The Experimental Garden - Stage 2

As described in a previous post, I decided to plant a long distance garden - long distance since I live 1000 miles away. Yes, I know it was a crazy scheme. So, I returned to the garden two months after planting to see how things went. I admit that I should have gone back at least once before this, if only to weed, but this is the way it timed out.
When I arrived, at the end of August, it was the beginning of chile harvest in the north. I thought that if there were any chilies to be had, they would be on the plants by then, since the site is much farther south. I wasn’t too worried about actual harvest because I could always leave the chilies to ripen to red, or even longer to dry on the plant. Well, happy days!, there was chile to be harvested.

The most shocking aspect of the garden upon arrival was the immensity of individual weed plants. Many were alfalfa, a good nitrogen fixer (natural fertilizer), so I wasn’t too worried by that. The concern was the size of the plants (6'-7' tall), which easily shaded out the chilies and other vegetables. Next year, I’ll definitely use a weed barrier.



before weeding - scary!



after weeding - whew























I had planted six different varieties of peppers with varied levels of spice and adaptation to climate. I thought it would be a good idea to experiment to see what would grow well under the unusual circumstances. Interestingly, some varieties just died, while others did really well. The winners were a new hybrid (NuMex Conquistador from Seeds of Change) and the old standby Espanola (which is adapted to a northern NM climate). In any case I had a suitcase full of chile to take home with extra to distribute to relatives in Albuquerque.

NuMex Conquistador

Espanola

A beautiful sight!  Fresh roasted chile.

The beans were a huge success; the plants had died by August, but the pods had dried and were full of lovely beans. I planted two pumpkin plants (Winter Luxury Pie, the best!) and had one baby pumpkin. There was some deer damage earlier in the year, so the plants had a traumatic start. Th corn (strawberry popcorn) seemed ok, but they had been heavily shaded out by the massive alfalfa, so I don’t know how many little corns I’ll get.

A lovely young pumpkin

Overall, a huge success! Next year, more chile, more beans, and I think I’ll go with native blue corn instead. Probably a pumpkin or two. Definitely weed barrier, and perhaps less water and more manure for the chile plants. Live and learn; happy gardening!