The Side Garden
Herbs: We have Catnip, Sage, Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Dill and fennel. We had Parsley last year and early this year before we found out it was biennial (We thought it might be a perennial) by it going to seed and getting bitter early in its second spring. The first year we planted too much Basil resulting in Basil oil and dried Basil that still hasn't totally been used. This year we probably have a bit too little and will run out before we can get it to come up in the Spring.
We definitely have too much Oregano (it's a perennial and we wound up with three big, spreading patches.) and we'll probably cut it back to one real healthy patch for next year. The Sage is doing great and we'll probably just let it continue growing where it is and hope that we don't kill all of it trying to harvest the Jerusalem Artichokes (more on that later).
The Thyme and the Lavender are getting established and showing signs of really liking the place. The Dill is over and done with, but it grew great and we kept hoping to use it for Dill pickles, but the Cucumbers died so we just saved the seeds for use next year along with the tender young shoots of next year's planting.
The Catnip loves it where it is, has made the bees in the neighborhood very happy and we probably have way too much even though we cut it back to one plant from four last year. It'll stay, if only because it's nice to have it around, it attracts the bees and looks nice for much of the year. For next year we're going to probably add tarragon, more parsley, and maybe a few herbs to really make the currently raised side garden just herbs.
The Catnip loves it where it is, has made the bees in the neighborhood very happy and we probably have way too much even though we cut it back to one plant from four last year. It'll stay, if only because it's nice to have it around, it attracts the bees and looks nice for much of the year. For next year we're going to probably add tarragon, more parsley, and maybe a few herbs to really make the currently raised side garden just herbs.
Jerusalem Artichokes: We had hoped to have half of the side garden be a row of Jerusalem Artichokes (like potatoes, but different) but it seems that something (probably the voles) got all but one of the seed tubers I put in the ground. That means that we should have enough for planting somewhere next year (possibly in a large container) and a little eating this year. In theory that plant is supposed to be several times more prolific per unit space then potatoes and be far and away the best crop for Ethanol production. They're also quite tasty. I hope we can figure out how to keep the critters from making off with them next year.
Eggplant: The eggplant previously growing under lights inside got planted out into the side garden (mostly because there was an empty space left by some herbs not coming up as planned.) it's flowering like gangbusters, but no fruits yet. It's a little shaded by the J-chokes so that may be it, or it may be that I put it out too late. We'll never know.
Tomato: I had one left over tomato plant after filling the front garden and the test patch in the side so I put it in the side garden. It's growing, flowering and setting a few fruit. It was a late blooming seedling and as such won't have much time to give fruit before first frost.
Peas: The first thing planted out in early spring was the snow peas. The half of the garden that didn't get J-chokes got snow peas. They were great. Good tasting, bore fairly well for their species and then died in time to plant pole beans. The decision was made that we needed to plant 2-3 times as many snow peas next year.
Beans: Where there were blank spaces along the back of the garden we planted pole beans. Incredibly tasty, bearing from a few weeks after planting all the way to frost they seem like a really good idea. Just don't expect anemic little corn plants to hold them up. These beans pulled the silly little corn plants right over and destroyed any chance of having corn. They also then sprawled all over the garden threatening to choke out all non-pole-bean life forms. Next year they're getting their own raised bed with real poles.
Corn: We planted some sweet corn and some popcorn. It basically grew stunted, pollinated incompletely and then got killed by the beans. Not a successful experiment.
Peppers: The only bell pepper that survived was in the side garden. It gave us two large brown (we got the chocolate pepper) peppers and then someone ate the roots. It is now giving scads of little brown peppers while it wilts pitifully. We're definitely planting more next year. They're tasty and I don't even like bell peppers. We might leave some in the side garden and we might put them exclusively in the side raised beds.
The side Garden was very confused this year as we tried to fill in around short season plants and plants that didn't grow. Hopefully we'll get it more organized next year and we'll have all the herbs we could want (and a few vegetables).