By Carrie Knutson, Horticulture agent

NDSU Extension - Grand Forks County

Every year as the snow falls, I pause and reflect on garden successes, failures and goals for next year. Last December, I had some gardening practices that I needed to change. So, how did I do on my planned improvements?

I had a few successes. I did keep better control of my volunteer dill and cosmos. I saved seed and seeded rows where I knew they wouldn’t shade out my other plants. I still have work to do, but it was much improved from last year. I saved seed again this year and will keep weeding out volunteers.

Succession plantings didn’t happen, but I did spread out seeding and planting times in the garden so that there wasn’t as much produce ready at the same time. I planted spinach, lettuce, beets and peas as soon as the soil was workable, and the air temperatures were steadily above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, I planted the beans, cucumber, cabbage and broccoli later.

I planted only three zucchini plants and it was just about right. Due to the hot weather and decreased pollination, I found myself wishing I had more. However, the reduced zucchini crop freed space on my plate so that I could eat more green beans and potatoes. It was a good experiment and I will stick with just three zucchini plants for next year.

I had a great crop of watermelon and muskmelon. My family was eating a muskmelon and watermelon a week during August. I learned that a ripe muskmelon will indeed slip from the vine when it is ready. It is almost magical. Watermelons on the other hand were harder to harvest correctly. A few were harvested before they were ripe, and some were over ripe.

As for failures, I learned that I need to take the time to label what I plant and record it in my binder. I will not remember in the fall. There was a mysterious fruit in the melon patch. I didn’t remember planting it, so I figured it was a volunteer from previous years. The fruits were getting pretty large, about the size of a basketball. So, I just picked one and cut it open. It was a muskmelon! The experience was humbling.

I also learned the importance of paying attention during harvest. I planted two different varieties of carrots. I was concentrating on getting the carrots out of the ground before the first round of snow and rain came, so I just harvested both rows together. One variety is excellent raw. I couldn’t keep enough of the carrots clean to eat during the week. However, I found out the second variety was not as enjoyable. Now when I reach for a carrot, it is a game of chance for my taste buds.

I have more failures I could write about but I am running out of room. My reflection has left me with the goal of focusing on “time” next year. By “time”, I mean slowing down to focus on my garden tasks, to record information in my garden binder, and enjoy my yard.

I hope you all had successes in your garden this year. If you had failures, hopefully you learned from them, find some humor and maybe a garden friend or mother-in-law had extra tomatoes so that you could make a couple of batches of salsa (just speaking from experience). Happy gardening!

NDSU Agriculture Communication – Dec. 26, 2023

Source: Carrie Knutson, 701-780-8229, carrie.knutson@ndsu.edu

Editor: Kelli Anderson, 701-231-7006, kelli.c.anderson@ndsu.edu