All this rain...humidity, no sunshine....
Oh, why not.
It really is in disarray this year.
Although, so far I see only one hot pepper plant did not make it due to the excess rain.
Here it is...
This is a snippet of what I am dealing with this year. There is a garden in there somewhere. I promise you. You can see where I started to dig out the green pepper plants. It rained for many days and I could not get in to weed (or till), and Tuesday I was determined to get something weeded. I wanted the weeds out, so the sun could get to the dirt and start drying it up.
Day one was somewhat successful out there (doing this job is by myself), but I could only get in about 4 feet (from the edge) in some areas, and 8 - 10 feet in other areas, and not able to get in at all in the remainder areas. When I started to sink 6 inches in the mud, lost a flip flop, and stepped on thistle, I knew that was as far as I would get. There is no way the tiller will get in there for days yet (that leaves the weeds between the rows for another day).
We had one day with sunshine, but rain is in the forecast later today, and for (again) the next 6 days. It's actually due to hit us at 10am this morning already. Yesterday it was late evening.
Wahhhhh!
I went out to the other tomato patch and dug out what I could there, but it was a mushy mess too. And loaded with thistle. One plant has a tomato on it already. That area is typically the driest, and I was sinking in it. I could only work from the edges and as far as the hoe would reach.
After I showered off my grime and dirt, my 18 year-old asked me where the drill is. I looked around. I couldn't find it. I could find the needed screws, but not the drill.
The dilemma? Orion (Big Boy) destroyed his goat shed. It's mostly our fault. We moved him using the lawn mower and a cart the last time, and it was already falling apart. We should have secured it then.
Hubby pulled in after 7pm last night, and 4 of us went out to re-assemble the goat shed. We all sweat through our clothes again.
I'm heading out to see if I can get into the garden any more than yesterday. I still have to weed the popcorn patch, and the one way out with cabbage, cauliflower, etc. And my flower beds look terrible. I may have to enlist the kids after the house work is done. They helped with laundry, floors, and dishes yesterday.
I'm praying the rain holds off and the sun re-appears. We do not need more rain. The river behind us is flooded up into the fields next to us.
12 comments:
Oh, oh, and oh! My heart goes out to you, Kristina! You are battling so much in your garden. And this was the year you were really going to go big with the garden to have more food put by. It is SO frustrating when circumstances beyond your control makes things so very difficult.
We haven't had NEARLY the rain you have and yet hubby got the Gravely garden tractor mired in mud around the pond yesterday. The pond is overflowing from the water still running into it (from the hills behind us) and there is a part of our small field that he can't even get into because it's so wet. Happily, it didn't take us too much to get him unstuck, and now he knows to not even try getting near the bad part until we get more warm weather to dry things out. But same as you've encountered, the grass/weeds are so high and thick, it will be a long time before the ground has a chance to dry out. Ugh.
Mama Pea, I picked more radishes this morning, and it started raining then (8am-ish). It has been raining since then, so I can't do any outdoor work today. So depressing, that's for sure. The wind needs to kick up to dry this stuff out.
Can you try a no-dig, deep mulch method in your garden? Track down some books by Charles Dowding or Ruth Stout--they talk about similar techniques--or watch the documentary Back to Eden (available to stream on computer for free at www.vimeo.com) for ideas. I've converted a couple spots in my garden using this technique, and it's incredible. You still get a few weeds, but hardly any to be a problem. The plants do really well, and water/flooding is much less of an issue because the ground can deal with it because the soil structure isn't altered through tilling. It might not help with this year's garden problems, but you could start planning for next year!
Kristina, I'm sorry lady to hear about the flooding. If it makes you feel a smidge better ...that's what my garden ends up like once it gets blistering hot. Weed heaven! I'm going to try extra hard to keep up this year. I hope the weather moderates for you. Don't you just hate being dripping wet after any project this time of year?
Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time of it. We've had a wet and cloudy spring here and I know the farmers couldn't get into their fields to even plant. We have tropical storm Bill coming now with flash flood warnings. I hope things dry out for you and all those who are struggling with the excessive rain.
Cris, thank you for this information. I'll have to share with Hubby and look into it.
Lisa, typically if I weed it out early, I don't have too many during harvest. It rained again last night. Sad face.
Sam I am, I have been watching the weather to see if we'll get a break. Stay safe with that storm brewing.
We hadn't had rain for days and days, with heat 95-100 degrees at the same time, trying to burn up everything planted. Then last night we got some blessed rain, but it stormed, took down trees and cut the electricity for 3+ hours. It's feast or famine, isn't that the way it goes. Now that we've had that bit of rain though, it'll probably storm each night. I like the rain a lot, but if God asked me, I'd tell him he can keep the lightning and high winds. LOL
This too shall pass.
Ya'all have a great day tomorrow.
God bless.
RB
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RB, I'm glad your power was back on soon. That's always an issue here too.
Hope you get some sunshine soon, your garden is looking very wet indeed.
Emma, I rained again Friday night.
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