I am no gardener, by any means.
In fact I have always claimed to have a black thumb. But this year I did pretty well I think.
We didn't get a ton of stuff but we got enough to keep us pretty
well through the summer and share with friends and our chickens.
We planted carrots and beets and they didn't do well at all but
our tomatoes didn't do too badly. Our
peppers, radishes and lettuce did really well.
My youngest planted green onions but right after they came up the
weather got super hot for about a week and they burnt up.
Our strawberries took right off and the squirrels completely massacred
them. Next year I will put mesh over
them to try and keep them out of there.
Our fruit trees were loaded with apples and pears and the
squirrels stripped them bare by mid July.
We've never had that happen before.
Not sure what we'll do about that next summer. Our squirrel population is out of control and
they've been wreaking havoc all over the neighborhood. They even pulled up flowers. What the heck?
I was able to grow enough cucumbers to make pickles and add to
salads. I had enough jalapeños and bell
peppers for three batches of salsa. I
also made a batch of pickled jalapeños.
We eat our tomatoes as we pick them.
They are so good.
Unfortunately I couldn't get squash, pumpkin or melons to
grow. The slugs got them before they
even had a chance. I'll have to do something
different next year.
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| Our one lone squash plant |
We did manage to do it for the most part organically with compost and
organic pesticide. I did use up a little
bit of leftover water soluble fertilizer I had in the garage. We'll amend the soil more and get it better
over the winter and spring.
Did you plant a garden this summer? What did really well for you?
I feel your pain. When we lived in Oregon the squirrels ate a bite out of every apple on three trees! When they finished that they started in on our sword ferns. UGH.
ReplyDeleteCan't grow zip here, it just burns up no matter what I do.
I tried a garden 3 different years. Could never get anything to grow. Everyone says we have bad soil. My brother and parents grew a garden (on old cow pasture so the ground was probably well fertilized) and shared with us.
ReplyDeleteOur soil isn't the greatest so I've been amending it over the years. The chicken poo should help. At this point I want to keep trying.
DeleteI am amazed at all you do. Where do you learn your handyman skills? I can do a lot but tackling installation of a door would not be one of them! As to the squirrel population, my son loves them cooked over the BBQ, says they taste just like chicken!!! You could try it sometime!
ReplyDeleteLOLOL. Very tempting, ha, ha. As far as the handy skills my dad is a contractor and I worked with him for years. At the time I didn't appreciate being his indentured servant but after becoming a homeowner I sure did. I also watched a lot of This Old House. The biggest thing I've learned is to not be afraid of trying.
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