I’m trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon after falling off for two weeks. (Was it really two weeks?) As always, the more that’s going on around the homestead, the less time I have to write about it. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with work deadlines and other boring but necessary details. A good bit of our time has been spent out in the garden, though. I’ve not talked much about the garden this year so it’s time to catch up.
The best laid plans....
The gardening year got off to a good start by me throwing my back out and being laid up for two weeks right about planting time. And then we were out of town for a week. And then we were out of town for another week. Amazingly the seeds we had started survived despite levels of neglect that were extreme, even for us. The plant lamps helped immensely as did light timers.
Two seconds before seeds went flying.
With more than a month head start on us, the weeds have been a big problem this year. Add to that the near drought conditions and things haven’t been doing so great. More time in the garden would always help but nowadays I do my gardeningd with a toddler underfoot. Gardening with a toddler is an exercise in patience. Or futility. Not sure which.
Blackberry thief caught red faced.
So how are things doing? Well, normally we’re up to our eyeballs in blackberries but this year only our knees were covered. (Of course, a certain toddler learned quickly to pick and eat the berries so it’s a little hard to get exact numbers.) We only got 10 raspberries total. Tomatoes got planted out late and had problems with blossom drop so we’re just now starting to get some tomatoes ripening. And not that many either. The squash plants we had so carefully started all died in extended indoor seedling-hood and only one of the direct sown seeds started. Half the greens didn’t even sprout and the potatoes died when the spuds were just golf ball size. Beans, spring root crops, and spring cole crops didn’t even get planted.
Starting to perk up...
This year was hardly a wash though. As always, volunteer coriander and dill made a good showing. We also got a really good crop of peas, both from the ones we planted and the ones someone else planted accidentally in our garden plot. (Oops.) The peppers we started from seed are doing great as are the direct-seeded squash and the replacement squash plants we bought. Judging by the number of blooms and tiny, unripened fruits we may get a decent tomato and raspberry harvest yet this year. We just planted out the cole plants we had started for the spring. They managed to survive all summer thanks to light timers and plant lamps (not recommended) and are promising a good fall crop. Now we’re working on seeding fall crops: carrots, beets, peas, and greens.
Future gardener and chief mud pie maker
It was also a good gardening year is less tangible ways. Julie is growing up with almost daily outdoor time. She has eaten sugar snap peas fresh off the vine, braved over-zealous blackberry brambles to get fruit, made mud pies (well, mud at least), and picked flowers. (And green tomatoes, but that’s a post for another day.)
So how is our garden growing? Quite well, thanks.