2024 Gardening Year, SJV Organic Vegetable Garden
This year’s theme was Continuity!
Raspberries continued to produce mightily, and spread as well—so we dug up some and moved the canes and clumps to a new spot.
Peppers continued to be standouts, sweet, kinda hot, and super-hot from mid-summer through frost.
Greens (multiple kinds of lettuce, spinach, kale) continued to grow, everywhere we put them (as long as they got watered!), and were harvested from April through October!
Yellow cherry tomatoes continued to spread to every bed, bloom profusely, and get pollinated, and then fill our bags every week.
Red tomatoes continued to be erratic—some weeks we had multiple bushels and other weeks not so much. The zucchini, likewise: some weeks they were huge and other weeks small and delicate.
Peas continued to be our spring show-offs, yielding huge bags for a couple of weeks and then done.
The asparagus, broccoli, herbs, and eggplant continued to be steady and reliable, each in their season.
Radishes also continued to produce big-time in the spring, and then gave us a new crop (after new planting) in the fall.
The sunflowers continued to spread throughout the garden, and provided stalks for the pole beans and tomatoes to grow on as well as seeds for the birds.
The fencing continued to keep the critters away from the top 4 beds, and the floating row covers proved their worth in protecting the seedlings in the lower beds, long enough for them to hold their own against any marauders.
The Men’s Ministry continued to help out, moving the raspberries canes and clumps, and spreading the manure in late fall (brought by Deacon Scott).
Debbie was our most dedicated picker of raspberries, and Carolyn focused on finding every single ripe cherry tomato. Gretchen tended the beefsteak tomatoes, selecting the ripest each week. Karen was our guru of the greens, plucking multiple containers-full down to the very last frost. Edith picked peppers, parsley, oregano and basil with an eagle-eye, always making sure to leave more to grow. Letty loved harvesting the broccoli and beans, until the bugs overcame them, alas.
Our dedicated waterers were John H. and Dave S., and our always-reliable couriers to Cornerstone included Lois, Mary C., Alicia, John, Susie K. and Sue D.
