Do you sometimes feel like your garden is toying with you? Me too. Here’s what I learned this year.
1. Sick plants make for a sick garden — don’t buy unhealthy seedlings at the grocery store. Last spring I found a batch of very cheap tomato seedlings at the grocery store. They looked tired and had brown leaves, but I convinced myself I could nurse them back to health. I planted three or four of them among my healthy homegrown seedlings. They greened up for a while with water, sun, and care, and even produced a few tomatoes. Then they quickly declined, turned brown, and died early in the season. There were no obvious insect problems, but the sickness spread through the tomato bed and ruined most of the harvest. Because I don’t know what caused it, I won’t plant tomatoes in that spot next year, and I discarded the diseased plants instead of composting them. Lesson learned: resist the bargain bin—sick-looking plants can infect the rest of your garden.
2. You can barely keep up with a prolific zucchini harvest. While tomatoes disappointed, zucchini delivered generously: early, late, and often overwhelming. For weeks we needed to include zucchini at every meal just to keep up. We ate it stir-fried, baked, turned into bread, shredded and frozen, dried for winter soups, grilled, even used in brownies. We gave large amounts to the kids, and still had more than enough. Fortunately we all love zucchini; otherwise summer would have been endless. I may plant fewer zucchini next year, but I rarely manage to hold back. Lesson learned: I almost always grow too much zucchini.
3. Cherry tomatoes can be too small to be worth the bother. I usually grow plenty of cherry tomatoes for snacking and for drying to use through winter. This year many of my “cherries” were more like tiny berries—so small it took longer to pick them than they were worth. Next season I’ll choose varieties that set larger fruit so harvesting is more efficient and satisfying. Lesson learned: select cherry varieties for size as well as quantity.
4. Eggplants are beautiful and rewarding. I’d never grown eggplant before this year. With a bare spot in the bed I planted a single seedling more out of curiosity than expectation. It turned out to be a delightful surprise: large lobed leaves, vibrant purple flowers, and an elegant presence among the vegetables. The plant was a real show-stopper and produced well. Lesson learned: eggplants deserve more space in my garden—next year I’ll plant several.
5. Fennel can be frustrating—figure out the right conditions first. I tried fennel again this year after a disappointing potted attempt last season. I devoted a whole row to it. The plants produced lovely feathery fronds but then bolted to seed with tough stalks and never formed the bulbs I expected. Clearly I missed something—timing, spacing, soil, or water. Lesson learned: do the research on fennel requirements before planting next spring so it has a chance to form proper bulbs.
6. A backyard garden is the best playground. My grandchildren adore the garden. They love planting seeds and seedlings, exploring among the raised beds, and picking peaches, raspberries, tomatoes, carrots, or green beans to eat straight away. From age three to thirteen, they haven’t outgrown the joy of harvesting and tasting food they helped grow. Sharing gardening time with them is the most meaningful reason I plant each year. Lesson learned: passing on a love of growing and eating fresh food is a priceless gift.
What lessons did your garden teach you this year?