My 2021 garden was much larger than gardens I’ve grow in the past. Mostly I’ve only grown plants in containers and haven’t given them much attention. However, in 2021 I decided to get more serious about growing food. After much research I decided on specific varieties of plants and what garden beds and soil I would use.
In this article I talk about what I grew and how my home garden performed in the 2021 growing season. The garden yielded more than I expected but also had some unproductive plants, and I learned so much from gardening on this scale.
Read about 7 Things I Learned From my Garden in 2021 HERE.
Nearly all of my seeds were from Pinetree Garden Seeds. But there were a few from other suppliers. Come along with me as I discuss the varieties I planted, how they performed, and things I will do in future growing seasons.
Read 4 Simple Ways to Preserve Your Harvest
Garden Inventory and Production
Peppers
Varieties:
- Sweet Peppers:
- Candy Cane
- Bell (Rainbow Blend)
- Hot Peppers:
- Italian Pepperoncini
- Ancho
Overall, my peppers did not do well this year. I need to do a bit more research on growing peppers so I can have a better crop next year. I topped the pepper plants (meaning I trimmed off the top of the plant) when they were seedlings, but I think I did it to early and maybe I needed to do it more than once.
The candy cane, bell, and pepperoncini plants stayed very small but bushed slightly. Their fruits were small and sparse. The ancho plants got very tall, almost 3 feet, did not bush, and only yielded about 4 peppers that were smaller than 3 inches from 4 plants.
Ultimately this was gardener error. Pepper starts are slow and I got impatient. Next season I may start them earlier than my other plants and of course do a bit of research to make the plants more prolific.
Tomatoes
Varieties:
- Bush Goliath – Determinant
- Sungold – Indeterminant
- Amish Paste – Indeterminant
Oh, my tomatoes, the jewels of my garden. I love growing tomatoes. They are very forgiving and hardy growers. I used the single stalk pruning method for the indeterminate varieties. Rather than trying to explain I’ve linked this video from Jess at Roots and Refuge farm. This is a wonderful thorough tutorial about pruning tomatoes.
The sun gold variety was the hit of the garden this year. These plants produce an abundant amount of fruit and are early to ripen. They are just lovely to pick fresh and pop into your mouth as a snack but also add a sweet brightness in cooked dishes. I will always grow sun golds.
I also grew 3 bush goliath plants which were not as impressive as their name would have you believe. I think my lack of success with these was a soil issue though. I grew them in containers, not in a raised bed like the other varieties. I lost 1 plant pretty early in the season, I’m not sure why exactly, either very poor soil or disease.
A hornworm devoured the top 6 inches of one the 2 plants left. After that it didn’t produce much fruit, most likely because of the shock. And the third plant did fine. We did get a few very small, not at all goliath sized fruits. The tomatoes were only about 3 inches in diameter. Their flavor was good. I’m on the fence about planting these again. I may experiment by putting just 1 plant into better soil in the raised bed and see how it does.
The work horse of my tomatoes this year was the Amish Paste variety. I had 2 plants that produced great yields! The fruits were varied in size, but I got a few that were close to or over 1 lb. The flavor of this variety is very good, not too acidic, rich and juicy, and the color of these tomatoes is beautiful.
They take a long time to ripen and keep you in suspense by reaching a large size and then staying green for what seems like forever. Once they’ve ripened though, you better have plans for them. This and the sun gold were the varieties that forced me to start thinking about preservation because I had such an abundance.
Cucumbers
Varieties:
- Lemon
- Mexican Sour Gherkin
A little slow to start but once they get going, look out! I had lemon cucumber coming out of my ears. Regrettably many of them ended up in the bin. I was not expecting them to produce like they did. If you want a heavy producer, the lemon cucumber variety is the one to choose.
Very seedy but with a pleasant fresh flavor the lemon cucumbers were great fresh and as a quick pickle. They were lovely in Mediterranean dishes and paired well with tuna salad. I gifted many cucumbers to friends and neighbors and still had some to spare.
On the other hand, I didn’t have much success with the Mexican Sour Gherkins. I love the idea of these, and they are beautiful little plant. I didn’t get much fruit from them which is not at all what I expected. I’ve heard from other gardeners that this variety can be a prolific producer.
I started them indoors, but the starts didn’t take well to transplantation, and I ended up direct sowing a little later than was ideal. I like the fresh, slightly salty flavor and uniqueness of this variety and they don’t take up much room. So, I will most likely try them again.
Onion, Leek
Varieties:
- Onion
- Yellow Sweet Spanish
- Leek
- Rally OG
I will be growing onions from starts next season. Growing them from seed didn’t work well for me. I think I ended up with 3 puny onions, sad face. This is one of those plants that, for me, its best to work smarter and not harder, especially as a new gardener, and just buy the starts. Growing onion from seeds is something I would like to master but I will rely on starts for harvest and experiment with seeds until I figure it out.
