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| Oh where oh where did my garden go? |
Why? Well, after having summer droughts as far back as I can remember, I really, really, hate to complain, but let’s face it, if we get anymore rain around here, I’m going to be forced to begin construction on an Arc. It has rained just about everyday all summer. Sometimes it’s just a light drizzle, but often it has looked like a monsoon.
While that just means mud for some people, they way we are situated in our valley, much of our property, has become a swamp, and the area around my garden has taken the worst of it. In fact, if I didn’t use raised beds in there, I doubt I would be getting any produce from the garden at all.
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| Can you see the cantaloupes and watermelons? Yeah, me neither. |
Walking in my garden feels like walking on saturated carpet. Muddy water bubbles up around your feet with every step. We couldn’t possibly bring the lawn mower into that mess to try to mow the aisles, so you can barely even see where the beds actually are. Inside the beds, there are more weeds than vegetables, owing to the fact that it is much too miserable to be in there weeding, plus, the more time I walk the aisles, the worse the mud situation becomes.
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| At least the tiny tomatoes are still producing! I take them to my mom, and she is dehydrating them to use this winter! |
Now, I know all that sounds like complaining. OK, fine, I complained just a tad, but really, this little garden has still blessed us beyond measure this year. We have harvested basket after basket of healthy food from inside it’s borders. Tomatoes, beans, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, onions, muskmelon, watermelon, kale, chard, carrots just to name a few.
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| The peanuts and sweet potatoes actually look pretty good, despite the rain! The beans in the background look dismal. |
I’m afraid it might be time to call it quits with my little garden for awhile though. I will still continue to go on search and rescue missions to retrieve that produce which the slugs haven’t claimed, but in general, I think I need to give it some time to dry out and drain. All good things come to an end, and I think my cheerful little garden is at its end for the season.
In other news, however, I actually have food plants planted all over our property, not to mention eggs and milk, so there is still plenty to keep us fed and occupied!
What about you? How does your garden grow?
Ditto to everything you wrote. It is the same here. Lots do weeds and few veggies. Our fruit bushes did well and so we are thankful for that. I am just trying to do the best with what we did get and to be thankful. I think that has to be the life of a farmer or homesteader.
We haven’t had all the rain, but our seasons were mixed up, the peas were very late, and the green beans, planted in the same beds, are blooming but not producing. Second mixed-up year in a row (northeast Kansas).
were you happy with your pallet trellis’ ?
We were very happy with them! In fact, I never got around to taking them down at the end of the season, and they still look great and haven’t moved a bit though rain, snow, or wind! Thanks for asking!