It is always nice to see the vegetables spring to life and it is sometimes nice to see them die back in the fall. There are mixed emotions at this time of year, but the chance to take a break and rest is a welcomed change. At least, that is what I envision all summer. In reality, this is the time of year to reflect on the past summer and see what needs to be changed for next year. The planning starts now.
There will definitely be changes for next year. Deerwood grew more vegetables than ever before, more bushels and more varieties. Take tomatoes for example; we grew striped roman, chadwich cherry, Dr. Carolyn, jelly bean, green grape, roma, Old German, striped rainbow, yellow brandywine, red brandywine, jubilee, moskavich, mortgage lifter, Cherokee purple and rutgers. Now we need to think about which ones produced well. Were they easy to transport? Which ones were more disease resistant? Do we need to stagger plantings more next year so our crops are spread over more months? Can we grow fewer varieties and still have the variety everyone wants? Oh, so much to think about, but now is definitely the time to plan the changes for next year’s crops. After all, taking an afternoon nap is highly over-rated!
