Hello! I thought it would be good to check in and share with y'all how my garden is growing. I have learned a lot this year and I'm eager to fix my mistakes!
2026 Goals Progress
I didn't have too many lofty goals this year. I wanted to add more perennials to the garden, which I did do. I got 6 asparagus crowns, a head of rhubarb, a blueberry bush, and a blackberry bush. I wasn't sure if the asparagus would actually survive the summer; you should plant them very first thing and these went in fairly late. But they did make fronds and are hopefully getting well established. It will be several years before I'll harvest from them. I have tried asparagus in the past and the variety I used just did not result in actual spears to eat.
Early on, the rhubarb was eaten by rabbits. It is still alive but has not grown much. I know they are hardy plants but... it may not make it through winter.
My Baby Cakes blackberry never made fruit and seems to be having a rough time. My Perpetua blueberry is doing just fine, though. My harvests are small and infrequent but I'm hoping to propagate it and increase my yields over the years!
Aside from that, I've been able to have several salads from homegrown lettuces. I had many harvests of snow peas. I'm going to be setting up an indoor grow area for the winter for greens, too. I have had a few harvests of cherry tomatoes, and a meal's worth of potatoes.
Consistent and Repeated Losses
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of other big wins. No slicing tomatoes. No Roma tomatoes. No bush beans. No peppers. No summer squash. The plants are there, but no harvests yet.
Composting more was one of my 2026 goals. I've been doing really good with it, but I made the mistake of using it as potting mix by itself and ultimately killed my cucumbers, pole beans, and mini pumpkins as a result. From what I've read, compost can get quite compacted, leaving not enough room for the plants' roots to expand. I had really wanted to make all my soil at home moving forward. However, it seems like container gardening requires some storebought ingredients. Live and learn. I'm doing lots of learning this year. Don't make my mistake! Using compost for seed starting seems to be fine, but it does not work well as a potting mix.
Another real loss for this year is that I haven't gotten any mushrooms from my logs and it seems like the spawn I put in the ground awhile ago has exhausted its food source already. I've been spending weeks waiting hard work to pay off and it doesn't seem to be paying off this year.
Let's Make Some Wins
But I'm not giving up on the year yet. There is still time to put fall crops in the ground, and I'm thinking about doing cover crops this winter.
This weekend I'll be planting cool weather crops and preparing the greenhouse for cooler weather. Many of my greens are going to seed and I'll be keeping as many as I can to share with others and for next year's garden.
Speaking of which, I made a seed library for my work and people are taking advantage of it. I'm excited to continue to encourage everyone to start gardening more!
Thanks for reading!
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