Last in the Series - What Was and What Might Be

Last but not least, let's see what grew in bed #4 in 2013 and then I'll reveal my plans for this bed for 2014.

Oh my, what an ugly mess it was on February 16. Just chock full of nearly dead pepper plants and a few other odds and ends off in one corner.

February 16, 2013

 But by March 3 it was mostly cleaned out and nearly ready for spring planting.

March 3

March 14, one corner still had some lingering overwintered greens and another had newly planted out peas protected by the omnipresent Agribon.

March 14

March 14

And I had also set out some seedlings of peas grown for their leafy shoots - Dou Miao.

March 14

April 12, and I had already added a couple of zucchini plants to the bed.

April 12
Zucchini Romanesco and Ortolano di Faenza

Plus a few cucumbers seedlings where the overwintered kale had been cleared out.

April 12

And look, just beyond the zucchini were some Fagiolo del Purgatorio (Purgatory Beans) struggling to get established. This planting never did well, I tried to start them far too early.

April 12

The overwintered chard was just beginning to bolt on April 25. It held off from bolting for far longer than the Lacinato kale that used to be next to it.

Flamingo and Golden chard, April 25

May 22 and the snap peas are producing but struggling, the plants were dying off, possibly because the drip line got kinked and they were drying out.

May 22

The snow peas were struggling along also and you can see the struggling Purgatory beans as well. In general it wasn't a great year for legumes in this bed, they didn't always get enough water and my timing was really off. I was really trying to push the start dates for the beans and I learned that they just don't like that, the later starts were far happier.

May 22

Except for the St. George runner beans. I got pretty good harvests from these plants (the bi-colored flowers). The Moonlight runner beans on the right never did well.

St. George runner beans, May 22

The zucchini seemed to be far more tolerant of an early start and they were already starting to produce, just the beginning of an amazing year for the Romanesco zucchini. The Ortolano di Faenza zucchini were quite productive also, but they had to compete with their overacheiving neighbor.

Romanesco zucchini, May 22

On the other hand, the cucumbers thoroughly resented an early start, they were just sitting there. Ah, but I almost forgot, the Tortarello Abruzzese cucumber was happy, see it just starting to take off on the far side of the trellis?

May 22

August 9. Some Pavoni runner beans were blooming where the peas had been earlier in the year. These produced ok but didn't really thrive.

August 9

The lacinato kale next to the runner beans was happy enough though.

August 9

And further down the bed I managed to get some Musica romano beans and French Gold filet beans to do well. Proper timing and adequate water seems to have made all the difference for this planting of beans. And the St George runner beans were thriving as well. The yellowing foliage in there were the sorry Moonlight runner beans.

August 9

The cucumbers had made something of a recovery. I gave up trying to train them up the tower, but they sprawled over the edge of the bed and were happy to soak up the heat along the side of the bed and along the path.

August 9

The Tortarello Abruzzese cucumber was never unhappy and was pumping out more cucumbers than I could eat.

Tortarello Abruzzese cucumber, August 9

This bed did pretty well through August and September but by October 24 it was looking rather tired.

October 24

October 24

October 24

By early December I had cleaned most of it out and what was left in the bed, other than the Lacinato kale was finished off by some freezing nights.

On to 2014.

This was most of what remained in the bed in mid-January. A zapped volunteer Aji Angelo pepper plant and the Agribon protected lacinato kale.

January 14, 2014

Still there in mid-February. I've harvested pretty regularly from the lacinato kale and it just started to bolt recently.

February 14

A week or so ago I replaced all the irrigation lines and the other day I sowed a cover crop blend. I don't dare leave the emerging seedlings unprotected from the birds. The poor critters are eating nearly everything in the garden that is green. The only things that aren't protected at the moment are alliums, celery, and poppies. My plan is to let the cover crop grow until about mid-April and then turn it in, let it rot for a few weeks and then I'll plant this bed with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.

February 14

The solanums will occupy this bed until freezing nights or diseases do them in at the end of the year. I'm going to really restrain myself and reduce the number of pepper and eggplant plants from seasons past. The number of tomato plants will be about the same.

The left hand side of the bed in the view above will be planted with tomatoes and the peppers and eggplants will have to share the right side of the bed.

