Look Back On My 2021 Zone 8b Garden

I've always said that if you needed a plant to kill; I was your woman. My thumb has never been very green. I've even killed cacti, succulents, and a poor ivy. Those are just a few. I have a long list of plants that have come into my home and didn't survive. 

 When I decided to have a garden I knew I was going to research, research, research. I didn't want my garden to become another skeleton cacti. 2020 I dipped my toe in the gardening and I wasn't very successful. That's when I came to the realization that I had put my raised beds in a terrible location. It was a good location at the beginning of spring, before all the trees had their leaves. Once the leaves came in the garden was shaded for a majority of the day. 

  Mistake #1: not paying attention to the sun path throughout the day.

  Mistake #2: not really researching the varieties that I was planting.  

2021 rolled around and I was determined to do better!  With the help of my husband we moved the raised beds to a better location. He [my husband] also built me an additional bed, which brought the total to 3 raised beds. One 4' x 10' and two 4' x 8' raised beds. I tried starting my seeds but I didn't succeed (I'm determined to do better this upcoming season.). In March '20 I decided to risk it and direct sow all my tomatoes and peppers. 

I would say I was halfway succesful. The red cherry, pink thai, and super sioux tomatoes were very succesful from direct sowing in March. My peppers on the other hand, not so much. Only one bell pepper plant produced one, tiny, little pepper. I will try harder to start pepper seeds indoor this upcoming season. 

I direct sowed dragon tongue and royal burgundy beans. They were very productive! Maybe I should just write a list of everything I direct sowed- here goes!

Tomatoes: direct sowed in March, succesful

Peppers (bell pepper, serranos, jalapeños): direct sowed in March, not succesful

Cilantro: direct sowed in March, semi succesful. It grew but not very big.

Lettuce: direct sowed in March, succesful

Beans (dragon tongue and royal burgundy): direct sowed in March, succesful and very productive.

Okra (Alabama Red): direct sowed in April, succesful. High producer.

Clemson Spineless okra: direct sowed, semi succesful. It produced, but not very much.

Zucchini and Squash (black beauty and yellow crookneck): direct sowed in May, succesful. 

Purple Hull Peas: direct sowed in May, succesful. Very productive!

I'm sure I have left something out, but, I think that concludes what I planted. I do plan on doing more seed starting this upcoming year. I will be updating on how that goes! 

Thank you