The Best and The Worst of My 2020 Garden

Like everything else in 2020, my garden has been full of surprises. Many things went wrong and a few things went very right! Spring was so early we all wanted to get a jump on starting the garden. Then the rains came and plants languished. I ended up falling behind despite having gotten an early start. But, here are the best and the worst of my 2020 garden.

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The Worst of My 2020 Garden

Okra

This spring, inspired by my favorite youtuber, Jess, at Roots and Refuge Farm, I was excited to plant okra. Many people don’t like eating okra due to the texture which is sometimes described as slimy. Not me, I thought, I was going to roast the okra and get all the flavor and none of the texture problems! But no, even roasted, I just didn’t enjoy it.

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Eggplant

I planted several different types of eggplant this year. I like several dishes that include eggplant, but only use it occasionally. There are just too many other things I want to grow to give eggplant space in my garden.

Purple Snow Peas

This spring I grew gorgeous purple snow peas. Snow peas always have beautiful flowers and I liked having different varieties. Read more about growing snow peas here. The purple snow peas were small and not very numerous. Ultimately, they lacked the tenderness and flavor of other types I’ve grown like this year’s giant swiss or mammoth melting which I’ve grown many years.

For more on gardening check out these articles: How to Compost, Saving Water in the Garden, The State of My Garden and Container Gardening.

Red Malabar Spinach

I’ve rarely had great success with spinach. It bolts quickly and it just doesn’t create enough salads to be worth my time, effort or space. This year I was excited to try red malabar spinach which isn’t supposed to bolt. It isn’t even a true spinach. None of the plants grew very well. I occasionally harvested a few leaves to add to salad. Come August, I planted more in containers. These plants did modestly better and grew larger leaves. But I was so disappointed to discover that the larger leaves have a slimy texture inside. I’ll just have to research more tips on spinach.

The Runners Up

With my goal of growing all my own produce, I’ve been increasing the types of vegetables I’m growing as well as the amounts. The number one observation I can make is that I still need to grow MORE.

Lettuce

I picked lettuce for salads nearly every day. It always seemed like the lettuce plants could barely keep up. Since lettuce tends to do well in containers, most of my lettuce was planted in pots. The lettuce I planted in beds did exceptionally well, so this coming year I’ll be planting more in my raised beds. I also plan to mark my calendar to plant again every two weeks instead of letting it slide to 3 or 4 weeks. One big change I’ll make is to place old window screens on top of newly planted beds and pots to keep squirrels from digging!

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Sunflowers

Due to deer damage, I had a single giant sunflower bloom and reach the stage of mature seeds. My husband sweetly set up a ladder for me to cut down the head. I was so happy that I grew at least one batch of sunflower seeds for my girls! But before we got to it, a squirrel must have used the ladder to reach the seed head. It was completely decimated. No sunflower seeds for my chickens. I’ll be planting a lot more sunflowers in the spring in a few different areas. I don’t mind sharing a bit with the wildlife, but I definitely want some too!

Tomatoes

2020 was the year of the tomato for me. I have never planted so many plants or types before. And I managed to do most of it with my own grown-from-seed plants! I did the best job of staking and pruning I’ve ever done. Still, my success varied.

I planted too many coyote yellow cherry tomatoes and they all exploded with blooms and tomatoes that I just didn’t love. I used most of them mixed with other more flavorful tomatoes and gave a lot to the chickens.

My Roma tomatoes did well, but didn’t produce nearly as much as I hoped. Next year I want to plant more slicing tomatoes and a couple types of plum tomatoes. I’ll also plant several black cherry tomatoes that have an incredibly complex, sweet flavor. (Shout out to David Jackson at Kiwi Corners Farm for those beauties!)

Peppers

I wanted 2020 to be the year of the pepper too, but that didn’t work out! I planted 4 different varieties including 2 hot types for my hubby. Since peppers and tomatoes are supposed to like each other, I planted them together. However, the tomatoes soon shaded the peppers and stunted their growth.

Next year I might give the peppers a bed of their own if I can find the space. If not, I’m going back to growing them in containers so I can move them to a sunnier spot if needed.

Container grown peppers offer an extra advantage: I can bring them inside to overwinter! I just learned this year that peppers don’t have to be treated as annuals, because they’re not! They won’t keep producing inside through the winter, but just think about starting with full grown pepper plants in the spring!

Onions

I planted 100 yellow onion sets this spring. When growing bulb onions you need to keep the leaves clipped to about 6 inches so they won’t flop over and signal the onion it’s done for the season. My potato salad was transformed into a delicacy when I used onion tops instead of onions. The flavor is far more delicate. The onions were all on the small side because I planted them with my tomatoes which threw too much shade. I guess I just forgot how big those tomatoes were going to get! Next year I want to learn more about starting bulb onions from seed.

Strawberries

My strawberries were so disappointing this year. Not only did they only produce a small number of berries, but being so busy with the chickens, I didn’t get the plants covered with bird netting in time. Happy birds! But I’ve already moved a few choice plants into a raised bed where they should thrive.

Potatoes

I liked the quality of my potatoes this year. I’ve tried growing potatoes about 5 different ways now. This year I returned to the garbage bag method. (And you know I hate plastic!) The quantity of potatoes was disappointing however. This method uses a lot of potting mix. And I was stingy with the stuff because I didn’t want to buy more. I’m frustrated with my efforts to grow potatoes, but I know I’ll try again!

The Best of My 2020 Garden

Beans

When I first tasted beans, fresh from the garden, I was hooked. Beans have been the star of my garden for several years. I grew 4 different types of beans this year. One type was supposed to be a bush variety but sent runners out everywhere. The beans were good, but what a mess they created. The tricolor beans I planted simply didn’t produce as much as I would have liked. My Buerre de Rocquencourt beans did well and I loved these yellow beans. My best performer, three years in a row, is the Provider variety. I’ve heard great things about the heirloom, Strike, too, and will try those next year.

Marigolds

I always plant marigolds in the garden to help keep pesky insects away. I got a free pack of marigold seeds last year and winter sowed them. (Winter sowing involves planting seed in the bottom half of a milk jug and using the top half as a mini greenhouse.) After planting the seedlings in my garden beds, I was disappointed to see that instead of growing in a manageable little mound, this type grew 8 feet tall! They were in my way.

I’m glad I didn’t pull them, because I discovered they’re the right type to feed my chickens! The girls rarely eat the fresh petals, but I pick the flowers and dry them to put in their feed. When mixed in with their treats, they gobble them up. I will grow even more in 2021; I’ll just put them in better locations.

Zucchino Rampicante

Zucchino Rampicante is a new favorite. Zucchini is supposedly so easy to grow, but I haven’t done well with it because of the squash vine borer. This year I wrapped aluminum foil over the stems of some of my squash seedlings, which helped. But I think zucchino rampicante did so well because it sent down additional roots at each leaf node, overcoming the problem of squash vine borers.

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This squash produced a much higher amount of usable fruit than zucchini. The long neck is all usable and the head has all the seeds. It also lasts in the refrigerator much longer than I expected: Weeks! As summer squash, it’s delicate flavor blends well in stir fries and soups.

Left on the vine, Zucchino Rampicante will harden and become storeable winter squash. I will definitely be leaving some on the vine longer next year. With my goal to provide food through the winter, it’s great to have produce I can store as is, rather than freezing or canning it. Still, I was able to put up 17 bags of squash (2 cups each) in the freezer this summer. Learn how to freeze squash here. I’m looking forward to zucchini muffins!

What did the best or the worst in your 2020 garden? Please share in the comments below!

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