Here's the varieties that I've chosen to grow this year:

Tomatoes: (One plant of each except as noted)
Amish Paste, 2 plants
Black Krim
Chianti Rose
Jaune Flamme
Potiron Ecarlate
Isis Candy cherry
Sweet Gold cherry

I'm going back to Amish paste this year because it did so well for me the two years previous to last year. The only reason I did not grow it last year was because my saved seeds didn't germinate. This year I bought fresh seeds from Fedco.

Amish Paste

Black Krim is new this year. I wanted to try a new "black" tomato and I've been considering this variety for a few years. This will be the year for it to show me its stuff.

Sweet Gold cherry tomato is also new this year. Last year I planted out one of my all time favorite yellow cherry tomatoes - Galinas, which turn out to be a dud, the plant just refused to grow. This year I want to try a new yellow cherry.

The rest of the tomatoes were in the garden last year and I was quite pleased with all of them so they get to return.

Jaune Flamme

Potiron Ecarlate

Isis Candy

Eggplant:
Bonica
Salangana
Sicilian

Sicilian (two variations) and Bonica

Salangana

The eggplant are the same varieties that I grew last year. They were all fabulous. The only change this year is that I will be growing fewer plants overall.

Peppers:
Sonora Anaheim
Tarahumara Chile Colorado
Pimento de Padron
Topeppo Rosso
Piment doux long des Landes
Lady Bell Hybrid
Odessa Market
Shephard's Ramshorn
Stocky Red Roaster
Aji Angelo
Christmas Bell

I loved the Sonora Anaheim last year and the year before. It's a big fleshy mild pepper that is wonderful harvested green and roasted.

Sonora Anaheim

Tarahumara is one of the chiles that I tried last year and it also is fairly fleshy and is mild and flavorful either green or red and is lovely as a dried red pepper as well.

Tarahumara Chile Colorado

Pimento de Padron has been in my garden every year for I don't know how many years now. If I had room for only one variety of pepper this would probably be the one.

Pimento de Padron

I didn't get enough of the Topeppo Rosso last year so it's back again this year. And I didn't get enough of Piment doux long des Landes either - a sweet frying type pepper from France that is delicious fresh either green or ripe. I like the thin fleshed frying peppers sliced up and added fresh to salads or panfried as a side dish or incorporated into a mixed vegetable sauté.

Piment doux long des Landes

Lady Bell is a tasty sweet bell pepper that does remarkably well in my climate. I often have a difficult time getting large bell peppers to do well in my cool climate and Lady Bell has proven itself to be a winner so it is back again.

Lady Bell

Odessa Market and Shephard's Ramshorn are thick fleshed sweet peppers, pointy rather than bell shaped. Both are very good tasting either fresh or roasted. Shephard's Ramshorn seems to be particularly productive.

Shephard's Ramshorn

Odessa Market

The only new pepper in the lineup this year is Stocky Red Roaster. I'm very fond of fleshy sweet peppers that are tasty raw or roasted, so how could I resist a pepper with that name? This lineup should fill the pepper/eggplant side of the bed. The only addition I might consider would be if I can find a nice sweet fleshy yellow pepper.

The other two peppers are two of my favorite mild baccatum type peppers. Aji Angelo is a mildly hot pepper that is good fresh or dried, green or ripe, I particularly like it dried when ripe and it tends to be the pepper flakes that I reach for the most often. Christmas Bell is a pretty pepper that resembles a Bishop's Cap pepper but it is most often almost completely sweet - I've only had one plant come out somewhat spicy for me. What I love about baccatum type peppers is their complex aroma and flavor which is more reminiscent of mild habaneros (chinense type peppers) than ordinary annuum peppers such as jalapenos or serranos. The baccatum peppers are later producing but more cold tolerant than annuum peppers so I like to grow them in large pots and keep them in protected spots near the house where they may produce for a few seasons.

Aji Angelo

Christmas Bell

So that completes the look back at the 2013 vegetable garden and the plans for the 2014 garden (subject to revision, of course). If you want to know where I got my seeds for these and other vegetables that I'm growing in 2014 you can find that information on my 2014 Planned Veggies page.