Container Garden 2009 Re-Cap

I cleared out the container garden a few weekends ago, snipping and yardwaste-binning the spent or unusable plants from this summer's garden. I'm very glad that I did the garden. In addition to the somewhat measely output, I'm glad for the memories that we shared around the garden.

Harvesting a single strawberry per night and splitting it three ways. Thora turning the bottom of her shirt into a harvesting basket to collect the snips of herbs or cherry tomatoes for our salads. Teaching Thora to gently pinch the herbs to release the aromatic oils of the plant and then smelling her fingers. Watching her explain to her dad which one is the rosemary, which one is the pepper, etc., and pointing out the budding fruit. Teaching her the patience that gardening demands.

I will do it again next year but with a few adjustments.

* One of the best performers were the yellow gooseberry tomatoes, despite the fact that the weather and blight combined to thwart the tomato production. And frustratingly, just as the sun was getting weaker and weaker as we moved through September, my gooseberry plant seemed to shift into overdrive. I had dozens of branches weighted heavy with a handfulls of large, green tomatoes. But they just couldn't ripen. That was a shame. But I'll definitely plant these again next year. The Brandywines were attacked by the blight, I think. I didn't get a single usable tomato from 4 plants. That was a disappointment.

* I only got a few peppers but will likely try those again. However, I doubt I will bother with eggplants or zuchinni, both of which failed to give me a single vegetable. Again, I'm not sure how much of this is due to the strange weather (a very rainy June and a short, hot, summer). As I get more experienced, I will happily take on more of our family's food production in the form of a garden. But while I improve my gardening skills, I'm happy to let the local farmers do the squash and large veggie growing for us.

* The herbs were far and away the easiest and most prolific plants that I grew. The basil just flourished and gave me a lot at the end to make a good amount of pesto. We've got dried rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano coming out of our ears, which is a good thing. I'm very happy about my experience with the herbs and will add those to next year's garden.

* While the strawberries weren't abundant, they were fun. I'll likely get another strawberry plant again next year, especially since it was the most rewarding one to harvest for our toddler.

* Lastly, I'd like to do more to mix in flowers to the garden and incorporate plant stands for some of the plants in an effort to design a more visually-pleasing layout.