The Harvest from My First Garden

I haven’t posted since my first post but I do read the forum all the time. So I wanted to share what how my first experience went.
When the temp dropped a few weeks ago I went ahead and harvested what I had. This is what my garden looked like before I started harvesting.

It’s hard to tell from this picture but the collard greens are huge! They did the best overall. I now realize that the location of the garden does not get full sun all day in the fall like it does in the summer. I think this is the reason for the many of my veggies didn’t grow as well as I would have liked. In summary:

Collard greens – Did very well.
Red Romaine – Did ok. I will plant more squares next time.
Cabbage – Never formed a head. I think this was due to the lack of constant full sun.
Broccoli – I only got one baby floret. I think this was due to the lack of full sun.
Spinach – Did ok. I will plant more squares next time.
Kale – Did ok. I will plant more squares next time.
Turnips- So disappointed. I only got turnip greens. The root didn’t form. I’ll research some more to see what I can do to improve my outcome on this for next time.
Carrots – So disappointed. I got preemie carrots. They didn’t grow very well either. More research is needed here too.



Overall, I had good success with the leaf vegetables. Next fall season I will either start seedlings indoors or direct seed a few weeks earlier since the location doesn’t get full sun all day. I am going to try the carrots and turnips again as well.
I’m already planning for spring. I am adding another square foot bed but I haven’t decided if it’s going to be a 4×4 or a 4×8.

Good for you!

Even if it wasn't bushels, it sure looks like a success...especially right now, when I haven't seen a green leaf outside in weeks!

How exciting. Your first harvest and what a nice assortment.

Those leafy greens look so good.

Because of the shorter days and cooler temperatures, next fall you might want to leave you root crops in even longer, as long as the ground doesn't freeze. The number of days to harvest is much longer in the fall.

Yay! Your harvest looks yummy, even if some things were disappointing. Try, try, again.

What an incredible harvest!

All foods get their calories from fat, carbohydrate, or protein. Green vegetables, unlike high-starch vegetables like carrots and potatoes, get the majority of their calories from protein.

When more of your protein needs are met from green vegetables, you get the benefit of ingesting a huge amount of critical, life-extending micronutrients.

http://j.mp/gHUpOq

Cruciferous vegetables—in particular broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, bok choy, collards, watercress, and arugula, to name a few—are loaded with disease-protecting micronutrients and powerful compounds that promote detoxification.

Eat more greens!

kiev123 wrote:Cruciferous vegetables—in particular broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, bok choy, collards, watercress, and arugula, to name a few—are loaded with disease-protecting micronutrients and powerful compounds that promote detoxification.

Eat more greens!

But if you don't eat greens that often, start slow! My hubby found out the hard way from suddenly wanting to eat more salads. Poor thing didn't touch a salad for a few months afterwards. Sad, but funny. I love me some cabbage, going to try and grow that this year.

Great harvest. I never got to start my fall garden this year, I'm bound and determined to this year though. I can speak from experience that my lettuce benefitted from full sun. It got huge. Looks so delicious, wish I had some right now. Gratzie!!