As I started to respond to comments, I realized I was writing an entire post, so I decided to move it here.
Thus far, I would not consider my garden a success by any stretch of the imagination.
I water daily, sometimes twice, at the base of the plants. Never overhead. I water by hand with a long handled sprayer that can reach down under the canopy of the plants.
We have combated much….Round-Up being sprayed within 20 feet of all of my plants on a windy day…grasshoppers ~of all sizes~ have taken over my entire yard and garden. My huge tansy plants were destroyed, as well as some of my ornamentals. I think wind and pollination issues are responsible for the lack of cucumbers…two pathetic deformed specimens…but both were eaten. My zuchini has only produced 4 zukes. I had 4 watermelon on the vine, but I am now down to only one.
None of my beans have produces more than 3 pods.
We use a combination of compost for fertilizer… worm castings, chicken manure compost (small amts) and cow compost.
We have loads of toads and birds, but yet the army of grasshoppers seem to grow exponentially. As I was checking for cukes or blossoms yesterday, I found about 50 HUGE hoppers chomping away. They had no fear factor either….I had to practically “beat” them off of the vines…not really, but they were difficult to budge. Even my lovely sweet potato vines are lacy from their wrath. In my ornamental pots surrounding our front porch, everything but the geraniums are being eaten away.
The bell peppers have been prolific, however, on most there are “bad spots” that have to be cut away.
The few cherry tomatoes and romas that are now coming in now are very tasty, however, I have a few plants that have yet to produce even one bloom…much less any fruit.
I had thought about a fall garden, but am almost out of time.
At the moment, there are many other “pressing” matters at hand here at our place…each that takes precedence over gardening.
Okay…here it comes…a pity party….and know that my ego is fragile at the moment….but I am feeling a bit as though nothing I do is successful. It feels as though I have to do twice the work, no matter what it is (ie.-attempting the Seal-A-Mealed corn over and over and over again) and yet, I still have terrible failures.
One decision that I have made is that until my kitchen is in order nothing good is going to happen. My kitchen is unmanageable. Little storage space…almost non-existent counter space, a stove/oven that needs to be leveled, linoleum flooring with holes worn through to the sub-flooring, kitchen cabinets that will not stay shut, poor lighting, and a layout that does nothing for productivity. I had said that the kitchen would be the last room we would rennovate in this %*#@ 100 year old house, but I think I am fed up and at the ropes end.
Goodness, so I started out grinching about the garden and I have moved indoors to my kitchen. Like I said, it is a pity party..for “one”. Tomorrow will be a better day and after my “projects” are completed, maybe that will improve my attitude.
August 1st, 2008 - 4:03 pm
Sorry to hear about your garden! Mine is melting as well and suffering from squash bugs, cucumber beetles, flea beetles, and spider mites. I think every plant has some kind of problem :)! Only thing doing well are the 4 peppers.
And hey, if you can’t grinch on your own blog where can you grinch?
Hang in there anajz!
August 1st, 2008 - 4:05 pm
No one has a very good garden this year it seems…
The kitchen in the heart of the home - and, I think, as goes the kitchen - so goes the rest of the house!
If my kitchen isn’t in order, I can’t even think about any of the other rooms!
Good luck - and don’t beat yourself up over things… and don’t work too hard! Rome wasn’t built in a day…
August 1st, 2008 - 4:44 pm
I know it’s really discouraging. The summer’s not over and it’s not too late for a fall garden. Don’t give up.
Shannon
August 1st, 2008 - 5:13 pm
I made a comment on the post below, too. I’m sorry you’re feeling so out of sorts! I hope things get better. Take time to breathe, to enjoy whatever treats work for you, and realize we can’t all do this from basically “scratch” in a year.
That said, I am very worried about the pollinating thing. I have read a lot of blogs that say the same thing. I’m not sure if we’re having that problem or not–we seem to have a lot of bees around, but I’m not getting any pumpkins on my vine yet and just one cucumber. Of course, our season in MN is late this year so I’m still being patient.
Good luck!
August 1st, 2008 - 7:32 pm
Sorry about your garden woes. I’ve failed to grow a decent garden for 5 years running now, so I know how it can slap the ego when plants don’t produce like you hoped. There’s always next time!
August 2nd, 2008 - 10:23 am
Unfortunately, I don’t think I am going to have enough time to get a fall garden in before it is too late.
The grasshoppers make me the most angry. Every day my plants are disappearing…huge chunks. We have had some weird bouts of temperature change over the summer. Heat index of 105 today…yikes!
August 3rd, 2008 - 6:45 am
Grasshoppers are a plague that can be tough for any farmer. My Hubby makes the farm simple, but when he sees grasshoppers he gets into hyper mode. So don’t worry there is always next year, write down what worked including seed variety and brand. And what next year you need to do different. The good news you have the rest of your life to get it right, but as I write we have corn in the field too bad to even combine. That is farming, we figured out how to let the stuff go when you need to.
August 9th, 2008 - 10:11 am
Grasshoppers are everywhere right now. I started my first garden, at least the first in a very long time…this year. I am looking at this year as the “learning year.” I bet it is the same for you.
I am just now starting to get some veggies. I have been getting lots of herbs and really enjoying cooking with them. We also joined a CSA through Hen House which has provided fresh vegetables, meat, milk, cheese, honey. So my herbs have something to do!
But the garden is a slow go. It has grown like crazy but I didn’t start it until the first of July, really late. I picked my first lovely white eggplant yesterday. Last week I made a homemade eggplant and pepper pizza on whole wheat biscuit crust with a CSA eggplant. It was awesome. I am looking forward to trying something new with my own eggplant today.
It is a series of small steps everyday that lead to success. Don’t get discouraged! Your blog is awesome and you are helping others start making changes. That in itself is a garden of sorts and you may never know the magnitude of the yield.