garden update

My garden seems to be doing really well despite all the rain.  I don’t see any pests yet.  Of course that doesn’t mean they aren’t there, it just means that I can’t see them 🙂
This week is typically the week I start to see the cucumber beetles and their very amorous mating rituals.  I don’t see any sign of them on my potted cucumbers either…so it is probably too early.  I am holding out hope though that they have decided to live someplace else this season.  I’m all for visitors, but the ones that destroy my plants are not welcome!

The one sign of damage that I have seen is on my pepper plants.  The leaves are all turning yellow and dying.  I know that it is because we have had so much rain, and not so much in the way of hot sunny weather.  It is still early though, and I hope they are able to bounce back.

This week looks like it will be warmer, mid-70’s during the day and mid-50’s at night.  This is a big change from the past couple of weeks where the temps at night have hovered in the low 40’s.  I know that my plants are not huge fans of those temps.  Well, the lettuce and kale are totally fine with that, but all of my other plants are not happy.  I have also heard the rumblings of humidity, while not my favorite type of weather, I know the garden loves it…so I will go with it.  And honestly, with winter seemingly lasting 8 to 9 months this past year, a little heat and humidity is welcome!

I remember a couple years ago that it rained all but two days in June, followed by half of July also in rain, and then no rain for about a month.  What a strange summer that was!  But, I am learning that I can’t really expect the same thing every year.  It is incredibly interesting to see the differences and challenges each growing season.  I sometimes wonder if I will ever get ahead of this crazy gardening learning curve.

I recently heard something fascinating about gardening and farmers.  Say you want to grow potatoes, and you grow potatoes for 30 years.  That is only 30 chances to get it right.  If you are trying to learn a piano piece, you practice it hundreds of times to get it right.  I thought it was an interesting comparison, and not something I had thought of before.  It also made me feel a lot better about sometimes losing a lot of what I plant.

How are things growing in your garden?  Are you harvesting already?  Have you been gardening a long time?  If yes, do you feel like you have it all together?


Linking up at Clever Chicks and the Homestead Hop

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6 Comments

  1. Maybe all your pests came this way! 🙂 This is the first year I've had so many plants being eaten on, but I've decided just to let it be this year. My peppers are the same and my basil is almost demolished. Half my strawberries are eaten by the slugs/worms before I can get to them. Carrots and cukes didn't come up this year so might try to reseed. Zukes, peas, beans are doing great though! And everything else is slowing coming on.

  2. I like your fascinating bit about gardening and farmers! I never thought of it that way, but it makes me feel a lot better! This is only our second year gardening out here, so we are still newbies. It's definitely a constant battle with the weather and less than perfect conditions. Seems like each year there's something new thrown at you.

  3. Ours is good. We have harvested everything wre going to get other than the tomatoes. The heats already killing everything. It's been over 100 this past week, so pretty much everything is starting to die.

    1. Wow! Over 100! That is insane to me. Are their hardier vegetables that you are able to grow with that heat? Do you garden more in the spring and fall? I'm so used to the cold here, and what I can actually get to grow in such a short growing season.

  4. I love that comparison- we've tried to grow in pots this and last year- last year was a flop. This year is going better (and is scaled down considerably)but I can't wait until we can plant in the ground! I've started a very fruitful worm bin so am hoping that the vermicastings helps the plants!

    I stopped by to tell you that I've nominated you for the Super Sweet Blogger Award today on my blog 🙂 stop by and see if you like! happy gardening!

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garden update

I have written so many bad posts about my garden this year, I figured it was time for a positive post.  I am actually quite happy with parts of my garden.  I know that I have talked a bit about how well my peppers are doing, but I don’t think I have ever had a better year with peppers than I have had this year.

My sweet peppers are getting huge this year.  I guess I typically pick them before they get the size of normal peppers, but this year, I can’t pick them fast enough.  I have been mainly using them in salads or stir fries…or eating them raw from the plant as a snack.  The fact that I have so many this year, it is actually quite amazing to me.  It isn’t something that I have ever spent time trying to grow, even though I like to have them for my salsa.  Which brings me to the next plant that is doing really well.

My jalapenos are doing amazingly well this year.  And I have to say I am so excited about that.  I use about 8-10 jalapenos in each batch of salsa that I make, and I have plenty of jalapenos in the freezer to make enough salsa for the entire year.  And they are still growing!  It is actually a good thing, because I have learned that my chickens really enjoy eating my jalapenos.  Who would have thought that chickens would like a spicy pepper…clearly these chickens were meant to be mine 🙂


My roma tomatoes are also doing quite well.  I have two plants that I planted in an earth box, and they are producing enough for several batches of salsa, and that is about all I can ask for at this point!  I realize that I need to make a lot of changes in order to produce the amount of vegetables that I would like for preservation, but I am learning…even if it is an extremely slow process.  I had a couple of brandywine tomato plants in pots that were doing quite well…until my chickens realized that tomatoes make an amazing snack.

Speaking of the chickens, they have decided that the best place to beat the heat is under the chicken coop.  There was about 3 inches of space between the bottom of the hen house and the ground, now there seems to be a bit more.  I had no idea that they would dig holes and burrow under the house, but there it is!  It has been extremely hot the past few days.

Most of my ladies are keeping their wings away from their bodies, and hoping to cool off.  I wish that I could just spray them down like my kids, but apparently they don’t work that way 😉  Instead, I have been refilling their water with ice cold water several times each day, and hoping for the best.  They seem to be doing fine, even though I do feel bad they can’t cool down.  However, it can’t be any worse than how we feel with no air conditioning, we are all suffering together in this 90 degree weather with 100% humidity!

Last, but certainly not least, today is my precious babe’s 2nd birthday.  Jack, Mama loves you very much, and you make every day brighter!  I love you!  Happy Birthday!

I am linking to the Barn Hop!  Looking forward to seeing what is going on everywhere else!

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5 Comments

  1. SO great!! Happy, happy birthday Jack 🙂 and I love the pictures of the chickens hunkering down under the coop. It's amazing how much that fluff up the ground no? There's a spot under one of our azaleas that both Roxi and the chickens used to share 🙂 The produce looks great–you're going to have some good things come out of that garden after all.

  2. Oh I am so jealous of your beautiful peppers. I have not had luck with mine. My chickens ate most of my banana and green/red peppers and the rest of them just have not grown really well. Great job!

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