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[Beekissed]

Yep....very hard to come by now. Guess it's one of the ammos that is not being tracked much, so folks stocking up on them. Very expensive compared to what they used to be. Makes it hard on folks like us who only buy ammo when we need it for pest control and hunting.

 

[Beekissed]

4th week of growth in the BTE:

 

[Beekissed]

Well...I'm over a month into the BTE garden and I must admit that this year it will be a total bust. Everything..even the weeds...are showing signs of nutrient deficiency and I can only figure it's a combination of the wood chips leaching from the soil and the excessive rains we've had. I've poured manure, lime, epsom salts and even 19/19/19 fertilizer (nitrogen/phosphorus/potash), along with generous side dressings of mulched DL from the coop, to no avail.

Last year we had lovely...and I do mean lovely...tomatoes, squash, lettuce, spinach, and weeds...lovely and lush weeds. This year I'm giving the garden over to God as I can't counterbalance this first year's leaching at all...not in this clay soil and not with torrential rains every day for weeks on end.

I'm praying that next year, if we are still here and the Lord wills it, this will be a pretty good garden, but this year it's the worst garden I've ever put in, I've got more pests than I've ever seen in my whole gardening life and this is the hardest I've ever worked on a garden. And such is life...

I'm putting nothing more on it except chips from now on. It needs more chips...much more..until I can get a depth of 6 in. at least. Then I'll just add organic materials from here on out, all fall and winter. I'll put all my ashes in the garden this coming winter as well. That's the best I can do and then pray.

But, right now, I'm just tired and have a bunged up back....

Getting some tiny cukes and maters here and there..time will tell if they make anything.

I knew the first year would be fraught with difficulty, especially since I started it in the spring instead of the previous fall, but from the vids it sounded like one could just really side dress with some good manure to offset the first year's leaching. Apparently that works in some gardens...maybe sandy or alkaline clay gardens? Not sure, but it doesn't work on these heavy, acid clay soils. Not a bit.

 

[baymule]

If misery loves company, I'm right there with you, Bee! Because we moved, we have a first year garden. Had to clear it, dig massive holes in efforts to eliminate briar roots, pull weeds, cut saplings, disc and so on. Planted garden and the monsoons arrived. Rain. Cool weather. Rain. More rain. No sunshine. Rain. Cool nights. Rain. More cool nights. Did I mention Rain? Unimproved sandy soil. Rain. Bone meal. Rain. Epsom salts. Rain. Horse manure. Rain.

The latest is Pharaohs plague of grasshoppers, along with crickets. What is making is getting chewed up. Stinkbugs. Brown stinkbugs, green stinkbugs, STINKBUGS.

I feel ya' my gardening sister. Next year will be better for both of us.

 

[thistlebloom]

Awww...sorry for both of you. One good thing - it can only get better yeah?
It seems like excessive rain is the thread that unraveled the rest, and is making what might be a less than great year into a spectacularly poor one for gardening.
Next year will be better.

 

[ninnymary]

So sorry to hear this Beekissed. With all the good stuff that you are putting into your garden it's bound to be much better next spring or maybe even this fall.

Mary

 

[journey11]

I'm sure the relentless rains have had a lot to do with it. Too much moisture in the ground, they could be yellowing from wet feet. Maybe if it dries out some here soon we can still get a good fall crop.

 

[Nyboy]

Bee and Bay after reading your posts my thoughts went back in time, to when the garden failing meant hunger or worse.

 

[Smart Red]

And yet, Nyboy, if this were a cercumstance of eating or starving, Bee would not be throwing in the towel this early. There is a lot of summer left and, while the garden looks hopeless from a neat and tidy point of view, my guess is there is a lot growing still.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...not exactly throwing in the towel, but more resigned to accepting the garden may not produce what it has in the past. I've done what I can do for now and the rest is up to the Lord and His will be done in all things, which is pleasing to me, no matter what that is.

I know it's easy to go and buy produce now and we can afford it, for sure, but I do depend on this home grown food in many ways. To me it's just good stewardship of the land that the Lord has given us and it uses the skills He has given me in this life to a good purpose. I feel that growing and processing our own food here is a worthy tribute and work to the Lord, in not being wasteful of the material goods He has given. I get such joy from using it later to feed my family, knowing it was produced by God and I, working together.

Gardening to many is a hobby or good exercise, or even a simple pleasure, but to me it's much, much more. It's part of my spiritual walk with the Lord and I don't take it lightly. I take such joy in it in such a deeper way and I feel so close to the Lord when I'm in the garden that gardening, though it may not be life or death like it was to some in older days, it still means a lot to me that it grow well and produce food for our home. It makes me smile from the inside out when I see things growing in abundance and it makes me a sad to see my plants sick or weak, failing to thrive.

That's why I pray for the garden and give it over to the Lord, as I have done as much as I can towards that goal.