Season Roundup - Fall 2012

Strawberry Plants:
Meh...very meh - I've seen flowers on one of the two plants, but no fruit.  I may have to give up on strawberries...or maybe they're like peas - I have to plant an entire bed of them in order to get any appreciable amount.
Experience:  Meh.  I don't know why I try to grow strawberries every year...I'd actually have to DO something in the garden in the fall if I really wanted to get some strawberries (the garlic and onions are so easy to care for, I just really should forget the plants that are fussy).

Swiss Chard:
Didn't do anything until February.  It may be the fertilizer, it may be the [very warm for this time of year] weather.
Experience:  Hit a growth spurt - not sure if it was fertilizer or the fact that we started having some cold snaps, but the plant did grow gangbusters for a while.  I've only cut off leaves once - and that was to make the feta chicken pasta with the chard instead of spinach.

Mustard Greens:
A variety of purple greens.  Came to me all flea beetle infested and I've had to fight them since.  They haven't done anything, but at least started looking healthier in February.
Experience:  Didn't really grow much, but did do a little better in March/April.  Did good enough that we were able to pull off the leaves and use them on our sandwiches.  I wasn't a fan of the "generic bitter green" flavor it imparted, but Shawn LOVED it.  As in he deemed the sandwiches good and requested that I grow mustard greens again in the future.


Snap Peas:
Didn't plant until January 26.  Doing well.
Experience:  Finally were able to harvest some peas in April. Again, not enough to actually prepare anything with them, but enough to stand out in the garden picking and eating peas.


Carrots:
Didn't plant until January 26.  Never came up.
Experience:  Didn't come up - or there may be ONE carrot.


Quinoa:
Didn't plant until January 26.  Never came up.
Experience:  Noticed in late April that there was ONE plant that came up - it's hiding behind the parsley and peas.


Garlic - all varieties I have already planted:
Didn't plant until December.  I really just planted ones that had already started sprouting.  So of course they're all growing...though not very big and beefy yet.
Experience:  Garlic is garlic, yo.  It doesn't really seem to be growing much, but then the garlic rarely does grow much.


Onions:
Onions starts I grew from seed were transplanted to the garden on January 26.  As per usual, some of the starts are doing great while others are not.
Experience:  Most have managed to pull through, but those closest to the chives are most definitely stunted.  I noticed some of the tops have started to fall over already so I'll be harvesting them soon.

Dill:
Purchased a dill plant as a replacement for the fennel plant that didn't make it through the winter - it was just always covered in aphids.  The dill is doing well, and even has a caterpillar on it (and some ladybug eggs).  Unfortunately, it looks like it is also covered in aphids now because it's starting to get warm.  I should clip some leaves and make the dill dinner rolls then resign myself to the fact that it is for the caterpillars.


Holdovers from last year:
Lemon Balm:  Still in a mat-like state, but they were never damaged by the weather (not that we really had any cold weather).
Experience:  Starting to grow back into a mound form.  The one on the west side of the bed has migrated over the years.

Garlic Chives:  Died back to the roots which is surprising considering we didn't have all that cold of weather this winter.  The large plant has come back with a vengeance.

Summer Thyme:  Never died back.  Will need to be cut back to prevent legginess.
Experience:  Didn't cut back like I said I would because it started blooming.  And then the bees came and it was glorious.

Oregano:  Did wonderfully - lush and green.  I'll have to start clipping it soon.

Parsley:  As per usual - just seeded all over.
Experience:  The garden and the front yard are CRAZY with the parsley.  This year almost all of the plants are in the planting beds which is good, but the bad part is that they're all taking over the beds.  They just started blooming and the bees and ladybugs are going beserk.  Obviously we won't be removing them for a while...

Lavender:  Never died back.  Started putting out new growth in late February.

In case it isn't patently obvious, I really need to start a "just the herbs" bed.  It would clear out large amounts of my regular garden bed and then maybe I can go back to having a normal garden (that is - tomatoes in the garden).

[NOTE:  Originally published on March 5, 2013.  Updated on May 4, 2013]