Garden Wrap 2026, Part 2

While we produced a lot of food in our garden this year and had many successes, we were not without failures. We always try to learn from our mistakes, so the following are some of our fails for 2026.

Cucumbers: Probably the most disappointing crop this year. We have struggled for the past several years in growing cucumbers. Last year, we started seedlings in peat pots instead of direct sowing and had a good crop. Thinking we turned a corner, this year we tried a combination of peat pot germination and direct sowing, and both failed. We probably picked three cucumbers. This year, I feel the problem was too much rain at a bad time. The plants grew slowly, and eventually withered away. We love pickles, so this is something we need to keep trying.

Brassicas: These started out well, but just at their peak the broccoli and cabbage were decimated by cabbage moth larvae. We have read that floating row cover helps, so we will be trying that next year.

San Marzano Tomatoes: These plants produced a lot of small tomatoes, far smaller than the elongated fruit we usually see. We still had plenty for salsa and sauce, but we couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. Perhaps a different seed company may help.

Peas: For whatever reason, our peas always seem late and give us a small crop. We are a little baffled because peas should be an easy crop. We grow them in raised beds, so maybe soil temperature is an issue.

Pumpkins: I am a little on the fence in adding this one. At first, it seemed like we were going to just get a crop of small pumpkins, but then we ended up with a small wagon full of carving oumpkins just before Halloween. It seems like this was just a late year for pumpkins.

Apples: Our fruit this year was wormy and unusable, perhaps a function of the rain we had. Somewhat embarrassingly, we bought apples from local orchards this fall, which we have never done. We do not spray and that may be catching up with us, as it is very difficult to grow apples organically. We will be spending this winter looking into better apple management.

Many of these fails were more a function of weather or pests then our incompetence, which is a little comforting. We have found that some crops that do well one year sometimes struggle the next. Gardening certainly builds an appeciatetion for weather. I doubt we will every have a year where everything is perfect. We are just thankful we produced enough to eat and to share. The garden is ready for its long nap. We'll take a break, then dig out the seed catelogues in February and start over again.