Sunday, August 4, 2013

Not Much of a Gardener

I have not been much of a gardener this summer. I do have excuses though. I have been working from 8:00 to 5:30 all summer. I never work that many hours but this year with a new director, I felt it was necessary. When you are taking care of this many children, I think it is important to do it well.
Anyway, that is not my only excuse. It has rained more than I have ever seen it rain during the summer in all the years I have lived here in GA. For a couple weeks it rained every day and on other weeks it rained at least once or twice a week. The weeds in the garden are just right out of control and I have no time to pull them.The garden  is quite literally scary to step in. I am very careful to watch for snakes. With the rain have also come the mosquitoes. We don't normally have that much problem with the mosquitoes but they are terrible this year. Bug spray is a must and I really hate spraying the stuff on me but there is no other choice if you are going to be outside this year.
Excuse number three would be that we just have been doing other things on the weekends, with helping my brother move and repairs on the house, my trips to the garden are few and quick.
It really hasn't been much of a garden anyway. As you all know I just threw in some seeds this year and put the pepper and tomato plants in late. The squash plants died off pretty quickly, some bug got in the stems, the pumpkin plant lasted longer but not much, the beans got over run by the weeds. I did get a few but not much. The tomatoes got eaten down by a deer. They have grown back and grown real tall but have only produced about 5 green tomatoes so far. The pepper plants have done what bell pepper plants always do in my garden, they produce blooms but not peppers.
One success, however, has been the cucumbers. My cucumber plants don't usually produce very much because we get hot too quick and they just die off. This year with the rain and cooler temps, they are thriving.


 So far I have gotten 4 cucumbers in all which is a record for my garden. Here are two I picked the other day.
 Unfortunately one of them had worms which I had never even seen in a cucumber but the other one did not have any and Phil ate it last night.
We may even get a few more..

The only other success in the garden is the basil. I had a package (small) of basil from my seed-of-the-month club that I just tossed in between the blueberry plants. They did well and I cut them today to make pesto.

There is one other edible thing growing in the yard that is doing well and that is the garlic chives.  This patch of garlic chives have been there on our little hill 6 or 7 years (maybe longer) and I hadn't seen it bloom before.

Besides cutting the basil my gardening chores today were to plant rose bushes. I got two little rose bushed marked down to $2.12 yesterday.

The tag says Red Drift. Some type of miniature rose. I planted them outside the fence on one side of the arch (the other side is shaded by the fig tree) and then I went and dug up a rose bush on the other side of the house. It also has miniature blooms but they are lilac colored. It has lived on the other side of the house for years now but only ever gets a couple of blooms if it reaches out enough because that side is shaded by the house. I think it will do much better on the side with the fence if it lives through my transplanting it at this time of year.

 As you can see it has no leaves on it so I felt it was doing so poorly that it was worth the risk. I did intend to trim it down to help it grow more roots but right then the neighbors dog trotted over and Echo was in the back yard. She got so excited and crazy that she chased one of the bantam chickens and caught it (she has not caught one before). I had a heck of a time getting her off it and it was gone by the time I had taken Echo to the house so I don't know how much damage she did but I don't have much hope for that bantam. He was just one of the three rooster bantams that wander the yard but I will not have the dogs attacking the chickens EVER!  Anyway, I should probably get out there and finish the trimming job and then get that pesto made...

13 comments:

  1. With gardening you have to take what you can ,when you can, so if the cucumbers are good this year but not the tomatoes, then you have done OK. Enjoy your pesto! (It's great stirred into tomato soup...)

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    1. Yeah, but normally I get a FEW good things out of my garden. It really is my own fault because I have been too tired after work to deal with the bugs and more work. I haven't put any effort into this garden which is why I am only getting a few things. You have a wonderful garden and I can see you work hard on it. Summer Camp is over for us now and we will go back to our regular hours (mine are 12:00-7:00 p.m.) so I will have my mornings back and I can do more here. I am SO looking forward to it!

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  2. Hi Becky! That's true what Mark said! Your cucumber plants look so vigorous, and the cucumbers look great! Mine are not so healthy looking and may be why the cucumbers are short and fat on one end. They taste good though. The weather has been the same here, with all the bugs and mosquitoes! So many weeds! My poor nectarine and peach tree, ugh! The fruit just rotted on the vine! No cobblers, pies, or jams for us this year! The rain is really affecting farmers in Dixie this year, so that will be another excuse for higher prices at the grocery store! If the weeds die, I might get to plant a fall garden. I'm not going out there and get eat up by chiggers and bugs, for anything! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!

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    1. I am going to take my hoe out and work on mine a little here and there. I need the exercise anyway. I hope to at least find the beds again. I did not have any tree fruiting this year. The peach tree flowered but a late frost then got it so no home grown fruit this year. I will prune it this winter (if I keep saying "I will" maybe I will get around to it) and see how it does next year.

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  3. My worst gardening year ever ended up with a garden that never got planted. I'd bought some bagged manure, but it never got spread. It was sitting there the next year when I finally got back to the garden. My excuse was that I think I had mono that summer. I was too tired to do anything.

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    1. Yup, I think some years you just need a break.

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  4. Hi Becky, love your pictures. I can't wait to get to my remote cabin and set up permanent residence so, I can get my garden going and a few other projects.

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  5. I like your fresh basil. I think your garden is doing well...

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  6. I have been using Vicks vapor rub to keep mosquitoes away. Also they sell zote soap at big lots which has oil of citronella in it. I don't like putting bug repellent on.

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  7. Wasn't it just last year that we were all hoping for a little rain? Like yours, my garden has had a bit more rain than I had in mind, and some crops have been a total washout, but my cucumbers were good this year, too, until the pickleworms (and then the Downy mildew) got them.

    The good news is that it is just about time to pull out most of the old, dead summer plants and put in the fall garden. It is always great to have the chance to start anew!

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    1. That is what I was thinking too. I got one bed cleared the other day (probably be half grown again before I get back to it though) and I am looking forward to fall planting (less weeds!)

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  8. Hi! I'm gardening vicariously through your blog right now! I just moved into a 2nd story apt. this summer, but I'm doing what I can with a balcony and dozens of potted herbs and other plants. Luckily, my roommate volunteers at a community garden, so we get to reap those benefits. I didn't have as much trouble with insects as I did with mammals last year... deer, rabbits, etc. were always getting to my harvest before I could. A good old fence and very bushy plants that deer don't really have a taste for definitely helped. The rabbits are more difficult, though!

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    1. Yeah, I have a fence around mine but it isn't tall enough to deter the deer here. The rabbits pretty much stay away though. I think our cats keep that population down.

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