I did end up with a small crop of very small leeks, like green onion size. I was able to make one pot of soup with them, ha! This was another gardener error. After planting the starts, I completely ignored them. I never thinned them and let some other plants encroach on their space. Bad gardener!
What I learned from onions and leeks is that they need a fair chunk of real estate, which ultimately, I would be willing to give if I had it. In my dream garden I would be able to grow enough alliums to store for long term use. I’m not quite there yet. I’ll continue to tuck onions in around my other plants until I have enough space for a larger crop.
Bonus onion! A couple years ago we noticed some onions growing at the base of our big cottonwood tree. I just left them alone and they kept coming back. When they first showed up, we were treating the tree for bugs, and I decided I didn’t want to eat anything that was growing at the base of the tree after it had been sprayed with pesticides. It was such a curious thing though that they just kept coming back. They are volunteers, meaning they are plants that grow without a person putting them in the ground.
So, at the end of this season when they put up these multi-bulbed heads I decided to figure out what I was dealing with. It turns out they are Egyptian walking onions, and they can be persistent. One article I read said if you have them in your garden, you always will because they just keep coming back. We decided to dig them from under the tree. I took the seed bulbs, broke them up, and planted them in a pot. I want to see what they’ll do next year and want to keep them contained.
Squash
Varieties:
- Waltham Butternut (Winter)
- Ronde De Nice (Summer)
- Caserta (Summer)
My only successful squash this year was the Waltham Butternut. Because it was my first time growing this type of squash, I only had one plant and wish I’d planted more. I had a yield of 4 squash that were over 1 lb each. I did, however, lose 2 baby squash to critters, either racoon or squirrel. I will be planting more of this variety next year.
The other 2 varieties were ones I hadn’t grown before. I chose to plant them in pots, large half barrel containers, as I’d had success growing squash this way last season. I amended the soil before planting, but these plants did not do well. Similarly, to the bush tomatoes, I think the soil in these containers should have been completely replaced prior to planting.
The Caserta also experienced some issues with mildew, I think, and bugs. Because squash is usually so easy to grow, I would like to try these varieties again in better soil and see how they do. The squash we were able to pick had good flavor and lovely variegated skin.
Beans, Carrot, Radish
Varieties:
- Beans
- Bush (Provider)
- Carrot
- Tendersweet
- Radish
- Crunchy King
Another first timer in my garden were beans and I’m so glad I chose this variety. Bush Provider are a green bean variety. They were plentiful and delicious. I will be planting them again. We ate every last one and, in the future, I would like to plant enough to eat fresh and to preserve. The smaller beans are lovely eaten fresh off the plant or added to salads. More mature beans are amazing gently sauteed with garlic, butter and crushed red pepper.
It was also the first time I’ve grown carrots. They taught me patience, but waiting was worth it. Tendersweet is a lovely variety. Like with the onions, I wish I had more space for carrots. I use them frequently and they tend to store well.
Radishes are so easy to grow. We did 2 small crops, spring and fall. They’re quick and delicious. Crunchy Kings get quite spicy in the heat so I will start them earlier next year and probably do a late season fall crop too. Fresh in salads or sliced thin for a quick pickle, radishes are crisp and delicious.
Brussel Sprouts
Varieties:
- Red Bull
Brussel sprouts are strange, or at least my first growing experience with them was. The plants got beautiful and large and didn’t produce any sprouts, until the fall. Then the aphids came. I decided they were a wash for this growing season. Now that I know what to expect I will adjust when I plant them and prepare for buggies.
Greens
Varieties:
- All Year Round – Lettuce
- Buttercrunch – Lettuce
- Spinach (Giant Noble)
We had a lovely harvest of lettuce this year. It’s interesting to me that lettuce is a cooler weather crop because I tend to like salads in the hot summer rather than when it’s cool. The All Year Round variety did well and lasted into the hot weather longer than the other greens we did. I will plant these again.
Buttercrunch is a lovely plant with great flavor. Wonderful as a salad green but also works well for wraps. This variety is a bit less heat tolerant. We did the cut and come again method, picking some of the larger outer leaves while leaving the rest of the head intact, as well as picking the whole heads for larger servings.
I was very happy with the Giant Noble spinach. It produced well and was slow to bolt. The leaves this plant produces are very pretty. Long and pointed and slightly savoyed (crinkly) they add a great texture and depth to salads and also cook very well.
I should note that I planted my greens in fabric raised 2’ x 2’ beds in an area that gets a fair amount of shade, as opposed to my large raised bed that has mostly direct sun. I credit this placement with lengthening the harvesting time for my greens.
Fabric 2′ x 2′ garden planters linked HERE.
Metal 4′ x 8′ raised garden bed linked HERE.
