Reflection on the growing season

2026-03-15 15:19

Summer crops are still producing in full swing, so thought I'd jot down some thoughts, while they're fresh, on what went well and what didn't so I can tweak some things next year.

In the greenhouse

• One zucchini and one cucumber is more than enough. I have just kept up with the zucchini's, but a couple of cucumbers were donated to the compost pile because I couldn't get to them in time.

• All my tomatoes were self-sown from previous seasons, however they ended up all being cherry tomatoes. Kept 7 in total, and have kept up. I think 3 cherries and 3 regulars will be better next year. I like Romas.

• Greenhouse is great for cucumbers and tomatoes, pruning to a single leader and tying to the top rail. It can seem a bit heavy handed to trim so much back, but yields were still strong.

• Zucchini ended up taking up a fair bit of room in the greenhouse. It liked it there, so I will do it again next year, but dedicate a single bay (out of the 12) to it.

• 6 chillis is too much. 2 will do. The "wild fires" are delicious, and mild. I've only been eating them green so far, but they're meant to be red. They're long and plants produce a lot. Will collect the seed.

• Capsicum "redskin" doing well in the greenhouse. Plant 2 next year.

• Capsicum "lunchbox red" also doing well. Bugs seem to bore holes, but I've never seen one inside. They're a good in-between while the redskins grow. 1 is enough. Produces well.

• Nasturtiums and borage were beautiful in the greenhouse, and the bees loved them, but they took up a lot of room. Saved seed of the nasturtiums (more than enough borage in the soil). Will plant out in the fruit tree orchard next year.

• Old seeds of my greens mix are starting to fail (mesculin mix is no longer a mix, just mustard). I bought new spinach for the last sow and it's looking good. Will stick to my fav 4 mix next year - Rocket, Spinach, Red Russian Kale, Tatsoi.

• Trial of greens plantings in front of cucumbers and chillis got a bit leggy. Rocket did ok, but it was still a bit busy. Stick to dedicated bays next year. 5 cuts is about what each planting receives. Plant successions at cut 2.

• Eggplants slower to produce. Only just started harvesting my 2 plants. Will monitor and decide if I want more next year. I have a delicious marinated eggplant recipe I want to give a crack again if they don't all make it into my cooking.

• More radish. Best snacks while I'm in the garden.

• Keep the succession plantings of beets up. They've been great in roasts and shredded fresh in salads and sandwiches.

• 1 bay of silverbeet is enough, probably reduce to 3 rather than 4. Got busy. Also had an unexpected glut out in the fruit tree orchard once weeds were removed.

• Scarlett runner beans doing well, happy running up the back of the greenhouse with the steel mesh in front of brown onions.

• Plant more brown onions. Didn't feel right buying them a couple times. Maybe down at allotment. Need to make extra beds.

• Keep up spring onions. They go in everything.

Backyard

• Time to extend more into the lawn. Keep grass to the left for now, but extend in front of orchard.

• Strawberries under fruit trees doing really well. Thanks to dad for covering up with netting, much to the dismay of the blackbirds. I'm trying to save some runners to spread into a new area.

• Apple and 1 plum tree produced in the orchard. Little moth traps seemed to work, though I cut the string off a bit late when I saw them ringbarking. Keep an eye on it next year. No apricots yet.

• I thought I was pruning quite a bit to keep the trees small, but I can do better. They hardly blinked. Keep reading up on the art of tiny tree pruning, though just do it. All the information is conflicting. I'm sticking with the idea that Summer pruning just after the solstice is best for the hard prunes to reduce size because they energy has switched to going back into the trunk, while Spring prunes will promote new bushy growth because photosynthesis is in full swing (or something like that).

• Prepare 3 new tree planting areas over winter for (ideally) peach, nectarine and persimon.

• "The graveyard" is useless. Dries out too quick with the western sun. Unless I extend it to be a proper bed, leave for the grass to grow over again.

Down at the allotment

• Garlic did not do too well because of water-logging. Couldn't help that. Will do 3 rows this winter.

• Potatoes did well despite thinking I lost them all to mould from leaving them in the garage too long after dicing the eyes up. A lot of little spotty blemishes, which word on the street sounds like I'm not alone. They haven't seemed to affect the taste or quality, just appearance. 3 beds are enough, though there will be a crossover with garlic, so maybe I'll just have 2 (only have 5 rows available currently).

• My random scattering of sunflowers were a delight to see down at the allotment. Saving seed. I'm going to put these everywhere. Guerilla gardening?

Other notes

• Shadecloth on direct-sows works really well keeping water dispersed, soil from drying out, and pesky birds eating the seed. Find more shadecloth.

• I didn't grow corn. I want corn. New beds in front of orchard?

• More berries. Can never have enough. Prepare new beds over winter. Do more lurking at that big berry patch around the corner so I can find the owner and ask for shoots. In front of orchard? May need to do some borders to prevent from spreading. Research. Blueberries should be ok.

• More perennials. Prepare an area for asparagus. Find out when shoots are available. Same time as potatoes?

• Plant out rosemary in corners of backyard garden beds, and at front letterbox.

• Pumpkin. None this year. Last year in the greenhouse was fun making a tunnel, until they fell off. Not the best spot. Might do some guerilla gardening out at the bus stop across the road or my front verge.

• Broccoli. I love the stuff, but never figured out when the best time to plant is. Just plant. Figure out how not to have some many seedling failures.

• Chooks. Design new garden beds around the almost certainty that I will be getting chooks again. bok bok.

• Donate more. Take to work. Be more social with the neighbours.

Next actions

• Sow more beets, carrots, spring onion and greens in greenhouse for Winter.

• Planting garlic and broad beans down at the allotment for Winter.