I’m not sure it’s ever going to feel like summer. So much rain makes it feel like spring.
The last storm brought 5 inches in a couple of hours. We had a river flowing across the driveway. We are so glad that we laid more gravel in the spring for a smoother drive & no more moat.
As I write this I’m sitting on my front porch and the temperature is not humid or sultry.
It’s cool. Like I might need a blanket over my toes. (sarcasm)
My plants and I agree—we need a week of sunshine. High in the mid 80s to 90s. Then it will feel like summer.
The lilies & cone flowers are blooming right now! Every time I go out I see dozen's of butterflies.
The flower garden has not been negatively affected at all by all the rain.
So much beauty!
Thankfully there has been some small progress in the vegetable gardens. We've harvested our first lettuce, radishes, and cucumbers!!!!
Square Foot Gardens
The cukes and cherry tomatoes are racing to the top of my cattle panel arch. The beets and carrots are up and getting taller. Acorn squash are looking good too!
We’ve eaten a few cukes with many more coming soon. No red tomatoes yet though. Come on SUNSHINE!
Love my SFG because the soil really drains well and doesn’t turn to mud.
Traditional Garden
It feels REALLY late to be planting seeds but that is where we are. I just planted more beans because my original planting only sprouted 3 out of 30 beans. Frustrating and we need to get the pumpkins seeds in the ground soon.
Water flows in our canals as the rain storms move through. Tomatoes are surviving but I’m not sure the peppers will recover.
The late cucumbers are starting to climb the small trellis. I guess they don't mind their feet being in a puddle. The zucchini's are up & living happily with their weed friends. Now if the squash bugs will just stay away--praying!
Since I took these pictures we applied more hay to cover the weeds. This is our first year of using hay in the garden and I'm loving the deep mulch method.
What would’ve taken hours with traditional hoeing and weed pulling just took an hour. We covered weedy spots with 6-8 inches of hay and that will smother the weeds. MUCH easier on my back too! The hay retains the water, as well, which we DON’T need right now but in August that will cut down on the watering we need to do.
Gardening is a learning experience
You try something new each year and with this being our second year at this place we are still learning all the things that apply just to the this property.
Like how the garden is lower than the ground around it.
This is just NOT good for drainage.
Plans for Next Year
- Redirect the water that comes off the garage and across the driveway.
- Raise the level of our rows(not the whole garden) so the plants aren’t standing in water.
I'm hopeful that in a few more weeks things will be very green & growing so we can have a great harvest in 2015. And if not well it has been great fun trying to figure out how to make it work in a swamp.
Did you miss some of the earlier posts on the gardens here?
