Garden Plans for 2021 and July Garden Update

In this time of rising grocery store prices, we are glad we have the space and ability to grow some of our own food. In 2020, we grew and preserved lots of food and so we don’t need to grow quite so much this year. We want to use up some of the stuff we already have.

This year’s garden plan is focused mostly on growing things for fresh eating. We’re also working on things we can do to make our gardening a bit less labor-intensive. Last year we built a PVC drip irrigation system to simplify watering. This year we are growing more things in raised beds and are going to try utilizing mulch to control weeds in the in-ground garden. The garden will be less work simply because it is considerably smaller than previous years’ gardens.

In years past, we’ve grown 30 to 50 tomato plants (sometimes more). We canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and salsa. We usually have around 100 assorted pepper plants (green chile, jalapenos and bell peppers). Grampy fills the whole bottom of our upright freezer with roasted green chile. We usually grow 2 to 3 rows of green beans, which I pressure can. We grow several squash plants. In addition to eating fresh squash, I shred and freeze the zucchini to make zucchini bread and zucchini-potato hash browns. When we grow winter squash, I pressure can butternut squash in cubes to use in soup. This is my favorite recipe. We usually grow a few potatoes, peas, carrots, beets, some lettuce or spinach and cucumbers.

We have plenty of canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, peppers and green beans to last until next year. We’re scaling back a bit on the garden so we can focus on other projects, so this year’s garden is going to seem tiny.

Here’s what we’re growing:

In the East Garden, we’ve planted:

* Cherokee Purple tomatoes–I wanted two plants but they came in a 4-pack. Grampy wanted to grow all four plants. We will have plenty of tomatoes to eat and to share.

* Chocolate Sprinkles cherry tomato–We are growing two of these. I love to snack on them when I am working in the garden.

* Green bell peppers–4. I’ve picked two bell peppers so far and there are many more on the plants.

* Poblano peppers–4.

* Monster Jalapeno peppers –4. These will be used for making Jalapeno poppers, which Grampy and my daughter like. We canned many jars of Cowboy Candy last year, so we won’t need to do that.

* Biggie chile–4

* Big Jim chile–4. Grampy can’t decide which he likes best between the Biggie and Big Jim chile. So he’s planting some of each and roasting them separately to see which he likes the most. Green chile is very important to him. 🙂

* Cucumber–1. Last year we had so many cucumbers. We gave them to everyone and fed extras to the chickens. So, just one plant this year.

We also started seeds for Ajvarski peppers ( a red roasting pepper) and a small red pepper Grampy uses to make hot sauce. I over-planted the seeds because normally all the pepper seeds I plant don’t come up. But many more germinated than I expected, and we had lots of plants for both! Grampy shared extras with his co-workers. We did get them planted late, but we should still get a harvest with our long growing season. We planted 5 of the small red peppers and 7 Ajvarski peppers.

In the Kitchen Garden we are growing:

* In a small raised bed: I planted seeds for spinach, lettuce, snow peas, Swiss chard, cilantro, chives, carrots. The weather got hot very quickly and everything bolted and burned up. I’ve pulled everything and planted zinnia seeds in their place.

* Strawberries. I moved these from the East garden so they were easy for my granddaughter to pick. (The kitchen garden is next to the play yard.) She’s eaten several already!

* Squash: 3 zucchini plants and 4-5 Canada crookneck squash plants. I’ve grown my zucchini in swimming pools the last several years and it has worked well for me. My plants are getting huge! It’s July and yesterday I found ten squash bugs on my zucchini plants. I control them by picking off the bugs and eggs with duct tape and applying neem oil. The squash bugs have not yet bothered the Canada crookneck squash plants. I’ve harvested six zucchini so far.

Perennial plants and fruit trees:

Around the property, there are several fruit trees and bushes.

*Raspberries–there are three raspberry patches. I tend and pick berries from the one near our back door. We’ve had a few ripe raspberries. I’m planning to freeze extras to use in smoothies.

*Rhubarb–two plants, but I’m allergic to it 🙁

*Grapes–we have a grape vine along the fence in front of our house. We will be able to harvest several bunches of grapes.

*Fruit trees: Pear, peach, apple, plum, chokecherry

*A currant bush

The only trees that have ever produced much fruit are the apple and pear trees. They are both loaded with fruit this year. I need to thin them. I’ve never used the fruit from the chokecherry tree or the currant bush. The birds often eat the fruit from them.

I’m hoping that with a smaller garden, we can take more time tending the plants. Usually when harvest and preserving time comes, I have a hard time keeping up on the garden work since I spend so much time in the kitchen. I’m looking forward to a slower season this year. There are lots of things I want to do to improve our outdoor space.

I think the number of plants we are going to grow, along with the perennial plants, will provide a good amount of fresh, healthy food for our family. I’m looking forward to spending less on produce at the grocery store.

I’m planning to do a monthly garden update to share our progress. We’ve been having some rain and the garden is really beginning to grow. Next month’s update photos should be pretty! 🙂

Happy growing! 🙂