Melons
Varieties:
- Honey Rock (Cantaloupe)
- Blacktail Mountain (Watermelon)
Melons take forever! But they’re worth it, I think. We waited very patiently for these melons, and we only ended up with 1 very small watermelon. It was the most amazing melon I’ve had my entire life though. These were planted in a new area of the garden where the soil is young and needs some more amendments. Hopefully, the melons will do better next year.
Potatoes
Varieties:
- Blue Adirondack
- Yukon Gold
I love potatoes and growing them is interesting. Potatoes were a complete experiment this year and didn’t yield much. I started with 1 seed potato for the Yukon and 3 small seed potatoes for the Adirondack. My harvest was just a handful of each. No biggy, just learning here. I’ve read that potatoes prefer a more acidic soil so, I kept the potatoes separate from my other plants and used an acidic fertilizer.
Using grow bags, the seeds began in about 6 inches of soil. I then mounded more soil when the stems were about 6 inches tall to encourage tuber growth. Again, not a big harvest but there are things I can change for next year. It’s possible my soil was too dense, if I’d had straw, I would’ve mounded that instead of or along with the soil to lighten it up. I’ve also learned that potatoes can be picky about moisture, so I need to address that in the future. I’m not sure the grow bags I have are great for this task. I may choose fabric sided bags for more ventilation and moisture control.
Potato growing bags linked HERE.
Herbs
Varieties:
- Marjoram
- Rosemary
- Oregano
- Garlic Chives
- Basil (Italiano Classico)
- Thyme (French)
- Mint
- Sage, White
- Chervil
- Dill (Mammoth)
- Parsley (Flat Leaf)
If you plant nothing else, plant herbs. They are so easy and add so much not only to your food but to the garden-scape. Herbs are amazing and versatile and can be added to almost anything including sweet dishes and drinks. Some also serve as pest control for fruiting plants and when they flower create a wonderful place for pollinators to thrive.
If I had to choose only 5 herbs to plant, they would be Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme, Chives, and Basil. These 5 are super easy to grow and are prolific. The more you use your herbs the more they grow.
Basil is the only really picky one and the only one with which I’ve had pest trouble. Simply maintain the basil by pinching off the pointy tops to keep them from flowering. Deanna at Homestead and Chill has a great article and video about how to grow big bushy basil.
Rosemary is best to grow from a started plant instead of seed, as I learned this year. Thyme can be grown either from seed or a start but to be able use the herb sooner growing from a start makes the most sense.
All but the basil can be overwintered in some zones to grow again in a new season. I have not yet had my rosemary and thyme return and have had to start them new each year. That being said, I haven’t put much effort into overwintering them either. I did leave a small stump of rosemary and mulched it heavily to see if it will return next year.
Chives have always come back year after year for me. They can also transplant easily and haven’t been bothered by poor soil.
Parsley seems to flourish in the heat, which works well in my climate. Parsley can easily take over the space in which it’s planted. I have always grown it in a container, and it will crowd out anything it’s planted next to.
My lest productive herbs this year were dill and chervil. I was so hoping the chervil would grow but it’s just too hot here. I may try to do a cool season crop and harvest before the heat takes hold. The unproductive dill was gardener error. I started this from seed and should’ve sown the seeds more densely. I had just a couple of very large stalks but not enough to have a proper harvest. I was able to save the seeds though, so not a total loss.
Flowers
Varieties:
- Calendula (Pink Surprise)
- Marigold (Bonanza Mix, Inca)
- Nasturtium
- Zinnia
Oh, the beautiful flowers. I didn’t expect to be so enamored by these delightful decorations. The highlight of my day was walking through the garden and visiting the enormous bumble bees, all named George for some reason, on the Zinnias and watching the butterflies flit around trying decide the best flower to land on.
Vibrant and beautiful the Zinnias really stole my heart this year. Easy to grow and endlessly lovely I will always have them in my garden.
Nasturtiums took over the corner garden and I’m not mad about it. They created an amazing green carpet as they vined as far as they could reach. Abundant and edible I will definitely grow them again.
Marigolds have been and always will be one of my favorite garden flowers. They are so cheerful as their bright yellow, red and orange faces great you. They are also so useful as pest control companions, and I credit them with doing this job extremely well this season.
I love the idea of Calendula because of its pest control and medicinal properties. I wasn’t very successful growing them this year. Maybe it was soil or heat, I’m not sure. I’ll continue to try but they were my least successful and least favorite of the flowers this year
All in all, I’m very proud of how my garden performed in 2021. I learned so much about how things grow and what they require. I also learned how I can improve as a gardener. My hope is to continue to scale my garden so that I can grow and preserve food to last through the while year, or longer. All of this takes time and patience and a willingness to deal with some failures. Gardening is wonderfully fulfilling pursuit that I would recommend to everyone.
