The Summer Of My Deep Content

The link to my blog was broken this summer and I didnt have the patience to fix it. So I gardened and focused on other things instead. All that double digging, chicken, and rabbit manure, and burying fish under my tomato plants did its' magic for me. I got 5 huge tomato plants - two Early Girls that I bought at Whole Paycheck, and three that my sister had given me (I dont know where from) - with loads of the most delicious fruit that I can remember eating in a long time.

Not only did I eat lots of tomato sandwiches, but I made sauce, shared with my friends and neighbors and my freezer is full of tomatoes and green beans. The beans are still blossoming and growing and  producing. I might get enough to can a few jars before the plants shut down, but I can officially say that I am sick of green beans.

I grew another fairly large french pumpkin that someone stole. And I have a rogue spaghetti squash that I never planted - it just came up and gave me a huge baby.

I grew some delicata that didn't seem to have any bug issues. It could have used a bit more water and fertilizer, but I was happy with the yield. I will definitely be planting more of those next spring. The other squashes didn't do great this year. But they might have been planted too close together. I tried a new one - a lemon squash that was a disappointment. But I had lots of carrots, turnips, Kale, radishes, and the most amazing garlic Ive ever seen.

I saved some of that crop to plant after I pull up the beans. And I have lots of new Kentucky Wonder pole bean seeds for next year.

I planted a lot of onion starts but most of them disappeared. They didn't die - just disappeared. And I grew a great Habanero  bush with lots of peppers. 

So for the most part, despite the drought and using most of my grey water, I did pretty good.

I had a few heirloom tomatos in bins and pots that were moderately successful. Nothing to write home about. Things just do better in the ground for me. But Im still eating from them. Cherokee Purple for the most part. And there a few rogue cherrys that did pretty good and will produce til frost.

I tried growing some things in the backyard, but they still dont get enough sun hours out there.

That powdery mildew struck in full force while I was on vacation and I couldn't get to it in time.  And the cucumber beetles and stink bugs were insane. I just let them have their way this summer. But next year will be a different story.

After the beans and tomatoes are done, I'll put in my garlic and peas. Ive got two kinds of kale, some chard and bok choy. And more carrots.

I just dont know whats going to happen with this drought. I seriously cut back on water and let everything by the street die. I save probably 90 % of my grey water and use if for flushing the toilet and watering plants and garden. I never once let the hose run unattended for for very long. I didn't do much watering in the back yard. And still my landlord called to tell me I'm using too much water. WTF. I used way less than last year. So we'll see. Its about to be a disaster out there - no water - no crops - no food: not pretty.