Squash, yellow and zucchini, were producing and for the first season we had squash until early October when the nighttime temperature was too cold for them to grow. The other squash, Italian, did not do as well as before, I think a small garden is catching up with me. I do remove most of the soil and replace with new compost hoping to confuse the plants and they think they are the first squash planted in the space but this year I did not get the harvest I would have liked to have.
Blackberries, we had a wonderful harvest, lots of wine and brandy was made, enough to make the winter. Raspberries, the fall crop was good. Strawberries, we continue to struggle with the voles enjoying our plants but I am working on a change in the way I plant.
Time to plant the second crop of corn and seeds would not come up. I fed, watered, mulched, complained and there were not any sprouts coming from the ground. I had planted the bloody butcher corn and it was coming up without any problems. Sweet corn just would not sprout, I sprouted some and planted, within 24 hours it was gone. After 3 weeks I accepted defeat and moved in other directions.
I have always gardened for food storage, but this year I made a change and gardened to have veggies for the summer. This is the first year I did not put up a lot of our veggies, but we have been eating good, delicious meals. Mr. Bootsie has never eaten onion or tomato sandwiches and this summer he learned just how delicious these sandwiches are. I know for years he has wanted to have my brain checked because I ate so many of these sandwiches, but he is eating them and asking for them as I was a bit concerned he would stop wanting these goodies if I fixed them too often.
I found new ways to celebrate fresh veggies, squash with eggs, new additions to pizzas, vegetables with pasta and salads of every variety. While I was on a mission to enjoy every veggie which came from the garden, it hit. Temperatures in excess of 90 degrees, the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants quit, not a bloom would set. No blooms means no veggies and my harvest was going to drop off. I went from plenty of veggies to almost nothing in the middle of the summer. The city folk, who came for a visit, would ask why don't you have veggies? My answer was just to hot. This hot lasted from quite a while, there was a short break for a couple of days, the temperature went in the low 80's and some blooms were able to set. This did give us a few late tomatoes and peppers. After the heat, in September we went for a long dry spell. The squash plants I was able to water and when the temperature did break I was able to harvest my first ever summer squash in September. I was so excited about the squash I forgot about the loss of peppers, tomatoes, butter beans, late snaps and of course, corn.
The garden has veggies which our goats, chickens and ducks enjoy. Most anything we could not use was consumed by the pasture crew. Corn is loved by the goats and chickens, while the ducks seem to enjoy the lettuce and other greens most of all.
The gamble begins in the spring when the seeds and baby plants go into the garden beds. There is always a I wonder, wonder, wonder what will happen this season. I really can't complain because we had a wonderful garden, ate so many delicious veggies and learned many ways to use the crops we grow. I know I won the gamble, because now Mr. Bootsie is eating my favorite sandwiches, just for his enjoying tomatoes and onion sandwiches this summer was a win, win on our little farm.
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| Last tomato was picked October 31, 2017 What a wonderful year!!! |
