that I sort of lost interest in posting here at the 'Stew'. Sure, I'm getting some rain now . Not much has changed. The inmates still run the asylum here 'bouts. I'm already planning next years garden. Gardeners must be eternal optimists.
Don't let the weather ruin your enthusiasm FBG! Next year has got to be better and your gardens will flourish!
I'm hoping next year is better here too FBG. We got so much rain that the bees couldn't pollinate the fruit trees and bushes. It seemed strange not to be making pies, jams, sauces and sorbets. Fingers crossed we both have better harvests next time around.
BFG, I know what you mean. I had a horrible day first half of the summer. I was lucky for the gardens produced but look like a battlefield. Am very embarrassed for people to see it. Barb in Pa.
It was a bad gardening summer here too. It started off well with a bumper crop of cherries, then went downhill from there. My tomatoes are the only thing in the vegetable garden that survived the heat or bugs, and they're setting on good now just in time for it to undoubtedly freeze. Beans, corn, melons, peas, all were a bust, potatoes did so-so. Flower gardens didn't fare much better in the heat. Next year will be better!
I have only a small container garden with four indet tomatoes, bush cukes and four hot peppers and one sweet. Had a fair harvest then the city came along and told us they will be digging right here! Right thru the garden spot, that is. Changing the whole road from separate septic systems to city sewer. Not sure when the work will be done, but "sometime soon". So I knew in my condition I couldn't move everything on short notice so had to get busy. I took cuttings a couple months ago from the tomatoes, peppers are in 5-gal buckets. I put down a sheet of black plastic 10 ft x 8 ft over the grass, moved everything slowly to that area. I have til Sunday it looks like to pick the green tomatoes, frost predicted. I can chop and dry the green cayennes that are left hanging. It's only about a week early with the frost warnings. Come on winter, let's get started so we can get it OVER WITH!
I know what you mean about a bad gardening year. I had a year of mixed results--some things did very poorly, and few did quite well. The majority of crops did not perform anywhere near up to standard. Well, having said that--the weeds on the other hand have had an extremely good year. :-? It was quite frustrating, but we shall not let it get us down, right. Next year is a new year with new chances for success. Hang in there.
FBG, This is the normal for most everyone this year. One disappointing gardening season. We only had a garden to pick from because we watered 24/7 for about 4 months maybe more. I don't think we could have done that had we had to pay for city water. We garden on two different pieces of land, one is ours the other is across the road, on that we do corn tomatoes, peppers and cukes. We had 6 different corn plantings on 3/4 of an acre (each planting 1lb of corn), not one of them was nice. If the drought didn't do it in the army worms did. The tomatoes across the road where I can't water them did nothing, along with the cucumbers ( which were so bitter you couldn't eat them) the peppers are still there, I think I have picked 3 out of a row of 25 plants. I am hoping they ripen before frost so I can make pepper relish. I carried 500-600 gallons of water over there in 5gal buckets just to keep them alive over the summer...that was all I could do for them. Now there are green tomatoes hanging on the tomato plants, but I don't think they will be ready before a frost. No beans to pick until Sept. We kept planting in hopes of getting a rain and a crop.... It was a difficult season for all. We are eternally optimistic, though. WE ARE GARDENERS! We will do this again next year.
We didn't get much rain here.Going to mulch more-and buy more soaking hoses.The late frost -lost all the apples and cherries .Tomato and peppers did well-but had mulch and soaking hoses on that area.Did away with thin walled containers.Had to water them 3 times a day.
FBG, we had the usual big producing spring garden, picking and preserving like mad because we knew what was coming. The hot/dry set in with its accompanying grasshoppers. Lost everything except tomatoes and pepper plants, which we hand-watered just to keep alive. Now the pepper plants are covered with golf-ball size peppers, the tomatoes are setting fruit, and we are planning our fall garden (which will be put in just as soon as the 'hopper invasion abates.) You are right--gardeners are eternal optimists. Even Eve thought that eating an apple would make her smart!
I spent all of July, August and most of Sept one step away from hiring someone to plow everything under and lay sod I was so depressed about what the heat and drought was doing to the garden. I didn't plant many veggies...cucumbers bloomed like crazy but never set fruit, I got 4 really cute tomatoes before the plants fell over from heat exhaustion and of all things Okra and Black-eyed peas got about 6 inches tall before calling in dead for the season. I lost a fortune in flowering plants too. Supposed to be drought tolerant/heat tolerant but that grower test must have taken place some place where the temperature reached 90 in mid-August, not here where it reaches 90 in April and goes up from there until mid-Sept.
Gardeners ARE eternal optimists, that's what so great about loving gardening. Even when the weather has been too dry, too cold, too hot - gardeners are already thinking that it will be better next year.
