Garden Review 2022 - Successes and Failures

August marks the decline of the garden and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it. Part of me is sad that my lovely plants are dying back, and no are longer producing well. But the other part of me is ready for change and the new pace of life as we head towards fall. Today I thought I'd take a look back at the 2022 growing season and let you know how the garden did. I based today's content off of the "What We're Growing 2022" blog post that I wrote in February. If you're interested, you can go back to check out why we picked each variety.

As much as I would love to tell you that I was 100% successful this year, that's just not true. I had quite a few failures. As difficult as failures can be, they provide a great opportunity to learn. I hope you'll find some encouragement in your own gardening as I take a look back at mine.

Beans (Dried) - Black Turtle and Jacob's Cattle Bush -

The bugs totally annihilated our bean patch this year. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bean pods were untouched. We were able to harvest a respectable amount of Jacob's Cattle Beans. This was my first year growing them and I was blown away by how beautiful they are! Jacob's Cattle Beans got their name from Hereford cattle. If you google it, you can totally see why the name stuck!

I am still waiting for the black beans to dry down a bit more before harvest, but they're looking good. I am hopeful that we will have enough dried beans to last us throughout the year.

Beets - Detroit Dark Red -

I'm sorry to say, but beets were a failure for me this year. For starters, I didn't leave enough room for them in my garden. I ended up only planting a 2x4 foot area with beets. My second failure was that when the small amount was ready for harvest, I wasn't able to get them preserved. They ended up sitting out in the heat on my counter. Surprise... they got soft. The chickens were quite happy to help with my mistake, but I was disappointed with myself for such a rookie mistake.

Cabbage - Premium Late Flat Dutch -

Thankfully cabbage was a success! We were able to harvest about 12 heads of nice green cabbage and tuck it away for winter.

Carrots - Nantes, St. Valery, and Koral -

Carrots were a mixed bunch. My first planting did very well. Unfortunately, my second planting of seeds got washed away by a very large rainstorm and didn't sprout. We're happy with the carrots that did grow, but we won't have enough to make it through winter which is a major bummer!

Green Beans - Provider Stringless and Jade -

Green beans were a success (well... mostly). We grew a smaller amount this year because we still had lots of canned green beans from 2021. They did really well until the bugs destroyed our bean plants. I even resorted to organic pest spray, but nothing helped. Although the season was shortened due to the bugs, we were still able to harvest and preserve a decent amount of green beans. I'm thinking we'll have enough to last us for the year.

Kale - Russian Red and Dwarf Curled Vates -

Kale is such an easy keeper. It produced very well for us until the very hottest days of summer. We were able to freeze it for soups and smoothies.

Onions - Sweet Yellow Spanish and Yellow of Parma -

Okay another confession. The tag that marked the onion varieties was bleached out by the sun. AND I never wrote down which row was which variety in my garden notebook. Soooo, I'm making an educated guess on which was which. But regardless, both varieties did well. I have some curing in the barn now and am waiting on the rest to dry down before harvesting.

So far, I am happy with the taste and size of the onions. I'll have to give you an update on length of storage this winter. But so far so good.

Tomatillos - Toma Verde -

Ugh! I am embarrassed to say that the tomatillos never even got planted. Terrible! I know! I guess I'll have to wait another year for my tomatillo salsa. Sigh.

Turnips - Purple Top White Globe -

I am thankful that turnips are so easy to grow! And I'm also thankful to report that we have a freezer with blanched turnips and turnip soup inside.

Other successes -

There are a few crops that didn't make the list in the "What We're Growing 2022" post from February. I'll briefly highlight them in this section. Sugar peas, cucumbers, and garlic were fabulous and preformed really well. If you're interested in planting garlic in your garden now is the time to start planning! Check out the "Let's Grow Some Garlic" post for more details.

Other failures -

I planted quinoa for the first time this year. Sadly, it didn't even bother to sprout. I'm not sure exactually what went wrong!?! I'm going to do some more research before trying again.

Jury is still out -

Potatoes, spaghetti squash, peppers, and leeks are not quite ready to harvest yet. Jury is still out as to whether or not we'll get the yields we're hoping for. I also grew barley this year but haven't found an effective way to thresh it. Caleb is of the opinion that growing grain on a small scale isn't a good option, but I'm still hoping for a win.

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So, there you have it - confessions of an imperfect gardener. I hope you enjoyed today's post. Leave a comment and let me know about your gardening successes and failures. I love hearing from you!

Thanks so much for reading,

Abby