Grow Your Own – Vegzilla
by John Weckerle
Despite the unusually cool (mostly) weather we’ve been having, our two little beds are still producing plenty of food. The pictures below include Saturday’s haul and a last look at the beds before removal of the cauliflower plants – they have run their course and were unlikely to produce anything more this year.  They were just taking up space and using up water that is better directed to the adjacent tomatoes. It is not clear whether some green onions or salad greens might do well there; it is a little over-shadowed by the tomatoes and squash.
I had thought that the string beans were about finished – but I keep finding more beans. This mystifies me a little, as it has been some time since I’ve seen much in the way of flowers on the plants. The eggplants are really coming into their own; the four in the picture will be followed up soon by a good dozen or so. Eggplant lasagna tonight! The lettuce is reaching its end, and the other salad greens are looking rather small, so it’s anybody’s guess whether we’ll be eating as much home-grown salad after the next week or so. We can’t complain – those lettuce plants literally provided for us all summer.
The tomatoes, of course, have been delicious. There is nothing like a home-grown tomato fresh off the vine – at least, there is nothing like that in the grocery store. Cucumber yield has been low so far, but there are plenty of flowers, so we’re hopeful. The brussels sprouts still are not ready, but they’re getting closer. The spaghetti squash looks about ready; that could be dinner one night this week.
North Bed
 
South Bed
3 Responses “Grow Your Own – Vegzilla”
Someone who knows someone formerly involved with managing a California community garden passed on this depressing formula: “realistically you need to plant 4 times what you need…25% for the insects, 25% for crop failure, 25% for the thieves, and 25% for yourself.” Obviously not at all applicable to to Vegzilla. Would you be willing to comment on “formula” as applicable to area gardening?
Well, to start out it’s not clear what gardening methods they used. If they were doing something other than smaller, raised beds, we’d be comparing apples to oranges, so to speak. If they were doing the six-inch-deep beds, that might have an effect, also.
As far as we can tell, we haven’t lost much to insects, even though we’ve used no pesticides (not even soap); there have been a few holes in the brussels sprouts leaves (we suspect grasshoppers) and a few aphids in the cauliflower and broccoli – but the latter showed up after we had harvested the “primary” heads. Two tomatoes and one bell pepper have been raided by rodents (apparently).
As for “thieves:” if we’re talking local fauna, that’s covered above. Our chicken wire keeps the rabbits out of both beds and the squirrels out of one. If we’re talking humans, that’s another story. Realistically, I’m not sure there are too many thieves stealing vegetables in this area; seems they’d be more interested in cars, stereos, etc. that they could sell. I could be wrong. In my case, I’m remote enough that it wouldn’t likely be worth it showing up to steal vegetables. At any rate, it seems to me that if you’ve staggered your crops and you’re harvesting regularly, there shouldn’t be too much there to steal at any given time.
Crop failure: we haven’t seen too much of this per se. The squash did slow down during the hot spell, and tomatoes have been relatively unimpressive as far as yield goes (really tasty, though) – but this seems to be an issue of an overall cool summer that has kept the tomatoes from ripening in great quantities. Other tomato growers have been saying the same thing. At my elevation – a little over 6,900 feet – the temperature was getting down into the low- to mid-50s many nights, and it actually took a long time for the tomatoes to set in the first place.
Thanks John – reassuring. I plan to re-blog links to “grow your own” series. Your approach seems quite suitable for those preferring individual plots over larger shared plot. Still surveying local preferences but do have 1st workday scheduled for September 27. More details for the sharing when I have them.