track of my crop rotation and its honestly kind of a pain trying to remember which container size I used to plant what, so I definitely need to keep better records of everything. Live and learn.
As I mentioned, I started later in the season so that's one of the lessons: Start early in the season. From what I have read, you don't want to start too early but starting too late isn't good either. Many of my crops didn't do well and I think it's just because I started them too late in the season.
Next, just because the internet says something doesn't mean it's true. Like pretty much everything on the Internet, when it comes to gardening, there is so much conflicting information out there and of course everyone claims to be an expert. I'm finding I prefer the "give it a try and see what happens" method.
Holland Farms was one of the Web sites I used to purchase bulbs from. I remember seeing their name around for years and I "thought" they had a good reputation. The first batch of bulbs I bought had a few decaying bulbs, while others were full of mold and just did not do well. It took several days of sending emails to them, but I did finally receive replacement bulbs for most of my orders. The replacement bulbs looked much healthier. But even after some time I noticed a few of those began to turn moldy as well. I planted them all except the heavily damaged bulbs. So, I guess time will tell whether or not they do well. I have since done some research on the company and found many, many complaints in regard to the quality of their bulbs. My experience does not seem to be entirely unique unfortunately so I may not buy from them again.
Squirrels enjoy eating ginger root. I would not have guessed that one, but it actually made me laugh when I found my unprotected ginger had been dug up by a squirrel. I suppose if you're going to plant ginger root, either protect it or start it indoors.
This one should be obvious, but I didn't realize my error until I had my garlic in hand and was preparing to plant it...and I realized I had way more garlic than I actually needed at the time. Garlic is garlic - plant individual cloves and not the entire head! (Duh!, haha.)
This year's favorite crops were tomatoes and tomatillos, lettuce and banana peppers. I was surprised by that, as I normally don't eat many banana peppers. I will definitely need to grow them again. Since I'm thinking on it, I also learned tomatoes are supposed to be a tricky plant to grow and not for beginners. I had started a bunch of seedlings in the house but none of them did well. I ended up buying some plants and they did OK.
Hoops. Not a fan. I'm probably going to avoid using them this year if I can. If you're going to use them, set them up before the cold really sets in. I had a few which came undone with the wind, and as the ground warmed up again. By that time, the ground was still too frozen to stick them back in place correctly, so I had to shove the ends inside my containers. The clips I used were horrible and I really had to fight to get them in place. Not a fun task when it's cold outside. I found they were a bit easier to use once they had been on the hoops themselves overnight. If I do them again, I may just use garden staples. I'm really not sure if there is a proper way of using the hoops.
Potato grow bags rip easily - I had many handles break apart as I tried moving the bags even just a little bit. I would recommend using straw if you're going to use them. It's lighter. Or just put them in place and don't move them.
Harvest greens early as microgreens! This includes spinach, arugula, bok choy, etc. Also watch out for aphids. Those guys devoured many of my crops.
I guess that's really it, from what I can recall and from my notes. I'm looking forward to a better harvest this year since I've learned a few things. Here's just a few bullet points to summarize. Thanks for reading and happy gardening this year!
1. Walnut tree soil can kill plants.
2. Organize, record, label.
3. Start early but not too early.
4. Don't believe everything you find on the Internet.
5. Do research before buying bulbs from suppliers.
6. Squirrels love ginger!
7. Plant garlic cloves, not the entire bulb.
8. Favorite crops: tomatoes, tomatillos, lettuce and banana peppers.
9. Tomatoes can be tricky, buy young plants.
10. Garden hoops can be more of a problem than helpful. Do research first.
11. Potato bags rip easily.
12. Harvest microgreens.
13. Watch out for aphids.
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