Continuing our topic of What’s Growing Well in the Garden, Kathryn Hamilton and Charles Murphy share stories of their successes. Both of these Extension master gardener volunteers garden at the Briggs Avenue Community Garden. They maintain their own individual plots as well as assist the community with bigger tasks. Charles minds the orchard and Kathryn minds the composting. — Andrea, Blog editor

Kathryn’s awesome year

I have had an awesome garden year. Beginning with snow peas planted in January and harvested through May, and including winter crops (cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli) harvested through the beginning of May. The summer, though not nearly through, has been equally robust. I have totaled 191 pounds of produce. This does not include what was given away at the garden before I got to weigh it. Some of the summer highlights: 107 pounds of cucumbers; 9.6 pounds of mostly Japanese style eggplants, 17.3 pounds of zucchini, and 36 pounds of tomatoes, as of today. A new crop of cucumbers has been seeded along with a new set of zucchini, four different kinds of string beans, and snow peas which are on their way from the seed house.

Peppers lead the pack for Charles

I have had consistent good results with peppers of all sorts – green and purple bells especially, mild banana peppers and really hot cayennes – for a number of years. All my plants were set out as seedlings in April, and are producing well in mid-July.

Peppers, like many garden plants, prefer loamy, well-drained soil and the raised beds at Briggs work well. Frequent watering while seedlings are growing is good, as is a light application of a low-potency (e.g., 5-5-5 or 5-4-5) fertilizer as the plants reach mature size. Mature plants like water, but will tolerate dry conditions for longer than some other veggies, and are less susceptible to hot weather damage with temps in the low to mid 90s like we have had for the last two weeks. Bells show rich green, or other (purple, yellow) colors when ready to pick and can be used even when they are medium size. The banana peppers mature as light green fruits three to five inches long, and cayennes will turn red, but are just as spicy before they change color.

The peppers I’ve grown have had less pest damage, e.g., Japanese beetles, etc., than most of the garden crops, and tend to be low-maintenance. I’ve also had good results with the “Ichiban” variety of eggplants (caution: they are susceptible to a variety of predacious critters, so watch them closely.)  Regular watering, light fertilizing and regular cutting of fruit at six to seven inch lengths help to keep healthy plants producing longer. Peppers and eggplants co-exist in the same bed quite well, though it is a good idea to rotate planting sites from year to year.   

Other success crops for me include English peas and cucumbers. This year I put in pea seeds in early March, and could have done that earlier, expecting a mature crop in late May to early June. The variety I chose was listed as bush type on the seed packet, but I prefer to set up a trellis for the plants to climb. That makes harvest easier, and keeps pods off the ground. I chose a medium-size fruit cucumber variety (don’t remember the name), and set seedlings out in early May. Cucumbers don’t like cold weather, so wait until after last average frost date to plant. Trellised them, again to make them easier to harvest and to keep fruit off the ground. Cucumbers peas and peppers need  regular harvesting to keep fruit production going.

Learn more about vegetable gardening in central NC: