Garden Status: Big Hopes – No Follow-Through

I am awful at following through: especially with the garden.  I plan the garden all fall and winter long, I am meticulous about getting all the seeds in the ground, but when the weeds start coming up alongside the plants, I lose all motivation to continue with the garden.  This happens every year.

Case in point, this is what our garden looks like right now.

What a mess.  I am extremely embarrassed at what I have allowed the garden to become.

Todd was helping me this year by tilling the ground and planting seeds with me.  He even put weed block in two rows but never got around to putting it in between the other 12 rows.  I cannot blame him – I’m just as bad.  Other things came up that took up nearly every weekend of our spring and early summer.  We had an anniversary (which I am not sorry for neglecting the garden for a weekend get-away with my husband), two out of town weddings within 5 weeks, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, 4^th of July, adjusting to a newmember of the family and trying to maintain our home to name just a few.  Not to mention we have had so much rain here, the weeds are thriving.

I enjoy planning and planting the garden.  I don’t enjoy the weeding and maintenance.

Solution: Mow it down and plan for next year.  Yes, it kills me to think about all of the time and work we have wasted, but this large garden is just too much for us.  We learned a very valuable lesson this year.

I already have a plan for next year’s garden.  I can guarantee you that it will be one word: simple!  There will be very few “fu-fu” plants going into the ground and the seeds that we purchase will all be heirloom seeds.  We will grow only what we eat an abundance of:  the three sisters (corn, green beans and squash), cucumbers and tomatoes (in pots). We are looking to maximize produce in the space we have.  Depending on how our melon does this year, we may decide to plant one variety of annual fruit.  Just the thought of planting and sowing these 5 vegetables eases my mind because I know how to plant and harvest each variety and I know the abundance each of these vegetables provides.

I found a great resource of teachable moments for little ones that explains about the three sisters and gives many learning opportunities for children to prepare soil, plant seeds, grow and sow the vegetables, save seeds and start again the next year.  I will be using this source myself next year! 

For now, we are focusing on weeding the red raspberry patch as well as watching our grape vines grow beautifully over the trellis (and even producing clusters of grapes!)  By weeding the red raspberry patch, I am hoping to focus my time and energy on keeping the beetles away, watching the berries begin to form and harvest an abundant crop in the upcoming months.  I also have plans to get our blueberry bushes (which look like twigs right now), pear trees, cherry trees and plum trees mulched and ready for the cooler months ahead.  I want to make sure these fruits trees stay healthy so that we get fruit on them next year!

For anyone interested in learning about gardening, please read this post from New Life on a Homestead which covers the basics of gardening and how to start!  It has a wealth of information!! 

How is your garden doing this year?