Since I’ve been planting the cold frame with the intention of eating from it through the winter, it’s hard to say that the gardening season is coming to an end. One group of crops winds down but the next batch is growing like crazy in the shorter days and cooler weather (at last!) of fall.
I ate my first salad from the cold frame a few days ago. Both the arugula and the mizuna are coming on like gangbusters but the lettuce seems a little slow. The spinach seems to be struggling somewhat, I think because the first planting went in during the heat of August and spinach hates heat. I’ve since put in a second row but it’s too early to tell if it’s any happier than the August planting.
Just like last year, the main garden was a mixed bag of successes and disappointments. The peas were spectacular, far outgrowing the heights indicated on the packet and pulling the chicken wire supports over. I’ve had so much broccoli, I couldn’t keep up; the vole damage to the potatoes appears to be minimal and even with squirrel damage, I’ve had a good crop of tomatoes. I also got a spectacular crop of garlic and the onions did well too, though not as well as last year.
I have eight robust brussels sprouts that seem to finally be forming sprouts on their stems. I’ve never grown them before, but I understand that if I leave them standing until after the first hard frost the sprouts will be sweeter.
However, all my cucurbits (squash, melons and cucumbers) were positively decimated by chomping, disease-carrying pests of all kinds. First came the striped cucumber beetles and then the ugly gray squash bugs. The squash bugs in particular did a number on the cukes, causing them to wither and die after producing only a few fruits. They laid eggs all over the underside of the winter squash leaves, where I cut them out and squashed them but enough survived to carry on killing my cucumbers right through early August.
As always, my winter squash were visited by the dastardly squash vine borer moth, one of the few moths that’s out and about in the daytime. They lay their eggs at the base of the vine where the stem emerges from the ground, the larvae hatch and then burrow into the stem itself. You know you have vine borers when you see the big umbrella-like leaves wilting in the hot sun, then perking up in the cool evening hours. If you’re lucky, you can find the borer’s entry hole, slice the stem with a knife and find the gross-looking fat white borer. If you get them all in time, you have some hope of saving the plant, though that never works for me. I did get a few squash, but most of them were small.
The University of Kentucky Ag website has some good pictures of all my unwelcome guests.
My best success was with the melons of unknown variety. I normally start most of my plants from seed, but I only wanted three so I bought some starts at a local farm stand. All I can tell you is that they were canteloupes and I got two big ones, the size of basketballs. These were also a first-time planting for me, so I was unsure of when to harvest them. I found out I was a little too late when I went out one morning and found #$$!&# squirrel damage to both. We trimmed both melons and ate them anyway.
Peppers, as always, were a failure. Out of eight plants, I only got one pepper. I think this is the last year I will devote any space to them.
Although I had good luck with carrots last year (until the voles got most of them), this year was a strange one. Basically, every planting sprouted…and then disappeared. My cold frame carrot plantings are now up and so far, so good. Keep your fingers crossed; these are the “candy carrots” that Eliot Coleman talks about in his books.
Most of the beets fell victim to voles again and something really devastated the beans. I suspect a small rabbit got in through the fence.
Unlike last summer, which was cold and wet, this year was hot and dry, punctuated with downpours every few weeks. We had several stretches of 90-degree weather and the garden just plain got away from me. But there’s one thing gardeners can always count on: next year. Next year’s garden will be the best ever. Next year I will solve these problems, change my layout, try new varieties. Hope always springs eternal in the garden!
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“Next year’s garden will be the best ever.” Oh yes, mine too!
I’ve also given up on peppers, they produce about one pepper per plant for me and it’s just not worth it. Carrots really haven’t been worthwhile either. And anything in the cabbage family gets eaten alive here in my Eastern Kansas garden. I’ve not even attempted cucurbits. However, the local organic farmers seem to produce cucumbers and winter squash, even though the summer squash have too many pest problems, so I’ve been meaning to try winter squash. And next year I want to try sweet potatoes.
How great that you have so much wildlife in your garden. I too have a rabbit, squirrels, at least one vole, and I have a chipmunk. They haven’t really caused me to lose much in the way of crops and they bring me so much pleasure (well, not the voles, which I’ve never seen, but it is fun to know they’re there).
I’d like to see a photo of your coldframe.