Midwest Gardening 2022: Vegetables Success or Fail

Our NE Illinois USA,Vegetable garden is quite big, plus we plant in pots all over the place.

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LETS START WITH

 WINNERS THIS YEAR in the Vegetable Garden

Lettuces in planters were successful. I like the rail or porch planters, which keep lettuce clean and cuts down on pests mixed in with them.

Green Pole beans, we had just enough to eat fresh twice a week and still going strong. Picked two quarts this week.

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Oodles of magnificent Tomatoes. Despite only planting twelve plants this year, we had excellent size and growth, and less disease and failure being spread out. But, two Cherry Tomatoes in pots are not enough...! They  were super sweet this year.

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Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash were great, we only planted two of each---and I still have some 'baker submarines' in the fridge, but the plants finally gave up three weeks ago. 

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Green and Carnival Peppers have been small but thick, and pretty constant in our pots, and still producing. I will try moving the pots into the greenhouse for an extended crop.

Hot Peppers were super producers in pots on the east side. Next year more dirt though in LARGER pots, so we don't have to water twice a day. We don't need anymore, lol.

Swiss Chard (ruby) is excellent and still growing. Fordhook (white) has had a resurgence this last week, I will get some for freezing.

Best year in the last 10 for Broccoli, and we will be picking from 6 plants until heavy frost. I planted it in an area that gets afternoon shade which I think helped.

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We have FIVE large Pumpkins making it hanging on the fence and on the neighbors shed roof, but we lost any on the ground to Scavengers/Bugs/Critters. 

Parsnips are looking good---and we are still waiting on Carrots for maximum size also.

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Green onions (this is the last) in box planters on the front porch and around the garden rail were successful.   

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Red Potatoes were small but successful. We grew them in a black garbage can and they were a nice batch, and sooooo sweet.while green onions were in box planters. Garden red onions---were so-so---our cold late Spring really hampered some stuff in getting started.

Butternut Squash so far looks fabulous and we have seven of different sizes, very happy hanging on the fence and growing golden. 

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Herbs are all doing very well. I will make pesto of all the Basil with wine vinegar and oil and keep in fridge for fresh flavor. My Rosemary hasn't grown much, I hope it will make it in the house.

I have a bumper crop of Sage--enough to purify the entire neighborhood. Parsley, Marjoram, Thyme, all look great.

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Total Failures--some!

Cucumbers/Pickles---too hot and they dried up early in July. We had a few pickings enough for one bowl of fridge pickles with fresh Dill (*poor crop) and a bit of sugar. I bought a half bushel to make pickle relish, (we did use our own peppers and ground up zucchini, though).

Spinach, we had one spare picking and then it bolted in the heat. Planted in the shadiest part of the garden. I had planted 2 types.

Sugar Snap Peas....2 packages and only 2 pods...that's $2.79 a peapod???? Too cold and wet to start, then too hot and dry. Dang!

Beets (2 pkg) were big, but every single one was eaten below the ground by bugs or critters---we will try some in a raised bed next year, maybe lined with fabric and use compost dirt. It's been years since we planted Beets, now I remember why...sigh.

So, Gardening 2022

was a bit of a tough year! 

Our kids came on weekends and picked 'Mom's Grocery Store' pretty much clean, which was a big help in dealing with it all. I made canned sauce from the excess tomatoes or made spaghetti meat sauce for dinners and froze those. We ate our way through fresh tomatoes in salads and tomato sandwiches...and warm right off the vine---just one of the benefits of organic gardening.

Now in Late September---I'm a dusk gardener---allergic to bees and wasps which are rampant in the garden this time of year. I have to be extra careful---many things are being neglected now until we get a break and get some cooler weather, which started yesterday. I've been bitten three times this last month...and maybe I will have to be midnight gardener.

How Did Your CROPS GROW?

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Midwest Gardening: Decorative Plantings in Pots and Planters

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If you have been following my Midwest Gardening posts, you know that we started lots of flowers/plants from seeds and bulbs. July 2, I took lots of photos of the yard, pots, and gardens. I'll try and show what's working well in pots, and what isn't. 

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The new pots out at the street get the HOT sun and wind all day. So far, they are doing pretty well. I did purchase a grass and the papyrus looking plant (left pot) and some succulent looking fern.  I'm disappointed the dark red spikey Cordyline in the right pot hasn't done much. I expected it to get larger, but it has been very hot. We did use drought resistant potting soil mixed with our compost dirt, in these pots and in the mailbox planter.

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I stuck some Zinnia starts from seed in here, and they have been quite happy and a nice pop of color. 

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The mailbox planter, I used less plants here this year. The purchased Salvia has done nothing. The small marigolds I chose a shorter version this year, and they are also quite small, though full of blooms. The Vinca vines(transplanted from ground cover) is finally starting to droop...so those were free. The wave petunias are stilted also. We are faithfully watering, but the sun has been fierce out here this year with the reduced pollution??? I'm not sure why this planter is slow this year.

