Notes from the 2024 Garden:

June 30th- First Cucumber

July 16th- First Zucchini

July 29th- First Cherry Tomato

August 2nd- First Green Beans

I write garden notes on the calendar. It’s interesting to see the changes from year to year. The harvests were later to start this year, and then started slowing down with some colder weather in August, so there was a shorter harvest window overall. (I should also add that we are in the coastal range of Western Oregon.)

We got more rain throughout the summer than we normally do, and the weather went back and forth from hot to cold. We would have days with intense heat where the garden was wilting and Jeff spent lots of time watering (and protecting plants with remay), and then days with downpours and cold like we were in the middle of our rainy winter season. Nights got colder earlier, which brought issues with mold earlier.

This week (end of September) we had a day in the 90’s where we were sweating in t-shirts, and the next day was in the 60’s with downpours and cold rain, followed by a day with more sunshine and warmth. Lots of back and forth.

In 2021, I wrote down that we harvested our first green beans on July 20th, and then continued harvesting through the very beginning of October. This year we harvested our first green beans on August 2nd. Our green bean harvest window is shorter this year, but we planted a lot more.

The cucumbers did well this year, and Jeff made a record amount of pickles.

We grew extra zucchini so there was plenty for us, and some to share. The zucchini plants had issues with mold earlier in the season than usual, next year we plan on planting them farther apart for better air flow.

We also grew Patty Pan Squash (the yellow ones being held in the pictures above), not because we needed more summer squash to eat, but because it adds some fun variety.

It was our best year yet for strawberries in the garden, and we were all pleased about that. (You can read more about our strawberry growing in this post.)

We were grateful for the garlic harvests this year, which I shared with you in this post from August.

It was not a great year for tomatoes in our garden. We had a lot of blossom end rot on our paste tomatoes, despite the fact that Jeff gave them loads of calcium and used natural sprays that help with that issue. Luckily, last year was an amazing tomato year and extra sauce was made and stored away.

The cherry tomatoes were not quite as abundant, but still did okay. Cherry tomatoes are easier to grow, and we recommend those to friends who have a hard time growing larger tomatoes in their climate. They are also good for years when summers are not as warm.

The greens did well. Lettuce and kale are an essential part of the garden. Same with arugula. Basil did well in the greenhouse, and pesto was made. We also grew lots of herbs that we enjoyed in Sun Tea, and dried for the winter.

Jeff and B planted lots of flowers this year, as I shared with you in previous posts. They planted more flowers than ever before, and many vases of flowers were made and enjoyed.

I almost forgot to mention peppers! We did grow peppers again this year. Jeff overwintered some peppers for the first time, so we got an early crop this year that was bountiful. I will share more about peppers in another post.

[Edited to add: I keep thinking of more things we grew in the garden this year that I forgot to mention, like celery and winter squash. What I’ve mentioned in this post is not a full list, but some of the main things we grow. I also didn’t mention fruit other than strawberries, focusing on vegetables and herbs. It was a good year for grapes, not a good year for apples. I pruned the fig tree too late in the season, so it didn’t produce much this year, and it’s a low production year for the hardy kiwis as well.]

As I write this on September 27th, we are still harvesting cucumbers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and green beans in the garden. We are starting to pull some plants up because they are done, or are molding too much from the rain and cold, and I’m not sure how much longer the harvests will be continuing.

The garden was a busy place this year, as always. Every year is different, and we’ve learned a lot of ways to work with the weather to create abundant harvests in different situations. In a future post, we will share some of our favorite tips with you.

Did you grow a garden in 2024? How did things go in your garden this year? What were your favorite things to grow?