Rain, Assessing Gardening

First let me assure you that I did not do all that work from the previous post on one day! I often let two or three days go by before I post. Sometimes I don't list what I do on each day which I know is confusing.
If I want it to be a daily journal for my use, I really should do it that way. I will try to remember.

I have been taking assessment of my gardening life.....this awful year will make you do that. My husband thinks I should take a year off and do zero gardening. I am seriously considering it. My 'older' sis in Iowa says that will never happen....she is probably right.

But here is what I am considering:

No cole crops of any kind. How many cabbages can you eat. Also they draw thousands of cabbage butterflies which means I have to dust them often. I loved the kale but so did something else. Each morning I find it eaten to the stems. How often do we eat broccoli?

another option would be to design a very small covered bed for just dwarf blue kale and broccoli......see, Sis is probably right!

Just 10 tomato plants.

Definitely peppers No disease or insects!

No cucumbers for pickles...I have enough pickles to last several years.

No summer squash....I always loose them about the time they start to produce to either squash bugs or borers.

Do grow sweet corn, but only in new garden by the orchard where I can electrify a fence around it. That garden is already surrounded by an electric fence. Be easy to tie on to it.

Do plant everything where I can access it from all sides with lawn mower, tiller and trimmer.

Plant pole beans....pray for a decent season.

This was a bad year in so many ways. We had too much rain early to plant in a timely manner. I hadn't readied the garden in the fall. I had issues with hips....
Therefore, I have plans (best laid, etc.) to have the kitchen garden all tilled, trimmed and ready to go by winter. I can pick a lovely, cool fall day to do it.

I also plan to have the tomato patch with t-posts in the ground just waiting for those 10 (I said 10!) plants next May.

Here is an interesting observance about the tomatoes this year: No disease anywhere! I didn't get them staked and have lost a few to rot, but not many. I would rather have them staked though. Now if disease is tied to rain and the soil and splashing up on the plants as the experts say...I did get mulch around them very early. No rain, but I watered regularly. I don't really know what the answer is, but I have only had two years with no disease, that was last year when they were planted in new ground....no mulch and this year in drought, mulched and watered with well water.

OK, a couple more days have passed with very little activity out of me. I did milk each day and we made another Walmart run. Milk is piling up in the extra fridge.

My new mixer is due tomorrow....I am hoping for today. I am getting excited.

The best new is we woke up to another 1/2 inch of rain and a cool morning. This is supposed to be our last really hot day for at least 7 days.

Added late in the day of 8/8/11





I took these late in the day, after a lovely day of 70° temperature and an l.25 inches of rain, blessed rain.