The title of this post ("A Bountiful Harvest") is a bit of a joke... If you have a look at the photo above, you can feast your eyes on the lion's share of this year's garden bounty. What with an unusually cool summer, added to the fact that, this being the first year we've attempted a vegetable garden, mistakes were made...We began our garden with such high hopes... but as autumn approaches, here is the sum total of our harvest: 3 strawberries, 3 cherry tomatoes and 4 medium size tomatoes. Our cucumbers & summer squash have all withered on the vine. Our pumpkin vine fell victim to a powdery mildew infestation. The bean vines, planted outside the chicken wire fence, were nibbled down to stubs by a local doe and her 2 spotted fawns. I can hardly begrudge a mama and her babies a bit of breakfast... but, oh rats, I was looking forward to those blue-lake beans. At least the morning glories and nasturtiums add their bright blossoms to our blighted plot.
There's always next summer (and thank goodness for our local farmer's market -- at least someone had success with their cucumbers & summer squash this year.)
Enjoy the farmers market...I know for myself, having a new baby during gardening season, oh how I welcomed the market, as my garden withered!
ReplyDeletexo
maureen
What's frustrating about the garden is that we had it all set up on an automatic watering system (so busy-me would not have to go out and water it.)
ReplyDeleteBut my husband did not believe me when I told him we would end up with fungal growth if the leaves got water on them from the sprayers ESPECIALLY if the auto-watering occurred in the evening. By the time I convinced him to swap out the sprayers for low bubblers and change the timing of auto-watering to the morning, we already had a terrible fungal problem.
I am culpable for having too much optimism regarding how much sunshine the north side of our house receives. Half the garden gets enough sun... and the other half, not enough sun.
So, next year we will have our watering system in order from the start and I will be researching which summer vegetable varieties do better with less sun. I also will be planting our blue-lake beans INSIDE the chicken wire instead of outside the chicken wire (advance apologies to mama deer and her babies for depriving them of breakfast next year!)
Meanwhile, yes indeed, it's off to the farmer's market for me... oh yes! Cheers, Maureen!
liked ur puppet idea featured on crafty crow...u have a beautiful blog....its grt to find about u
ReplyDeleteHi Himadri --
ReplyDeleteSo nice to "meet" you & glad you liked the puppet idea... Thanks for visiting!
MB