Weals and Woes of Gardening

    

June 24 (7 weeks old)

It is so amazing to me that a garden can grow from seed to huge plants in 7 weeks.  This is our best year yet for a garden. So exciting! I have so enjoyed checking out our new produce each morning and diligently watering these precious plants.


It got a little out of hand this year.   I mean, I was able to keep the weeds down, but planted too many plants in too small of a space.


So... What is have we learned this year?


1.  It is our second year to compost.  Our soil was better last year, but this year it better still.  If you are a struggling gardener as I have always been, let me share: compost, compost, compost! We just put a wire cage in the back corner of our yard and dump egg shells, watermelon rinds, carrot tops and peelings, grass clippings, and other things to rot in the pile all summer and through the winter.  Christian put a cover on it this year with a brick to hold it down.  The cover has really cut down on the flies.  In the spring, we mix the mess in with our garden soil.  We didn't add anything else to it this year... no mulch or store-bought compost.   Here's a list of things you can compost.  We made the mistake of throwing a bunch of perennial weeds in the compost last year.  Never compost morning glories or you will be weeding them from your garden forever.


2.  We are using an organic vegetable spray that may have helped cut down on bugs.  Last year we lost our cucumber and zucchini plants to vine borers, which was discouraging.  I think the spray has helped, plus I pick off bugs and throw them in a bucket with a small amount of rubbing alcohol.  Don't let me kid you, I usually use gloves because I've become a bit of a sissy.


3.  We planted garlic, chives and marigolds to help combat bugs.  I can't prove that this has helped, but it was just another tip I found in researching organic gardening and from talking to my gardening friend, Ann, who has really helped me this year.


4.  We let a couple of volunteer plants come up from our compost.  It was fun, but I won't do this next year.  One ended up being some kind of crazy zucchini hybrid.   It had huge seeds and totally took over our garden.  I ended up having to pull it out because it was choking the cucumber plants and starting to take over the zucchini plants and our other volunteer plant--a sweet little cantaloupe plant which produced four good-tasting fruits that we were able to eat this past week!

the menacing, climbing zucchini hybrid

We are trying cantaloupe from seed again.  We had one or two melons last year that tasted like soap.  Then the plant withered up and died.  Looks like we might actually be successful this year.  Christian made a raised bed and we are going to vine them up the fence and a lattice.  I hope I'm not too late in vining them as they appear to be long and tangled.  Oops.  I tried using the square foot gardening approach.  That is 12 plants in a 3 x 4 foot square...


I've read you can use pantyhose to make a sling for the fruit so it doesn't break off the vine as it grows up.  We'll see what happens.  We planted it later than the rest of the garden, and it only has some Lowe's compost added to regular soil, but it looks healthy.

the cantaloupe in beginning stages

As always, I would love to hear your gardening tips!  We learn more and more each year...


~ Katrina


P.S.  Our cucumbers started tasting sour after I cut down the zucchini that was shading the cucumber plants.  When I googled why, I found it could be uneven watering and heat.  Is anyone else experiencing this with the drought and heat this summer?


P.P.S.  What are you reading?  Just finished reading Dangerous Journey to the boys (again).  It's a child's picture book of Pilgrim's Progress.  The illustrations seem a bit dark to me and the reading a little daunting for a five-year-old's vocabulary, but both big boys love it.  We colored this page to correspond with the armor Christian put on in the story.  This is one of our favorite books.


Recently finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte for myself.  I'm trying to expand my mind this summer, but I wasn't especially impressed with this one. Just began Nancy Leigh DeMoss' Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy, which I am excited to learn from. (Insert joyful smile.)


My 8-year-old just started the Boxcar Children series.  He read the first book and reported it was a new favorite.


My 5-year-old is loving anything out of the 20th Century Children's Book Treasury.  We found one for a steal at Half Price Books, but you can get them used off Amazon, too.  It's helpful to have all of your favorites in one place, but some of the illustrations have been removed, so it's still a good idea to pull out the good old-fashioned originals from time to time. 


And the 2-year-old is enjoying Curious George books (fortunately, we don't own many of these) and the If You Give A... series (illustrations are fun in these).