Both sitting up!

Garden Fail.

Ok, I suck. I know. Its been months since I updated. There's a very good reason for this though; its called "shame." After a promising start to the season, my poor garden took a turn for the worse. Seriously, photos of my garden from August should be on .

Still, its a good news/bad news sort of thing. The bad news is, my entire yield for the summer was: Three zucchini, two beans, a whole mess of cherry tomatoes, zero cucumbers, and one sollitary pepper. Yep. A sorry haul, huh? The yield wouldn't have kept my chickens going, let along myself and my husband.

The good news is that I pretty much know why everything failed, so I can make adjustments for next year.

1) Blame it on the weather: It ended up being an awful cool summer down on the coast. It never really got above 80 degrees, which didn't make the peppers very happy. They prefer it HOT. I think next year I'll forget sweet peppers in favor of something else, maybe potatoes or something else that likes cooler temps.

2) Lack of bees and butterflies: It turns out that zucchini needs to be pollinated in order to produce fruit. Lord knows those poor plants tried..every morning a couple of beautiful big yellow flowers were as wide-open and inviting as a sorority girl at a kegger. But there just weren't any bees to play the role of frat house pledge. I tried self-pollinating a couple of times, but had to admit that I had NO idea what the male vs. female part of the flower was. Next year I'll let nature handle it and plant some more flowers to make the yard attractive for those little buzzers.

3) Over-crowding: I tried to cram a lot into a small space (the books call it "intensive gardening", I call it "not being able to choose what to grow"). So the poor bush beans got crowded out and shaded over from the zucchini and the tomatoes.

4) Not pruning the tomatoes: This year, instead of intensively pruning the tomato bushes, I decided to let them go natural and "do their thing." Well, "decided" might be too strong an action word. "Sheer laziness" might be a better phrase. As a result, the cherry varieties took over the whole box, sprawling into a messy, disease-wracked pile. They did however, produce many tasty cherry tomatoes, both red and yellow pear varieties. Next year I'll go back to pruning, and try to feed more often.

5) Poor watering. Last year I was able to rely on the sprinklers to do a lot of my watering, but sprinklers really are a poor choice..they get the foliage wet which prompts disease, and they don't water evenly at the roots, which is where plants really need it. So next year I am determined to finally get that drip system into place. It's time.

The one bright note is still the chickens, who continue to produce lovely, organic eggs. I know that as long as they are around, I certainly won't starve.

Thanks ladies.

June 11, 2008

Finally, some photos! I know, I've been lax in this regard. Weather is finally starting to warm up (hello, its mid-June!)and the tomatoes in particular are loving it. They have exploded and are taking over the planter.

This is not good, because I don't want them to crowd out my zucchini and bush beans! The latter, by the way, are sort of a mystery to me. They shot out of the ground quickly enough, but now seem to be growing verrrry slowly. Perhaps because of the aforementioned crowding.

The cucumbers, alas, didn't make it. I have NO idea what went wrong. Andthe peppers are limping a bit..I think they are waiting for some warmer weather. Temps have been in the mid-70's and I think they really prefer 80's. The zucchini is thriving though!

What a Difference A Week Makes

So, after the disaster of a few weeks ago (hereafter to be memorialized as the Great Chicken Crisis of Aught Eight) I carefully secured the fencing, top and bottom, moved away the wheelbarrow, and strewed pointy devices along the rock wall to discourage chickens from climbing up and launching themselves over the fencing.

I carefully replanted, and so far so good. All I needed was some heat, and over the past weekend, nature complied. BOY did she comply. Daytime temps went from the mid-60's to almost 90 degrees instantly, and the plants responded. I just happened to take some photos last Friday, I'll take some more tonight and post them. The tomatoes shot up about a foot and have several yellow flowers appearing. The zucchini exploded, and all the bean sprouts I planted have taken off.

The slow poke peppers are finally starting to show some good growth too. The only ones not particularly pleased with the heat are the cukes...I may have to rig up some shade for them. I also need to pick up some fish emulsion, as they must be hungry from all that rapid growth!

Disaster Strikes.

Last night I was in the kitchen, making dinner. I was in a pretty good mood, humming, pots boiling, etc. It was a lovely evening, I had let the chickens out to roam the yard and they were happily eating grass and bugs. Or so I thought.

I look up just in time to see ALL FOUR CHICKENS had somehow got around or over my fencing and were just going to town on my poor vegetable garden. I flipped. I ran out the door screaming, "NO! NO! NO! NO!", hurdled OVER the fencing and started picking up chickens and hurling them back over the fence.

Unfortunately, it was too late. I don't think they were in there for very long, but in a short time they had managed to destroy all my newly sprouted beans, the cucumber seedlings and all but one of the zucchini plants, which had been doing SO well.

I was livid. Livid and heartbroken. I know they were just plants, and I guess I can plant more, but I still can't figure out how the chickens got in there, and there is no point planting more until I can build some better fencing to keep them out. Which means more money and another project I didn't feel like taking on.

Roast chicken is sounding mighty good about now.

A Kind of Magic.

There are few things in life so simple, and yet so incredibly magical and satisfying, as seeing a new green plant come up where once there was only a seed. Its particularly satisfying when you have spent a whole lot of time planting seeds only to have them not come up.

I have to admit, I've not had a whole lot of luck with seeds. I prefer to plant seedlings, which are larger and more tangible and considerably less likely to blow out of your hand by accident. Seeds often tend to be these tiny little barely there units, and I never know how many to plant, where and how deep. Plus, and let's face it, this is a pretty big reason, seeds often have to be planted inside, weeks and weeks before you can put them in the garden. I am nothing if not a "last-minute" sort of girl, and while I realize that planting seedlings is a bit of a cheat, I still feel like at least I am guaranteed some sort of result. Even if its just to watch my poor seedlings die a slow and miserable death.

So when I went out to check on the progress of my newly planted tomato, cucumber and zucchini seedlings and suddenly realized that my bush beans had all of a sudden just popped up, I was overjoyed. It was quite extraordinary: one day there was nothing but a seemingly bare plot of dirt, and the next day there they were! Some were still bent over under the dirt, just about to push their necks up straight and unfurl their first leaves. The more I looked, the more sprouts I saw juuuuuust about to come up. I just stood there for a moment, looking at them and feeling grateful. Each tiny little bowed neck was like an affirmation; of nature and of spring.

I certainly hope to become a more competent gardener, so that it might become more rare for my carefully planted seeds to NOT sprout. I may, in seasons to come, lose some of my wonderment at this incredible transformation.

But I truly, truly hope I don't.