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| Broom corn in early August |
It's hard to believe September is upon us and autumn is right around the corner. But here it is, and my summer garden is winding down.
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| My garden at the end of summer |
If you've been following along, you know that this year, I tried a new gardening system, that of planting by companion groups. I also switched to permanent beds instead tilling the entire garden every year. So far I've written about:
Now, I'm reflecting back on the summer and how well this system worked for me.
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| Okra still producing on the far left, BOSS & squash bed cleaned up, sweet potatoes & purple morning glories still growing, popcorn on right. |
The most time and energy consuming part was creating the beds. The good news is that since they are intended to be permanent, I won't have to do it all from scratch next summer. They are not necessarily meant to be raised, but because our garden is on a slope, we decided to terrace the beds. For this we used logs, for as many as we could anyway. I didn't secure all of them well and some rolled out of place during heavy rains. This also meant some of the good soil washed into the aisles as well. Obviously this is on our list to correct!
In between the rains, we had long, hot dry spells. This is a problem every summer, but I find that a thick mulch helps a lot; not only to help keep the soil moist, but also to keep the weeds down.
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| The potatoes are long since harvested, but the cowpeas are still producing. Marigolds in the background. |
I've learned in the past, that mulching must be accomplished early in the summer because once harvest and food preserving begin, there's little time for anything else. This year was no exception, except that I did a better job of mulching than last year.
The biggest mulching challenge with the companion group beds, was that not everything grew at the same rate. The 4 o'clocks for example...
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| 4 O'clocks (Mirabilis) produce beautiful flowers of many colors and the leaves are toxic to Japanese beetles. |
were much slower to germinate and grow than their companion Red Pontiac potatoes. That meant I had to delay mulching the potato beds until the 4 o'clocks were up. I found the same thing to be true of several other companion groups I planted.
Some beds grew very few weeds, perhaps because they were mulched so thickly, or because of the companion plants I put there, or perhaps because the beds were so crowded that there was no room for weeds to grow.
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| Junglized potatoes, bush beans & morning glories |
Weed-wise, the biggest problem was morning glories, which I left because they attract beneficial insects. What a mistake. These were quickly out of control. In fact, they completely took over my Brandywine tomatoes.
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| Morning glories engulfing Brandywine tomatoes |
A couple days ago it looked like the Brandywines were dead, so I started to pull everything out of the bed. Once the morning glories were gone however, I discovered.....
one tomato on plants that were struggling to stay alive.
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| The Roma tomato plants have been pulled. Swiss chard, calendula, and marigolds are still producing. |
My Roma tomatoes, which performed brilliantly at first, finally did succumb to anthracnose as well as the blight. Last year anthracnose set in early, so that I got less tomatoes from the 30 plants I put in, than this year's 18. I saved seed from those plants last year, wondering if they could possibly develop and pass on some sort of immunity. I don't know about that, but I do know that I had beautiful tomatoes until the middle of August.
Disease, in fact, was a bigger problem for me this year than insects. I actually had very few insect problems, perhaps because of the companion groups? Disease however, is more difficult to deal with in the garden, and I'm not sure what the answer for it is. Most organic gardening books recommend prophylactic use of fungicides, but I've never actually found that to be very helpful. Obviously, this is a concern.
Other beds are still producing. We're still getting a few melons, especially watermelons, though they haven't been very tasty this year, bland actually. I'm also still getting a lot of okra, which always performs well here.
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| Okra with pods, pink cosmos, & purple morning glories |
Other things haven't done so well, like pumpkins, butternut squashes, luffa sponge gourds, and peppers. This wasn't just plants having problems, but seeds not germinating. Some of this was saved seed, some purchased. Other things that didn't come up included eggplant, habaneros, summer savory, poppies, pyrethrum, valerian, basil, and borage. All no shows. Peppers I finally bought plants of, and am just now getting a decent few. Between too few plants and blossom end rot, I won't have enough for a winter's supply of frozen, but something is better than nothing.
Some things are yet to be harvested, like my late Red Pontiac potatoes, onions, popcorn, the rest of the broom corn and sweet potatoes...
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| Sweet potatoes and purple morning glories |
Speaking of the popcorn, it was the only plant that sustained damage when we had the storm.
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| Wind blown popcorn behind the sweet potatoes. |
In reflecting on what I'll do differently next year, there are several things on my list:
- proper borders for the beds
- start slow germinators and growers earlier
- mulch or weed the aisles between the beds earlier
- perhaps widen some of the aisles
- pull every morning glory I see sprouting
I think this was the prettiest garden I've ever had, and overall I'd say the experiment was a success. It will be easier next year, because I already have the beds made. I also have my basic companion groups figured out, though I plan to expand and improve upon the groups. All in all, it's one experiment I'm glad I tried.
Companion Group Gardening: Late Summer Notes ©
Sept 2011 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/
Sept 2011 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/
