Our garden was a little disappointing this year. Earlier in the season we got a little lettuce and sweet peas. Then we got a ton of basil and cilantro which were put to good use. But then we also got a bunch of large carrots that tasted like dirt, a TON of tiny red bell peppers (think the size of a quarter and not easy to use or eat), one zucchini, and a pumpkin plant that overtook our garden but no pumpkins. Then there were our tomatoes. We got a lot of orange cherry tomatoes, but all of our Romas had end rot. And most of the other tomatoes either got eaten by squirrels or our chickens. This picture is of the sole large red tomato that we harvested. Bummer. Next year I think we're going to do things a little differently.
Oh boy does that sound familiar! Pretty much our garden last year to a T. Especially the chickens eating the tomatoes part. I was really hoping they'd go for those rotten tomato worms! Argh!
ReplyDeleteBut my Grandma always used to say, "it takes 3 years to get a good garden growing," and this year was our #3 and it was Uh-mazing! Our zucchini plant (singular!) sprawled to about 10 feet in diameter, and well, I won't bore you with the details, but it was really hard to keep up with all the preserving I was trying to do! SO, chin up! And next year use your chickens' dirty straw as mulch (helps keep down weeds & makes plants happy), and keep those girls out of the garden! Better luck next year, sis!
Ooh, that was good advice from Melissa. We got amazing results from my parents' garden this year from doing 2 simple things in the fall: we piled all of our fallen leaves and a big load of goat/sheep manure and straw from their stalls into the garden area and let it decompose over winter in the rain. We tilled it in the spring, planted, and the increased fertility has been amazing, compared to before when nothing would grow.
ReplyDeleteIf you lay a layer of leaves and top it with the layer of chicken manure (this way the manure won't burn the way it normally would and will have a chance to compost) and leave it till spring, I bet your garden will next year rock. Making your own compost also helps, and I supplemented our large garden with an organic fertilizer too. That's my two cents!
@Stacy G.Believe it or not, we actually do have our own compost bin in the backyard. Adrian made it and we pile tons of grass and leaves (we get a TON of leaves with our huge oak trees), and chicken waste. We've been composting for a couple of years and last year it was great, but this year it oddly didn't do much for us...
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