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Because I used seed start flowers, my garage walkway pots aren't in full bloom yet. They get sun for about 6 hours a day, so I always put Sweet potato vines in here. Bachelor Buttons are the grey spikey plants. I think those are bush sunflowers coming from seed starts. LOL, I can't remember.

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There are three pots along the garage walkway. I alternate sweet potato vines (lime or purple) in these pots. The tall plants are tall marigolds from my plant starts.

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The West shady side has two pots. Still waiting for their seed starts to begin blossoming. The rose on the trellis has been slow this year after being froze.

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This pot is spilling over from the sweet potato vine. Wow, the conditions have been perfect for them early this year, hot and wet. I'm moving this into the flower beds with the perennials, as it was being swallowed by some Giant Hosta. 

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This hanging pot with Mandevilla, the rope broke and then fell. In one night the potato vine in front was totally chewed off along with the Caladium. The beauty of pots is you can move them around. This one is safe now in a raised area and after a week, it's recovering! (Ps whatever ate it, didn't touch the Mandevilla) 

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This large focal pot has lots going on---and everything is very happy, even in this very hot spot! Mandevilla, lime and purple Potato Vine, and a wave petunia. 

The box planter above is filled with marigolds and zinnias and more purple. I have some giant sunflowers and bush sunflowers growing inside the railing.

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I do love the red, lime, and purples....!

Up on the porch a have a pot of Nasturtiums from seed going crazy. I had no idea how large these got as it's my first time growing them. Next year I will start them in small pots in the greenhouse, so I can transplant just a few here and there.

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When cleaning the craft room, I donated my baskets, and let Goodwill store them. If I need a basket they are all cheap there. I did take some outside, this one had a florist's liner which I drilled holes in. 

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It's filled with Alyssum, Caladiums and Nasturtiums. Again, I had no idea how huge they would get. My Caladiums all grown from bulbs are varied sizes, which I will sort and label for next year. One of the down sides of buying bargain multi-packs, it's hard to tell what you are getting. Considering one Caladium plant is at least $6.99 a bag of bulbs for $6.99 is very cost effective if you have the patience and space to start them in February.

The back yard is spilling with planters and pots of everything. It is cooler back here because of shade trees. A blessing and a curse with all the leaf/wingy dingys falling all the time. Silver Maples are very messy trees.

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I bought lots of Impatiens to go with my seed plant starts.  I use railing pots along the vegetable garden to encourage pollinators. We are going to place these into the vegetable garden now, to encourage pollinators. 

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 A 'crazy' close neighbor has a beehive now, with no water source or flowers in his yard, totally against our county codes here, so our yard is swarming with honey bees. Since I am deathly allergic, my time outside is limited now. But, I do love my flowers. 

Bees love the marigolds so I will continue do trays of seed starts of those.

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Moving the flowers away from our seating areas should help. 

I found some of these tropical Mandevilla (with waxy leaves and red flowers) labeled tropical???quite reasonable for $3.99 and have used them everywhere. I hope to keep some in the house over winter. So far they flower constantly.

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These large colorful pots without flowers will be fine around our seating areas. Plus we have pots of peppermint as bee deterrent to place around the deck.

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The pots under our roof extension are really taking off. Impatiens and all the Coleus grown from seed are a colorful and total shady happy solution. I have a few Impatiens in there also, but I think the plants are plenty of color. I will try some potted ferns here next year.

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The white Caladiums are startling. I will be labeling all the corms when I dig them up for storage this fall by leaf size and color. Downside, the dusty pots sides occur with every rain or when we put the sprinkler on here. I may whitewash these pots next year so it doesn't show. Or we may add pea gravel over the paver base. This is the first year for this 'new area' of total shade and our paver base path--so it is still a project in progress.

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These smaller pots seem to keep the leaf size under control, or maybe it was the dirt? 

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I even tried a mixture in a hanging pot. Turns out those are Giant Coleus...they were so small when I planted them it was hard to tell.
NOTE TO SELF: Come up with a better labeling solution for seeding trays.

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This wall pot is happy here in almost total shade. Ceramic wall pots tend to boil  plants, so I have stayed away from them, but this one is so pretty.

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Here an elephant ear(small bulb) and some small Caladiums ended up in a small pot. Again, I will be labeling everything ...lol. Small bulb Elephant Ear, is still huge!

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These are the last pots of Caladiums that are so slow. I have to figure out where to put these and in what...LOL. Maybe on Monday after the holiday. 

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Stargazer lilies...getting ready to bloom in these pots. They need to go in the ground along our north fence when it is completed. So many projects, so little time! 

PS, all my Hosta grown from sprig starts last year are thriving in the ground. Definitely worth coddling those assorted bags of starts. 12 assorted Hosta for $5.99 at a big box hardware store, not sure which one.

Happy JULY Gardening! Hope this helps give you some ideas or tips on pots and planters.

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