So, here we go again. Last week the temperatures were in the low 80s, and we had dinner on the deck every night. Now we are back to the reality of Spring in Illinois. Thank God I got the peas and spring greens in the ground last week.

Goebbert’s opened today, and unlike last year it was 82° instead of snowing.

My first task was to weed the pea enclosure. I pulled out the trellises and, with a trowel, dug out the Lemon Mint and Canadian Thistle that was growing mostly behind the trellis. I hadn’t done that in a few years.

Actually, my first task was to put a new handle on the trowel. The old handle was cracking apart on the end, and I gave myself a nasty blister on my palm last year from aggressive digging and the rough end of the handle digging into my hand. I replaced the old handle with a new wood and metal file handle. It should outlast me, but it was about a 45-minute job to get it fitted properly.

After the weeding, which took a couple of hours, I had a meeting at SA and then went to Goebbert’s and got my plants. It was a really small selection, but I got mostly what I needed, other than parsley, beets, and spinach. I needed a nap after that. (The first day of gardening after sitting on my butt in front of a computer all winter comes as a shock.) My energy was restored after that, and I took my Ryobi electric stapler and connected the bottom of the fencing to the wood frame around the beds to keep my rabbit friends out of the patch. Then I planted peas and 9 Imperial broccoli plants. Imperial is a new variety for Goebbert’s. They have supplied Green Comet in the past. That finished the bed. I’ll plant pole beans in June when the peas are done.

Then I planted the greens in the first bed and am hoping that the taller sides on that bed will discourage the rabbits. We’ll see. Planting was easy as I had rototilled in the fall, so I just needed to break the surface up with the trowel. I planted 6 Green Romaine and 6 Red Romaine. I really like the Red Romaine, and they didn’t have it last year. Then I put in 6 Red Kale, 5 Mustard Greens, and 3 Chinese cabbage. Somehow I grabbed two packs of Mustard Greens rather than two packs of Chinese cabbage. I really need to check what I buy as this happens every year.

I have Rosemary to plant yet, but that will happen tomorrow.

I did a quick cleanup of the deck and furniture today as the temperature was in the low 70s so that we were able to have our first dinner on the deck. Wonderful – no bugs yet! Hope to get some plants in later this week.

My first “official” act of the gardening season was the arrival of seeds for the garden. Here’s what I bought for the 2023 garden:

Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas (Burpee)
Malabar Spinach Green (Gaia) (Terroir)
Malabar Spinach Red (Gaia)
Cocozelle Zucchini (Sow Right)
Genovese Basil (Ohio Heirloom)
Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans (Sow Right)
Lazy Housewife Pole Beans (Terroir)
Armenian Pale Green Cucumber (Terroir)
Lemon Cucumber  (Sustainable)
Egyptian Spinach (Kitazawa)
Spinach Beet Greens (Terroir)
Bennings Green-Tint Summer Squash

My initial order was from Amazon, as Terroir charges a lot for shipping, but I needed to by stuff there anyway. The Amazon seeds came from everywhere, and some took a couple of weeks to get here. Next year, I’ll order first from Terroir and use Amazon for the seeds I can’t get there.

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Still green and aromatic even though it is the end of December. I am guessing I’ll still be picking well into January. One of the few great joys of winter is going outside into a snow-covered garden and picking fresh herbs. I should probably check and see if the chives are still good.

We have a couple of warm, dry days at the beginning of November, so I am pulling out stakes and cages, removing dead plants, and hoping to rototill. I think I need to evaluate and begin planning, as what I do in the next couple of weeks will help immensely in getting ready for spring

Overall, it was a good year, and we ate well from the garden and gave away a significant amount of vegetables. I did better with extending the season, but getting early production needs work. That said there is a lot of room for improvement.

