The winter garden is planted and it is pitiful.
Winter arrived and it hit hard. We had three nights in a row where the temperature dropped to the upper twenties and it was three weeks earlier than usual. This is the lush garden one day before the first frost. We were rushing at breakneck speed to get everything inside.
These are the peppers the following day.
They were loaded and the harvest was excellent.
The experiment of letting the winter squash spread out into the yard worked, but they didn't produce much at all. It was probably due to the drought in our area. If the weather is bad enough to dry up the Mississippi River, then who can expect water-guzzling squash to thrive?
The winter squash that had been planted beside the field and allowed to run up the fence did not do well either. It appears the herd of horses we have on our property includes someone who likes to sample and trample squash. None were eaten but teeth and hoof marks are evident.
Even though the squash harvest was disappointing, the sweet potatoes made me happy.
Considering they were shoved between tomato plant's roots and had Lima bean vines spreading over their heads - they produced wonderfully. Next year they will be put under tomato plants again but no more Lima beans. It was too crowded.
Another disappointment was the failure of the seedlings for the winter garden. Hundreds of seedlings of various varieties are started during late summer in small cups on the front porch. This year the expensive name-brand potting soil I purchased new was not seasoned well. It killed all of the seedlings. Not knowing what was wrong, I planted them again and the second batched died also. When I realized what was happening I switched to soil from the garden and started again.
We had gone almost three months without any rain and when a storm finally arrived, it was so violent it blew everything off of the porch and into the yard. All of the seedlings were shredded. Nothing was useable. That has never happened before. This past spring, a storm picked up a metal chair and slammed it on top of the okra seedlings but not once has everything on the porch been tossed. Are increasingly violent storms becoming the new normal?
Before the storm hit, at least a few of Bill's favorite Golden Beauty cabbages were in the ground. The whole garden should look like this row.
In addition to the three-week early frost, drought, bad potting soil, and shredded seedlings, the invasion of the plant smashers has continued unabated. Even with an extra fence, solar motion lights, and motion detector alarms that warn us inside the house of invaders in the garden, the destruction continues. There are gaps in all the rows where the plants have been killed. Endless holes are left behind.
In an effort to have something, anything growing in my garden, all thinned seedlings are transplanted. At the time these lettuce seeds were tossed out, I had no idea they would be all I had.
The back of the garden has root crops - radishes, beets, and carrots. They were direct sown because they can't be successfully transplanted.
At the risk of being gruesome, none of this area has been harvested. It is contaminated by blood splatters and pieces of the many foes that have been shot as they tried to flee. The invasion has been unrelenting. The alarm sounded at 5:00 am this morning and Bill got another armadillo. I won't go to the garden until he shows me the areas to avoid.
There is a bright spot. The Pusa Gulabi winter radishes have leaves that are not prickly like regular radishes and can be used in salads. However, every time we pull one up, there will be fewer salad leaves growing. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have much to eat fresh from the garden now.
To prove that I am not exaggerating about how much the garden has been devastated, this is last year's winter garden on the exact same day as today.
These are all winter vegetables waiting to be put under the hoop houses.
We won't starve. The garden started off fantastic and only faltered when the rain stopped. The summer's bounty will certainly see us through. It's just hard to have worked so hard and now have nothing to show for it. But. That is gardening.
At least we have help. Scooter guards his kingdom through the back fence. He lets us know when something has invaded and tracks their steps.
Nothing is better than lying in a hedge of weeds while watching the world go by. I think Scooter has the right idea.
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