schmism
Super Member
We had great garden thread last year....
how about updates for this year.
Our garden has really suffered. We had a really cool wet spring and ment we had a really late start (or what we did start, rotted/never came up)
Greenbeans, beets, letuce has all been a desaster this year, all of which was a big success last year, and probibly the 3 items we eat most often.
Yellow squash is barely started, by this time last year we were knee deep in yellow squash.
Cukes were rolling this time last year, this year... 2 off a volinteer plant that grew up in the middle of the strawberry patch that got 3 bucket loads of dirt from last years compost pile.
Intrestingly the stuff we TRIED to grow has near on been a flop. The strawberries all died (they are sending us a new round next year) but in its place, we have a hord of volinteer plans, tomato's, squash, cukes.... All doing much better than our cultivated plants. We will get our first tomato's off our volinteers.
The peach tree has a bumper crop of peaches this year after getting none last year due to a late freeze. But i have black spot fungus so the fruits arnt the best. Still plenty to eat and make into pies, just not grocery store gentically modified, chemically treated ones.
We found some grapes growning on the west side of the property, and the mystery fruit trees in the back are putting out golf ball sized plumbs. The trees have been ravaged by jap-beetles for the past (who knows how long, 2 years ive been hear) I hit them hard last year with seven, and had my first spaying this year on both the plumb and peach trees. Looked like a killing ground 24 hrs later. It was my guess that it would take the plumbs at least 2-3 years to recover from the stress and produce fruits. We are on track with that as we have just a few small fruits this year.
The black rasiberries were new find this year, we werent looking for them last year (and not hear full time either this time last year) Overall we pulled probibly 1.5 gallons off the various vines on around the permierter that is woolley. The backberries are just now comming in, and the large RCP area behind us looks to have another bumper crop this year.
I see neighbors with picture perfect gardens, not a weed in sight and everything in nice tidy rows. Ask them how they did it and how long they have been gardening that spot. My neighbor, the one with the textbook garden, has been working the same spot for 10 years! Hard to rid the ground of all the weeds in less than 2. I keep hopeing that as we develop our gardening technique it will continue to improve.
For city kids, there is a lot to learn to growing more than just a small patch of tomato's and greenbeens.
But in the end its a labor of love, and ive come to learn that fresh veggies out of my own garden really taste nothing like the ones bought in the store!
how about updates for this year.
Our garden has really suffered. We had a really cool wet spring and ment we had a really late start (or what we did start, rotted/never came up)
Greenbeans, beets, letuce has all been a desaster this year, all of which was a big success last year, and probibly the 3 items we eat most often.
Yellow squash is barely started, by this time last year we were knee deep in yellow squash.
Cukes were rolling this time last year, this year... 2 off a volinteer plant that grew up in the middle of the strawberry patch that got 3 bucket loads of dirt from last years compost pile.
Intrestingly the stuff we TRIED to grow has near on been a flop. The strawberries all died (they are sending us a new round next year) but in its place, we have a hord of volinteer plans, tomato's, squash, cukes.... All doing much better than our cultivated plants. We will get our first tomato's off our volinteers.
The peach tree has a bumper crop of peaches this year after getting none last year due to a late freeze. But i have black spot fungus so the fruits arnt the best. Still plenty to eat and make into pies, just not grocery store gentically modified, chemically treated ones.
We found some grapes growning on the west side of the property, and the mystery fruit trees in the back are putting out golf ball sized plumbs. The trees have been ravaged by jap-beetles for the past (who knows how long, 2 years ive been hear) I hit them hard last year with seven, and had my first spaying this year on both the plumb and peach trees. Looked like a killing ground 24 hrs later. It was my guess that it would take the plumbs at least 2-3 years to recover from the stress and produce fruits. We are on track with that as we have just a few small fruits this year.
The black rasiberries were new find this year, we werent looking for them last year (and not hear full time either this time last year) Overall we pulled probibly 1.5 gallons off the various vines on around the permierter that is woolley. The backberries are just now comming in, and the large RCP area behind us looks to have another bumper crop this year.
I see neighbors with picture perfect gardens, not a weed in sight and everything in nice tidy rows. Ask them how they did it and how long they have been gardening that spot. My neighbor, the one with the textbook garden, has been working the same spot for 10 years! Hard to rid the ground of all the weeds in less than 2. I keep hopeing that as we develop our gardening technique it will continue to improve.
For city kids, there is a lot to learn to growing more than just a small patch of tomato's and greenbeens.
But in the end its a labor of love, and ive come to learn that fresh veggies out of my own garden really taste nothing like the ones bought in the store!
We are trying to sell the property where the garden is located and I have not relocated it yet. Here is a link to what the garden looks like this year.