Garden
For years, I've kept a garden journal. I had this great spiral notebook that I used for about five years. This year, I started a new garden journal notebook. I'm not going to try to add all the entries to this page; however, I'll start from today, and we'll see how it goes.
2016
May 31
June 1I'm trying to be optimistic about this year's garden. First, it was flea beetles then these small, tan grasshoppers. Now, it's the rain.I worked like a mad woman to build up the soil so seeds then plants would have the best conditions to grow. I started with the backyard garden and planted mustard, spinach, kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli, and potatoes. Everything was just going along fine and dandy, then the flea beetles attached en mass everything but the potatoes. I tried organic methods and pesticides, but nothing seemed to do any good. Meanwhile, the damn beetles were destroying the mustard and kale. Okay, let's try Sevin dust. That worked then the rains came. Within a day or two after dusting, it rained. Then here came the flea beetles again. I finally had to pull up the mustard and kale as they were the worst hit. The flea beetles finally stopped; who knows why. So I planted snap beans in their place. Next up, the grasshoppers. Overnight they nearly stripped my bean plants of leaves. More war with the bugs. More rain. I've just about given up for the present on the back garden. My potatoes now have a fungus from all the rain. And the wheat straw I got seems to be the source. Maybe?The tropical storm nearly destroyed the frontyard garden. I spent nearly all day yesterday, May 30, trying to repair the damage. It rained so hard that water dug creeklets down the middle. I'll probably lose some of my okra, but at least I have more seed. Now, if that storm's remnants will get outta here ...I'm goiing to be a true gardener and hope things get better. My radishes were great. The beets are almost ready. AND, my carrots look amazing. I've scrounged boards from our supply to make borders for the beds, and I've fenced in both gardens. Time will tell.Peace out!
Well, I pulled most the rest of the straw out of the garden and dumped it. The only place left is the potatoes, and I'm not sure I can safely get it out of there. I did pull it from around the collards. Then I dusted with Sevin, again. A little later I went to look, and low and behold, no grasshoppers, no cabbage worms, no flea beetles. I think this is so weird. I've used straw for many years with great success. The only difference is I got the straw from a place outside of Dunn instead from my garden guys in TN. I believe I'll not use straw again. Too much weirdness for me: first it grows (straw?) then bugs then fungus.