Now that gardening season is all but over, with only a few root & cold hardy veggies still left in the ground, have you taken a look at next year yet?
By now all of us gardeners have a pretty good idea of what worked and what didn’t this year. It’s time now to give a hard look at improvements for next year. Did you try something new this year and meet with failure? Don’t worry, it happens to all of us and it’s a normal part of the learning curve.
Here are a few reasons that particular crops might fail and what we can d about them.
1 – poor soil fertility/composition
Most plants will do better in a loamy soil. If you find that the soil is too sandy, it can drain moisture quickly and leave your plants in a drought state, even with sufficient rain. On the other hand, a more clay soil will hold water for a very long time, drowning them out. Amend the soil with lots and lots of compost. You may also want to consider bringing in lack earth or garden soil in quantity to rejuvenate the composition.
For fertility issues, test your soil in the spring before anything gets planted. Home test are available and will give you a good idea of what nutrients are lacking so you can fertilize properly. Organic fertilizers are of course recommended.
2 – lack of water
Many areas of the country simply didn’t get enough rainfall this year to keep your plants happy. There are several things you can do to counter that. For starters, try hugel beds. What exactly that is would fill another blog post, but trust me, they work well at retaining moisture. Mulching is another great way to keep water in the soil where it belongs. A few inches thick once plants are established enough will go a long way. Of course, having more water is always a good idea. Rain catchment systems can collect an incredible amount of water, it all depends on the size and number of containers you use to keep it in. IBC totes in the thousand liter range are a great idea.
3 – weeds
Weeds can overtake a garden in the link of an eye. Hand picking weeds on a regular basis does work, but it’s back breaking and time consuming as well. Again, mulching is your friend here. Double purpose your mulch to keep moisture in and weeds out. There are other tricks you can try such as plasticulture, but I’ve tried it and failed miserably. Besides, who wants all that nasty plastic in and around where your food grows. Trust me, weeds are tenacious buggers and they WILL find a way to poke through the plastic. Trust me, hand weeding a garden through plastic sheets will do more damage than the weeds.
4 – zoning issues
No, not the zoning issues you constantly fight city hall about, but hardiness zones. Many vegetables have different varieties intended for different zones. Always check and make sure the plants you choose will grow in your specific area. Opt for shorter maturity times when possible.
