My first year with a real garden has proven to be an up and down experience. There are many things I will do differently next year, but overall the “seat of my pants” approach that I took this Summer has taught me a lot. For example–the deer can be an issue–despite my hope that abundant food would keep them at bay. It mostly has, but their preferred path of travel takes them past the garden as well as the apple and cherry trees. But I digress, this post is about the epic tomatoes we are currently struggling to manage.
The result of a bad wind storm and not enough support via stakes and strings has caused a bit of an armageddon. Many have been and will be lost. Despite having given away several dozen pounds of them, we can’t process them fast enough. As a result, some are rotting out there. We have more sauce and crushed tomatoes than we know what to do with and will be enjoying the fruits of our labors all throughout the cold Winter months.
Lessons were learned as you might expect. Turns out that a little bit more planning would’ve made things a lot easier to deal with. Next year, there will be fencing to fend off the deer who like to munch on random, tasty garden things. Having a garden surrounded by ample food in the wild doesn’t outweigh the simple fact that the deer trail is next to fresh veggies. The plant rows will be better spaced–and straight! The tomatoes will be staked far better and stronger, and there will be a dedicated area designated a berry patch with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries. More leafy greens like spinach and lettuce will play a bigger part, too. All in all, it was a great experience but with some improvements in planning, process, and harvesting it will be even better next year.
