Pulling the Plug

The drought has gone on so long this season that our plants have not been able to set and production is almost nil. It is the nature of gardening--no pun intended--to cope with and ultimately triumph over adversity; but this year, nature is winning and we've decided to stop watering the Community Garden because what is being produced isn't worth the water we're using. So: after a good long soak yesterday (July 27th) we won't water again until a cover crop (probably oats) is planted in September.

It is possible that with some cooler weather and regular rain we could get some tomatoes; the verdict is still out on the potatoes we planted two weeks ago. And, despite an incredible number of Japanese beetles munching on them, our blackberries look pretty good and should bear fruit next season.

The good news is that The Little Sprouts Garden has been doing great. Hats off to Jill, Jennifer, and all the Little Sprouts for a fantastic first year!

Potato? Pahtahtoe?

We've had good luck with spuds this year.

It has been an odd gardening year. We've had plenty of everything we need--sun and rain--but they came at the wrong times and in unexpectedly big doses. Now, it has been about 100 degrees all week and we're feeling a bit wilty.

Last year we had plenty of tomatoes. This year we're not doing so well. It has been either too wet or too hot for the blossoms to set and consequently fruit has been slow to form. We initially took this problem personally--surely we did something wrong!--but we're hearing the same story from lots of folks, some of whom are experienced gardeners. Long story short: it will be late August before we see too many decent 'maters.

Our squash situation is different this year as well. Because we lost almost ALL of our squash last year to squash borers we over planted this year and now have squash coming out of our ears. We keep waiting for the bugs to show up, but so far we've been lucky. Anyway, be prepared for piles of crook necked squash this month.

Flowers have been a success. Mrs. Hudspeth has produced what look like State Fair winners in the Sunflower category and the zinnias are beautiful. One of the blessings of working in the garden is to walk past these flowers and seeing thousands of bees and butterflies going about their business so efficiently and perfectly.

We had good luck with potatoes, especially since we planted them in the least productive beds in the garden. Consequently, and against the advice of nearly everyone, we replanted potatoes this week in hopes of a fall crop. We did that for three reasons:

1. potatoes are easy to plant and produce satisfying foliage
2. everyone in the congregation seems to like potatoes and they all get eaten
3. Jim Long, the famous Ozark Gardener, said that we could get a fall crop--so we'll see.

We also have some beans growing and next month we'll plant some more spinach and lettuce for fall. Since this year was mostly a future building year--building up the soil and adding infrastructure--we planted fewer plants and have produced less stuff. Next year, year 4 in the history of the garden, we'll really ramp up and have already started planning. Hope and faith, as you can see, are the main products of the garden.