It's safe to say that by late November in Southerly Canada, the growing season has ended. Megan and I were still getting an abundance of peppers at the end of October, which I did not expect. It's strange how we always think that growing vegetables need super hot weather, but I've found they have their most growth in cooler temperatures.
To take us through winter, it's heartwarming to know we have some preserves set aside, like pickled tomatoes, a fantastic salsa that my sister made, my mother's tomato sauce, and tomatoes that were blanched before freezing.
We also having something even better, in my opinion, to look forward to: A Musquee de Provence Pumpkin! And we're just waiting for the perfect day to make a soup from it. On second thought, it's pretty big, so we might be able to use it for a couple of recipes. Of course, we'll post those later.
What I'm interested in doing in this post is giving some of the highlights of our first year keeping an heirloom vegetable garden, and stating what vegetables we liked or didn't like, and which we would or would not grow again. Our successes or failures may or may not be a reflection of the vegetable, the experience of the growers, or both. These are my opinions alone, so we'll see what Megan has to say!
Biggest Successes: Yellow Pear Cherry Tomatoes --> The two plants of these were, without a doubt, the most successful producers of the season (but cherry tomatoes normally are, I suppose). We had approximately 70-80 tomatoes on each plant, and when those were harvested, many more set and ripened so that we were eating these straight into September.
Green Zebra Tomatoes --> We had three plants of these, and they produced really well too. Smaller fruit usually means more of it though, I suppose. Our Purple Cherokees did really well producing as they did considering their size, but I'm not going to include them under our biggest successes purely based on the taste; it was probably my household's least favourite tomato for fresh eating.
The Green Zebra, on the other hand, was really tangy and sweet, as well as pretty, which made it one of my favourite things to grow this year.
Biggest Failures:
Patty Pan Squash --> Patty Pans are beautiful little white, almost green-tinged, squash with a frill, of which we only got one. We had a bad start with these anyway, because we planted around five seeds or so in each mound and nothing came up after a few weeks. Bad seed pack? We promptly planted the rest and ended up with one Patty Pan plant. I'm really happy that we got one fruit off it, but I noticed at least one other on the plant and it became soft with rot before it came to a good size. Maybe they're susceptible to rain?
We had a lot of that this year.
Purple Calabash and Red Zapotec -->
Of course I had to include these mysterious tomatoes I've never seen with my own eyes, because we didn't get any! I'm not going to blame the seed or anything though, because lets face it, their seedlings were just as strong and healthy as the Yellow Pear, Purple Cherokee, and Green Zebra that did make it to maturity. It was purely Megan and I, because we set them out in the sun for too long when trying to harden them off. I guess this is part of learning though.
Paris Market Carrots --> Unfortunately, as tasty as these were, they never really came to size. I know, they're small to begin with, but they should become at least 1/2 inch balls of carrot by maturity. We still have some sitting in our pots that have not reached full maturity, so I'm not sure what happened, but their growth became stunted.
Things That Should Have Been Abundant, But Weren't:
Black-Seeded Simpson, Green Oak Leaf, Cracoviensis, Australian Yellow Leaf, and Red Deer Tongue Lettuces --> The ranking of these lettuces in this category has nothing to do with how tasty they are (they were delicious!), but simply that they did not last for very long. I think we started the seed early enough in April, but by the time they were really starting to produce, it simply got too hot too early in the season and they bolted. Next year, I guess I'll have to pray we have a reasonable and seasonable summer?
Lucullus Swiss Chard --> What tasty, beautiful Swiss Chard, but what a poor producer. Again, I think it was too hot all summer as dark leafy greens tend to enjoy cooler temperatures. It probably doesn't help that we planted it in a pot as well, which may have stunted its growth. Next year, I would like to plant this Swiss Chard directly in the garden so that we can have a better shot at it.
Things To Grow More Of:
Cylindra, Golden Detroit, Bull's Blood, and Chioggia Beets --> I think these beets were amazing, and Megan and I did amazingly well growing them! They were sizable beets, very pretty, and tasted as beets should. My only issue is that every time we harvested, the amount was small, and I think we only had around two harvests in total. This is not the fault of the beets; just the fault of us for not planting enough.
Little Finger Carrots --> I think these grew to be the best looking and nicest size of all the carrots we grew. I just would have liked more of them.
Mixed Coloured Carrots --> I think these would have been really successful too had Megan and I been patient enough to leave them until they reached full maturity. Instead we were picking really tasty carrots all summer that were probably half the size they should have been. As we never got enough to have the mixed carrots as a vegetable on their own, we need to plant more next year, and practice more patience!
Musquee de Provence Pumpkin --> I wasn't sure whether I should put this in the greatest success category, but I decided to put it here, because i think getting one pumpkin off one plant is a pretty good feat. The pumpkin has a mellower and sweeter flavour than other pumpkins and makes such a pretty display for Halloween that we would love to grow more of this though!
Things That Produced Well, But We May Have To Think About:
Jimmy Nardello Peppers --> Beautiful peppers, and lovely red colour for the ones that had a chance to ripen before the frost. They tasted good and sweet when they were fried and even when freshly eaten. The thing I wasn't struck on was the texture, however, as I found them a little on the chewy side when eaten fresh, not crispy as I thought they would be.
Bulgarian Carrot Pepper --> I really liked this pepper, I did. Bright orange, fruity in flavour, yet spicy like a jalapeno. My only issue is that they are a rather large producer and I'm worried that we won't find enough uses for them. I like hot peppers, but don't cook with them frequently enough.
Conclusion:
What to Continue Growing in 2012 --> The
Yellow Pear and
Green Zebra tomatoes are givens! Despite us not enjoying the
Cherokee Purple's flavour as much, we still have seed for it and will likely use it up.
Of course, we have to try for the
Purple Calabash and
Red Zapotec's again too. We're not quitters!
For greens, we will try all the
lettuce and the
swiss chard again. I feel it might have been a bad year for them, and as we still have seed, we might as well see if they are better producers next year!
For squash, I would love to grow the
Musquee de Provence again. As we likely will not be growing the Patty Pan again, we could take up those mounds with Musquee as well. Of course, I'll have to talk to Megan about that!
For carrots and beets, I would like to scale back the varieties and perhaps plant more of one kind rather than a few of many.
Since my favourites were the
Little Finger Carrots and the
Chioggia Beets, these would be my top choices.
For peppers, we might plant the
Jimmy Nardellos and
Bulgarian Carrot Peppers again since we have leftover seed. I think I would like to add on another variety to experiment with next year though.
New Stuff --> Looking at
the Cottage Gardener Website, I know I would love to try more greens like Kale, Mustard Greens, or some different kinds of lettuce. I'm also attracted to growing onions or leeks.
