For those of you who have been following me this year, you know this year was my first real attempt at vegetable garden. If you missed that post, you can review it here.
I decided to start small with a raised bed. And I tried to choose plants that were pretty easy to grow and did not take up a lot of space.
I planted 3 different types of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, jalapeño peppers, green peppers and cilantro.
As I put this garden to bed, I thought it might be helpful to you to know what varieties I planted, how they faired at the end of the season and what I'm going to do differently next year.
Tomatoes
The Roma tomatoes did the best out of the three. Variety was Pony Express-Plum Tomato. They had a very nice flavor. Many did not turn red until very late in the season due to the heat and humidity of the summer.
Rutgers tomatoes did the worst. The plants got very tall but I was only able to harvest one or two to try. Even as the Roma's ripened when temperatures cooled off in late August and September, these did not.
The third variety I planted was Jamestown but again they did not ripen easily in the heat of summer. They had a nice flavor but we did not get many to try.
Jalapeños
They were the best producing plant in my little garden. Unfortunately there was no variety on the label and for some reason I did not get a good photo of them. They had a nice spicy flavor and I would definitely plant them next year.
Green Peppers
Sweet Bell Pepper was the name on the label. No variety was listed. These were a real disappointment. I only got 2 very small peppers for the entire season. Perhaps this was because they were shaded by one of the tomato plants.
Zucchini
The variety was Spineless Perfection. This plant produced a lot of flowers but not many zucchinis. I learned from a friend that many of the flowers were probably male and that the female flowers were probably not getting pollenated. They did not improve as the heat leveled off. Next year I will pay attention and hand pollenate
Cucumbers
This bush variety Bush Pickle is meant to produce smaller fruit and not take up as much space as other varieties. These plants did not fair well in the heat and humidity and appeared to get some kind of fungus. We only had a few cucumbers to eat, but they were tasty. Next year I'll try to treat the fungus before it kills the plant.
Cilantro
These did great early in the season as cilantro does but bolted in the heat. I missed harvesting the seeds before the birds ate them, but I'm glad they enjoyed them.
I don't think I did too badly given our very hot humid summer here in SE PA. I saw lots of other folks in our area complaining about their gardens on Facebook so I was not alone.
I enjoyed figuring things out and will have a much better idea on what I'm doing when I plant again next year.
Have you tried veggie gardening? What were your experiences when you first started? Please comment below - we'd love to hear from you!
