Worst Garden Ever
by Phyllis Pugnetti, Yakima Master Gardener
“How did your garden grow?”
If you had asked me this question in the middle of August, my answer would have been, “worst garden ever!”
At the time, it was easy to forget the harvests of June and early July when an abundance of lettuce meant salad every night and huge 2 pound Walla Walla Sweet onions along with the most beautiful garlic and more rhubarb than was possible to use.
When summer heat hit, everything came to a halt. In the middle of August, I thought I had the “worst garden ever.”
What happened? It’s easy to blame the weather, even though we can’t do much about El Niño weather patterns. They usually last about 3-7 years. We need to live with this new reality for a while, and in the meantime, focus on the things we can control.
When September rolled around my garden was bursting with an abundance of tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, beans… and then even more tomatoes!
Many gardeners dwell on failures and overlook successes. Keeping that in mind, this is the perfect time to look critically at what was less than stellar in the garden, and to honestly consider this year’s problems and next year’s solutions. A garden journal or spread sheet is invaluable in evaluating the performance of your garden from one year to the next.
Reviewing the spread sheet for my so called “worst garden ever” and comparing it to the last 5 years showed that actually, there were only 2 serious under performers—peppers and cucumbers. After talking to other gardeners, it became obvious that this was not a community wide problem, which ruled out blaming the weather. This was something unique to my garden. A closer look showed that the soil where the peppers were planted was too wet and became compacted. Changing the irrigation emitters and adding about 6 inches of shredded leaves this fall and again early next summer should reduce compaction and improve soil fertility. These two changes should improve next year’s pepper yields, but will also make the garden more resilient.
The cucumber problem was more obvious. They were trellised in large pots sitting on a concrete driveway. They looked lovely growing on that beautiful trellis, right up until they turned yellow, shriveled up and died. The reflected heat in the hottest part of the summer was like an oven, which was most likely the cause of low cucumber yields and early plant death. Next year they’ll be moved to a new location.
In extra hot summers or drought years, nearly all plants will benefit from a thick layer of mulch. Mulch builds resilience into your garden soil. The roots of plants cannot tolerate wide fluctuations of temperature. Mulch helps retain soil moisture and lowers soil temperature. A mulch of leaves and grass clippings or other organic matter can resolve many hot/cold and wet/dry soil problems. Keep in mind that leaves are only available for a few weeks each fall. Be sure to collect enough leaves to mulch your garden beds not just this fall but early next summer too. Your garden will thank you many times over.
Tomatoes can be temperamental in temperatures below 60º or above 92º. In hot weather the pollen in the blossoms may be infertile, meaning little or no fruit set. On the other hand, in cool weather, there may be a lot of green tomatoes that simply refuse to ripen. If so, you can always pick green tomatoes that have started to lighten to a whitish green. Stored at room temperature, they will ripen within a few days. Most people know to do this in the fall when the weather is too cold for tomatoes to ripen on the vine, but it works equally well in high heat situations too.
Adjusting your planting times is another thing to consider. In the last couple of years Yakima has experienced prolonged cold spring weather. This is good for peas, lettuce, radishes, onions, and garlic. Those crops should be ready to come out of the garden before the first week in July. But don’t leave that space empty! Be ready to plant bush beans, zucchini and other summer squash. Those crops should grow quickly now that the weather has warmed and have more pest resistance and greater tolerance to powdery mildew.
You could experiment with when to plant seeds or seedlings. Plant a couple of zucchinis at your regular plant date and a couple more in late June or early July. Don’t plant them side by side or any pests will quickly move to the tender baby plants. Observe any differences in vigor, production, pests, and powdery mildew. Try this with other warm weather crops, too. Keep a record in a garden journal or on a spread sheet for future reference.
Now is the time to take a serious look at your garden—right now, when the good, the bad, and the ugly are fresh in your mind. A little planning and a few small changes might make a big difference in next year’s garden.