Starting Out - Our First Vegetable Garden

We had our first test vegetable plot ploughed out in the fall of 2021. It is located on the east side of the property and measures approximately 30’ x 60’. “Roughly ploughed” would be an apt description of the state of the plot, and in the Spring of 2022 our friend Pete came over with his tractor and plough to smooth things out and make it ready for planting.

Pete and his wife, Kristin, are our curling partners in Brighton during the winter and we were appreciative of the assistance - we greatly value the friendliness of our local friends and neighbours! Although we have our own tractor and bush hog for cutting the fields, we are still on the lookout for a smaller, two-wheel tractor of the type espoused by Jean-Martin Fortier, The Market Gardiner.

Soon after the May long weekend we had a variety of tomatoes in the ground - heirloom, beefsteak, Roma, Cherry and San Marzano to name a few. White and red varieties of potatoes were planted between the rows of tomatoes, along with pumpkins, butternut and crookneck squash, zucchini, yellow beans, carrots and corn.

With everything in the ground the next steps involved ongoing watering, weeding as needed, watching (lots of watching), and dealing with the potato bugs and tomato hornworms that appeared in the latter half of July - more on these “green monsters” here.

It’s quite a thrill to see the various vegetables begin to emerge, slowly expand upwards and outwards, then gradually ripen in the summer sun. Harvest begins in August and carries on into September, as the various vegetables reach their mature state.

Post harvest we weeded the far east side of the plot and put down a cover crop to help enrich the soil for more plantings in 2023. We will take the lessons learned from 2022 and begin to fine tune the planting process, including doing plantings in stages so that vegetables won’t ripen all at the same time. We’ll also begin to deal with abundant yields of tomatoes by donating to the local food bank, which we’re told is happy to receive them. That, and inviting friends out for harvesting days. Read the blog post on the first harvest in 2022.