Garden Thoughts

Since I got back from California, the garden has been keeping me busy. When I left, I was not sure anything but the squash was ever going to go ripe, but heat and rain did their magic, and my itty bitty tomato plants, sunflowers, beans, etc. are huge and burgeoning. Along with them, so are the weeds. I weeded the beds right before I left but they were a mess when I got back...correction ARE a mess.

I doubt that I'll come close to recouping the cost of the garden this year. We've had some lettuce, some squash, and will have some tomatoes and other things...but it has been a mild supplement to our diet, and not a huge one, even though its a big one.

But I have learned a ton. I've learned about how to do it next y

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ear, I've learned about heirloom seeds and their benefits over hybrids. I've learned even more about companion planting and that the powdery mildew that is killing my squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers (please God, not the watermelons!) and did so last year as well is caused by heat and humidity (and cucumber bugs that carry it from plant to plant), and that I need to start spraying neem oil or another antifungal BEFORE it starts.

I also think I am figuring out how to plan it all so that I can get it more productive next year...and hopefully how to do subsequent plantings until so we can eat certain things all through the season.

And I'm having fun. A ton of fun. That is definitely worth something.