Failure is life’s greatest teacher and I’ve learned a few tough lessons with my second try at a patio garden.
This year I was more ambitious — last summer I planted a few sunflowers and some very late to the party tomatoes.
I also took advantage of the longer growing season we enjoy on the Island. Back home in Saskatchewan, I learned from my parents to wait until after the May long weekend to plant my backyard garden to avoid a late frost.
Although I’ve never tasted a kohlrabi in my life, for some reason I picked up some seeds a few years ago and just hung onto them. I planted them this spring along with some peas, kale, tomatoes, basil and sunflowers.
The kohlrabi (two smallish planters) looked great above ground, but when I dug them out of the soil I realized (to my mild horror) that there was nothing there but a tangle of very thin (non-edible) roots.
That's a bit disappointing after lovingly watering them and singing them lullabies for more than two months.
A similar result followed when I unearthed my second round of kohlrabi planted a few weeks later. I might never learn what a kohlrabi tastes like.
The peas did a little better. I think I planted too many for the size of the pots, because they looked pretty healthy for a while, but once they grew larger they quickly dried out, although I did harvest a few handfuls of pea pods.
It could have been a lack of water — or too much water, it's hard to say. I didn't read much on the back of the seed packets save for how deep to plant the seeds and how far to space them.
I also picked up a small cucumber plant and a basil plant at a sidewalk plant sale and within a few weeks I realized they were crawling with some kind of tiny insect (mites?) and so they had to go.
On the positive side, I have three tomato plants that are going like gangbusters. Although, one of my basil plants died mysteriously (it remained very small and then just shrivelled up to a tiny husk).
The sunflowers are also doing well and the bees love them, just like they did last year.
I already harvested my kale, which was enough for one large salad. It's regenerating at a decent pace so I'll probably get a second harvest soon.
Next year I think I'll play it safe and stick to what I know — carrots, beets and tomato plants. If I really want to taste a kohlrabi I'll just pick some up at the grocery store.
Maybe the silver lining is my patio garden made it this far without my two-year-old shih tzu mauling a single plant, although she was fascinated by their scents.
Do you have any good stories of garden success or failure? Any ideas why my pea plants died? Have you tasted a kohlrabi? Drop me a line at kevin.forsyth@pqbnews.com.
Kevin Forsyth is a reporter for the Parksville Qualicum Beach News
