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2013 ~ Worst Garden Year


I have succumbed to realize that this year is the worst garden year ever (however our first worst).  The second, unexpected, spring frost took half of my carrots, beets, cucumbers, and beans.  We replanted, but almost all of our beets did not come up.  


We enjoyed beets only one time, this season, for dinner, roasting them with garden onions, thyme and rosemary.  I have very little left out there.   Last year I put up 22 pints of beets.  This year?  Zero.

After this last storm, my pepper plants (we planted bout 50-some) were laying on their sides. I used fallen tree branches to prop them up, in hopes for them drying out and coming back to life. So far, they are not looking good.

Half of our broccoli and cauliflower plants are turning brown, and some of my cucumber plants.  Some of the onions are starting to rot in the wet ground too.  

We dug up potato plants, and found nothing but rotten potatoes.  We planted 31 lbs. this spring, and we've only gotten enough for 4 meals so far. The rain just killed them off.  There are still a few plants that are green, so I am praying we'll still get more of them yet. 

I noticed that I am down to one rhubarb plant.  This season I had two, as the third died over winter.  I left the second one in place, in hopes that it will spring back. 

We are weeding out the tomatoes, in hopes to save as many as we can, but the ground is still very wet where they are planted.  I had one red one, but it was bad too - black spot.  I may just make some green tomato salsa and a green tomato cake.  There are many recipes for green tomatoes, and I would be putting something in the pantry this season.

 I'm still on a mission to stock something up.

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Comments

Sandra said…
Sorry to hear about your garden!

We only planted tomatoes and peppers and so far so good. Blueberries didn't do anything for us this year which was a disappointment.

I have heard a lot of people say that their gardens are not doing so well. :(
July 26, 2013 at 8:30 AM
EMMA said…
So sad for your garden, I know how much work it all involves. And then to see it all rotting away is such a frustration and a disappointment. Hoping you get some nicer weather to salvage some crops and that these terrible storms are all behind you.
July 26, 2013 at 9:49 AM
Cris said…
Gardening is such a gamble--some years are wonderful and it feels like you merely need to wave seeds at the ground and they grow gangbusters. Others, like this one, are simply arduous! So sorry to hear it's been a literal wash out for you. Maybe you can work some barter with fellow farmers' market sellers and score their surplus veg? That trick has always worked for me when I have crop failure--and most of the time, they don't want to go home with the veg at the end of market day either! :-) Win-win for all.
July 26, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Unknown said…
Yes, with gardening it's always a gamble. We had to plant late as the weather was so skitzy. We're catching up slowly. I'm hoping for a long fall, for extra growing...
July 26, 2013 at 12:30 PM
Candy C. said…
Sorry about your bad garden year. :( It must have been really hard for people 100-200 years ago when they relied on the garden for their main source of food. I'm glad we now have other options.
July 26, 2013 at 2:21 PM
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