2010 Garden Overview & Totals

2010 was a very good year for our garden! Our tiny 230 square feet of garden space yielded over 400 lbs this year! As always, there were successes, failures and a lot was learned. I'm really glad that I started this blog and met so many wonderful people. All of you have taught me a lot and it is greatly appreciated.

I guess the best way to do this is in alphabetical order...so, I will start with Artichokes. 

Artichokes - Imperial Star - 1  This was the third year for me trying to grow artichokes. The first year I tried growing them from seed and the second & third year from small purchased plants. Due to our lack of space, they are planted in huge pots. The first two years I killed them. This year I did harvest 1 artichoke! I am going to bundle them up and try to overwinter them. Hopefully, next year will be better....I'm not giving up! "The Italian" wants his artichokes!

Beans - Dean's Purple Pole & Blue Coco Snap Pole - 5.8125 lbs: First, the pill bugs were munching on the seedlings. Then,  due to our extreme heat here in the East, the beans flowered but did not produce until late in the season. All and all they did OK, hopefully next year will be better for beans

Beans - Dry - Bush Type - Great Northern & Jacob's Cattle - 1.5 lbs: The dry beans were planted in the garlic bed after the garlic was harvested. The first planting was eaten by someone other then us. The second planting was small. Next year I will plant a lot more and several varieties.

Broccoli - Walthan 29 & Calabrese Italian -  Spring Planting - 1.875 lbs: Due to our extreme spring heat, the broccoli did not do very well...but what was harvested was good! No late crop was planted.

Brussel Sprouts - Long Island - Still waiting!!!

Cabbage - Chieftan Savoy - Spring Planting - 4.25 lbs: The cabbage was also affected by the heat and what didn't bolt lingered forever. No late crop was planted

Cantaloupe - Organic Delicious - 13.875 lbs: We were very pleased with the flavor and the yield  this year.

Muskmelons - Kansas -  9.4375 lbs: These did well, we were not happy with the flavor though. They were not nearly as good as the cantaloupe. Not planting them next year.

Carrots - Little Finger - Spring Planting - 1.0625 lbs: I don't seem to do very well with carrots. This year was my best so far. Very late crop planted for next year, hopefully.

Cauliflower - Early Snow Ball - Spring Planted - 3.9375lbs: The cauliflower managed to do OK dispite the extreme heat and bolting. No late crop was planted.

Celery - Golden Self Blanching - Early Planting - 10.3125  lbs: The celery did very well this year. No late crop planted.

Cucumbers - Little Tike & Slicing type - 36.5625 lbs: The cucumbers kept going until I got tired of picking them and pulled the plants!

Dandelions - 1 lb. (approx) - My "Little Garden Helper" and I picked many many dandelions and made two batches of dandelion jelly.

Eggplant - Black Beauty, Early Black Egg, Rosa Bianca & Lunga Violetta Di Firenze -16.84375 lbs: The eggplant did very well and we were pleased with the varieties we planted!

Garlic - Spanish Roja, Siberian & Misc. saved - 9 lbs (approx) 85 heads: The garlic did great this year! It was nice and big. The Spanish Roja was not storing as well as the others...so, I deducted 3 lbs from the total and made some in to minced garlic.

Garlic Scapes  - 1.25 lbs.

Greens Mustard - 2 lbs. - The mustard was planted late and did very well in the cold fall weather.

Herbs - 6.5 lbs (approx) - All of the herbs did well with the exception of Cilantro. I always have a hard time keeping it from bolting and going to seed.

Leeks - Caratan - 2.125 lbs (so far) - There are still 10 leeks out in the garden to harvest over the winter. We were very pleased with the leeks this year.

Lettuce - Romaine, Buttercrunch, Gourmet Mix & Eva's Burgendy - 4.125 lbs: I usually plant too much lettuce. This year I don't think that I planted enough. I purchased some summer types for next year. The best lettuce was the romaine that was overwintered by accident.

Onions - Copra, Prince, Redwing & Patterson - 3 lbs: All of the onions were started from seed...big mistake for me. It was a lot of work!  I planted more onions then ever ...129 lttle seedlings! They were the smallest onions I have ever grown. Many of them were harvested as scallions. A local organic farmer gave me some tips this summer on growing onions. Hopefully, his advise will be helpful for next year.

Potato Onions - I planted these in the fall of 2009. They never seemed to come to the surface and the greens did not die back. I left them in the ground and they have many many shoots coming up. We will see how they are next year.        

Peas - Little Marvel English - 1.75 lbs: The english peas were great tasting and grew pretty well. I just need to plant a lot more of them to have enough for freezing.

Snow Peas - Oregon Giant -  Spring Planting - 4.375 lbs: The spring crop did exceptually well. Still not enough to freeze what we want for winter eating. We loved them so much most of them were eaten. Late Planting - The late crop did not produce many pods at all. Next year, I am going to try a different variety for the fall which was suggested by Marcia

Pak Choi - Spring Planting - 4.375 lbs: The spring pak choi did very well and we just loved it.

Peppers Bell - Orange, Yellow Corona, World Beater Red Ruby & Corno Di Toro - 14.0625 lbs:  - The Corno Di Toro's were the only bells that produced well and were normal in size. The rest of the bells were small and slow to produce. I think it was due to our extreme heat and drought this year.


Peppers Hot & Spice - Cayenne, Cherry, Jalapeno, Hungarian Paprika & Serrano - 6.21875 - All of the hot peppers did very well this year with the exception of the jalapenos. The jalapenos were slow and small. I have yet to find a jalapeno that produces well for me. The hot peppers were very hot this year.


Potatoes - Caribe Purple, Cranberry Red & Yukon Gold - 6 lbs: Well, my growing potatoes in bags experiment this year was a total failure. The voles got in to the bags and ate most of them. Potatoes have always been an easy crop for me to grow. They are going back in to the ground next year!

Pumpkin - Killed by the SVB's

Scallions - .5 lbs

Squash - Summer - Killed by the SVB's

Squash - Winter - Spaghetti Squash - 4.6875 lbs - Only two survived the attack of the SVB's

Spinach - Bloomsdale & Long Standing Bloomsdale - 3.5 lbs - The spring spinach was slow. I don't have much success with spinach. So, we went on vacation and when we came back I had the best crop ever.  

Strawberries - 9.4375 lbs - The strawberries did well. I think that we need a bigger strawberry bed though!

Tomatoes - 221.18375 lbs - The tomatoes did very well this year. See the review on them here.

All in all it was a very good year for the garden and we are happy and grateful for our bountiful harvest. Hopefully, next year will be even better!!