CARE. I could have done better in watering. I did keep the pots watered, and I fertilized them every couple of weeks, and that made an enormous difference in the yields and the flowers. I didn’t keep up with weeding, and the fenced-in areas made it harder. I need to rethink my fencing. I somewhat gave up in August as other priorities took over. I need to do more watering and know when the garden needs it. I need to be out there weeding more, especially in August.

CRITTERS. The groundhog returned briefly, but Greg dispatched him/her/them very quickly. Rabbits were a problem early on taking out all of the Okra, Celery Root, all of the broccoli, and some of the peppers. The new ultrasonic repellers that I bought were worthless.

USAGE. I had some loss of Romas as I was late picking them. I had to throw out beets and eggplant because they sat around unused for too long and spoiled. Cherry tomatoes need to be picked more often.

SUCCESSES. The Roma tomatoes did well, and I dried and froze a bunch and donated another bunch to St. Anne’s. The Early Girl II tomatoes bore early, were prolific, and kept bearing until the first frost. All of the Heirlooms ripened near the same time which was weird as I had early, mid-season, and late ones. The tomatoes near the horseradish did better than in the past but still died early. Cherry tomatoes were very good. The two plants by the deck grew at least up to 8 feet and got top-heavy and fell over during windstorms. I’ll need to find a way to anchor them next year.

The large jalapeno plant that I bought from Goebbert’s, was ridiculously prolific until the first frost. The Shishito peppers did well.

Malabar spinach was an unexpected star, even though I didn’t start using it until late in the season. I need to grow it on a trellis next year.

The herbs were good, and the basil from seed worked very well, although I should probably start a new pot in both July and August so that it lasts all the season. Curly parsley does really well and doesn’t bolt, so not sure if I need the Italian. They taste the same to me. The curly just needs to be chopped better. The perpetual basil isn’t worth the effort, and the Spanish Tarragon is great for culinary use and as an ornamental. The fennel bolted.

The eggplants did fine; I just need to use them as they are ready.

Cucumbers were a mixed bag, likely didn’t water them enough. The lemon cukes are good, but I didn’t get many of them.

Zucchini did well from the plants and kept going until the frost. The ones I planted from seed came up but were stunted and never bore fruit. I have no clue.

The mashed potato squash did okay, but the fruits were small. The Zapallo de Tronco was marginal – probably not worth the effort for the space.

The peas did phenomenally well.

FAILURES. Peppers bombed this year. I’m sure why, as the ones in pots did well. I think I am planting them too close together in the new beds and they probably need to be heavily fertilized. They also need rabbit protection.

Tomatillos need to get in the ground in mid-May.

Okra needs heavy rabbit protection as does broccoli.

Radishes totally bombed again, I tried some in a pot, and they did no better.

Other than the Malabar Spinach, greens from seeds bombed.

I never got to planting pole beans.

There are frosts predicted for the next couple of nights, with the night temperature dipping down to 27° in a couple of days, so I decided to pick what is left in the garden.

I haven’t been out in the garden very much as I am in the middle of a bunch of home remodeling projects. But I looked out around 7:30 this morning, and there was frost on the window of my Subaru and a bit on the front lawn. I have a few beets to pull and a few peppers. Okra, too. Probably time to pick the squash also.

I bought some seeds from Terroir this spring for a spinach that supposedly doesn’t bolt in hot weather. I planted it, and it came up looking like spinach. “Cool,” I thought. I ignored it for a while and then the vines took over the garden! It’s not really a spinach, but a tropical plant native to India and Southeast Asia.

According to Wikipedia, “Basella alba is an edible perennial vine in the family Basellaceae. It is found in tropical Asia and Africa where it is widely used as a leaf vegetable. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and New Guinea.” 

The leaves are sweet and thick even into the middle of September. I’ve been picking the leaves and putting them on sandwiches. They taste something like spinach, but have a hint of sweetness like sweetcorn. I haven’t sauteed any yet, but they supposedly taste like spinach when cooked.

This would certainly be a way to have greens all year, and they will grow up a trellis. I need to try more uses before the weather gets colder. Could be the discovery of the year.