year end garden reflections

I turned my garden last week and got sugar snap peas planted yesterday.  I left kale plants I put in during the fall.  I was daunted about eating the kale for a long time, as my husband doesn't like greens, but I've been putting a leaf into my morning smoothie for natural vitamins.  The whispy little plants are fennel plants from the farmers exchange.

 I also have swiss chard that I planted last spring, which has come back nicely this winter after nearly disappearing in the heat of summer.

I pulled out the last few parsnips that I planted last spring.  We ate some in late summer and some were woody, but the ones I roasted tonight were tasty.  I planted them early spring and they developed very slowly.  I won't plant them as a spring crop again, but I might try them as a fall crop

So what were the successes of the garden?  I had good lettuce last early spring but I didn't succeed in getting it started this fall.  The sugar snap peas last spring were wonderful and more than we could eat.  I bought a few brocolli plants which did well, but one plant doesn't yield very much broccoli.

For the second year in a row, Japanese eggplant (bought as plants at Lowes) yielded reliably all summer.  I got some cucumbers from the couple of plants I bought, though not as many as last year.  I planted fewer tomato plants and they did better, but I still am caught on the dilemma of wanting to let them get really ripe on the vine but instead they start to go bad.

So this year I want to plant beans again, and I will stick with eggplant, cucumber, and tomatoes as summer crops.  I planted broccoli rape, pak choy, and lettuce as early spring crops.  I did plant some broccoli rape last year, but it kept flowering before I could harvest it.  I should probably try it as a fall crop.