For my two Helpline rows I was assigned broccoli. I was given the seed and a planting date. Each section would have two rows on a hilled area about 18″ x 10′. I weeded, thinned and watched for pests.

From what I had been reading, there is a fly (Delia radicum or D. brassicae) that lays its eggs at the base of cruciferous plants. There are 2 or more generations per year in the PNW according to PNW Insect Mgmt Handbook. I had lost 2 of my own broccoli plants kind of early on. As this was an organic garden I was limited in what I could do about it. I decided to make sure to plant more than I need and bag up any plants and surrounding soil that would succumb. Fortunately I only lost one of the helpline plants.

The garden was as lush and colorful as I’ve seen. The temps never seemed to get warm enough to go without a jacket through about June. I was amazed at how quickly and large the veggies grew. The days were very long in the Summer and the plants seemed to take that extra daylight and run with it. Nasturtium leaves in a neighboring plot were almost as big as dinner plates!

I planted bush beans in June. Two rows of Topcrop, my favorite. They performed wonderfully. Another two rows of beans, one of Roma and another row of Topcrop when in three weeks after the first. I had wanted to get a third planting done but it wasn’t going to happen.

The bean harvest went well. I canned some dilly beans and had a lot of beans to eat, give away and freeze. In 2015 I want to make sure I get that third planting in.

From everything I had read and been told tomatoes can be quite challenging in this part of the county. The Summer days are long but not typically hot like tomatoes like. The soil never really warms up till much too late for long season varieties. Early tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are about all that one can reliably grow in the garden here according to fellow gardeners unless there is a micro-climate to warm things up. I ended up trying three different varieties. Celebrity, a short season paste tomato and a short season grape tomato. I ended up getting maybe a dozen or so from each and it was a fairly decent tomato season from what people say. My plots are on the side of the garden that doesn’t get direct sun quite as long as some of the others, probably hurting my yield even more. It was hardly worth the effort. I did grow a Celebrity in a pot on the balcony and got the best yield I’ve ever had from a container grown tomato. It is the only way I will attempt it this year.