As the leaves are turning and beginning to fall, we’re very pleased with not only the successes (and a few failures) of the season, but that we are still getting some production. If you’ve been following, then you already know that we grew everything from seed and staggered our plantings in an attempt to extend our harvest.
Carrots and radishes have been a mixed bag, with some carrots still growing, while the last of the radishes went to seed long ago. The first planting of peas went well, but the second didn’t produce at all (possibly just too late in the season. The corn is long gone as we talked about in our last update, but will definitely be a great opportunity for us next year.
Watermelons and cantaloupes were a flop as the raccoons got every last one of them. Cucumbers were a great success thanks in part to some volunteers coming up from last year.
Tomatoes and peppers (jalapenos, bananas and bells) have been a huge success for us as we barely kept up with their production. We can’t stand to waste any food so we have frozen and dehydrated far more than we will use in a year. They all continue to produce, but at a much slower pace I assume due to the lower temperatures and reduced sunlight hours.
Green beans have been the biggest boom of the season. We are in our 4th planting and production is keeping up nicely. Not enough really to can or freeze as we did earlier in the season, but enough for dinner a few nights a week. We did have issues with deer at first, but we found that roping the area off with just a single strand of wire was enough to keep them out.
We have been so pleased with our results this year that we are already laying out where we will be adding new raised beds, figuring out what cover crops to grow and what cold weather herbs and veggies might still grow.
Hope your successes were many! Happy prepping!
Prepper 365 