It’s been over a month since I last shared my gardening shenanigans with you, which means it’s about time for an update! I added more soil and fertilizer to the garden over summer and did a bunch of weeding. Also, I started a daily game called “how many slugs and snails will I chuck outta the garden today?” and so far the highest score is 25. My slug tossin’ skills must have paid off because the garden thrived and things grew quite well.
The pumpkin, squash, and zucchini all flowered beautifully, and I was able to watch the bees pollinate and admire their handiwork. I’ve counted 3 pumpkins, 3 squash, and 12 zucchinis growing in the garden. We’ve already harvested and eaten the zucchini, and it was so refreshing. I’m definitely growing more again next year since they do super well here on the island.
The potatoes started to aggressively shade the other plants during summer. Their leaves and stems took up more space than I realized, so I’ll have to make larger spaces between the rows next year to fix this problem. I’ve already harvested my red potatoes and have been enjoying delicious meals with them. Once they run low, I’ll harvest the rest of the potatoes from the garden. Potatoes can stay in the ground for quite some time, even after all the leaves and stems have withered away, which I think is pretty convenient.
The scallions and chives grew amazing, and I’ve had fresh green onions all summer long. It’s been so much fun going out to the garden, barefoot, chopping off the floppy onion stems and adding them to the daily meals. Tossing some scallions in with a roast chicken and some red potatoes too… delicious!
The peas were a little confused about where to go at first, but after a while they managed to latch onto the poles and climbed their way. My daughter and I have been enjoying fresh peas over summer and I highly recommend growing the Alaska Peas here in Newfoundland. They grow so very well, taste even better, and the yield is fantastic.
I honestly didn’t think the beans were going to make it (the potatoes shaded them harshly) but after adding extra fertilizer and planting some fresh new seeds, they managed to survive and thrive. Go, beans, go! I went with bush beans this year and managed to grow four big handfuls of beans. Next year I’m going to grow more bush beans, but I think I might give vine beans a go as well.
Once the carrot tops grew to be about 3-4 inches high (back in July), I started going in with my hands and manually digging them up and spacing them out. This process was quite enjoyable and while I was working in this area, I added more sandy soil (since carrots prefer sandy over peat) and mixed it into the ground. Adding the sandy soil paid off because the carrots look absolutely massive now, and I can’t wait to harvest them soon.
My daughter wanted to pull up some carrots early (during the end of August) so we added those in with the red potato harvest. I quite like baby red potatoes so those came up a little early too this year. The rest of the carrots and potatoes we will pull up later this month or early October.
My strawberry plants struggled during the beginning of the season because I had them in planters that were a bit too shallow. During early August, I moved my strawberry plants back into a big tub that I had them in before, and they started to thrive for the rest of the season. My original 7 strawberry plants grew 16 baby plants, and I’m so pleased. I noticed the community garden didn’t have any strawberry plants, so I decided to donate 3 mama strawberry plants along with 9 of their babies to the garden. I hope the strawberries grow and thrive to the point where folks in the community can take home a strawberry plant for their own garden too.
I’m happy with the garden and proud of myself for attempting to grow one. Everything grew well for the most part (only two of my beets grew, and it was a sad state of affairs), and I learned so much this season. It was a lot of hard work cutting out the area for the garden, hauling pieces of sod away, digging and dumping bucket loads of dirt, and tossin’ slugs, but hard work always seems to pay off in the end. You feel stronger, wiser, and more confident in yourself and your abilities. I’m excited about harvesting the pumpkins, squash, carrots, and the rest of the potatoes and then giving the garden some maintenance before winter. I’m definitely making it bigger, giving it some fertilizer, and making wider spaces between the rows for next year.
Until next time… and thank you so much for tagging along with me on this adventure.
Whoa Dana 
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