Phew! Today I was finally able to get some work done. We got hit with Tropical Storm Debby last week, and it’s rained every single day since then which means nothing has had a chance to dry out! My garden beds have been saturated for an entire seven days, and the chicken coop had become a muddy, mucky disaster, and the grass in the yard was knee high. Two days ago, I attempted to go pull a few weeds from my pollinator garden since everything else still needed to dry. I pulled two stray vines out of the bed and then felt a sharp sting on my ankle. When I looked down, my ankle was covered in fire ants which were continuing to sting me. I quickly jumped away from where I was and proceeded to brush them off. That did me in for the day as my ankle swelled up. Needless to say, not much work was completed that day. Then, we finally got two back-to-back days of sun, which meant this was the day to knock some things off the to-do list.
A Second Chance
I had been able to take inventory after the storm passed to see where we stood and what needed to be done, but the continuing days of rain wreaked havoc on my young zucchini and squash plants. Getting so much water so quick made several of the lower leaves and stems rot and die. Fortunately, there is still a lot of healthy growth and even a few young squashes popping up. Today I got to work clearing away the dead matter, applying neem oil to the leaves (not the flowers though!), and sprinkling it all with diatomaceous earth. If all goes as planned, I should be picking our first summer squash within the next few days.
After finishing that, it was on to the tomato bed. Originally, I had planned to clean out that bed since the tomatoes didn’t do well, however, many of the plants shot off some new suckers that had beautiful yellow flowers on them! Not wanting to lose out on a potential second chance, I heavily pruned any branches that were low, dead, or unhealthy, and re-staked anything that needed a little more support. Then I removed any plants that didn’t have new growth and weeded the rest of the bed. I was able to get that done ahead of the storm and the plants made it through beautifully. All the rain seemed to have helped flush a lot of the excess nitrogen out of the soil and there are a couple dozen tomatoes starting to form. Today I went through and put mesh bags around every single one. There’s no way I’m losing any of them to bugs this go around!
The rain actually did wonders for most of our garden. Our poor strawberry plants were looking brown, dry, and pretty much dead, but after all the rain it seems that about three quarters of them are actually alive! The cucumber vines that had been destroyed by pickle worms are showing signs of life. There is healthy growth on the end of the vines, and a few female flowers. There’s even a couple of pollinated cucumbers which I have bagged to keep the still present pickle worms away. The watermelon vines have gone bonkers and there are several new watermelons forming. We’ve harvested three melons now and have saved seeds to re-plant in the future. This is our first attempt at seed saving, something I’ve intended to begin for the last couple seasons but always forget about until it’s too late. It feels great to have gotten started, even in just a small way.
Preparing for Fall
I’m super excited because my husband was able to get one of the garden beds cleaned out for me today. Clearing this bed is a project that had been on hold due to the rain. Nothing could be done when the dirt was fully saturated. This year, we purchased a garden torch and instead of pulling all the weed and plants to clean out a bed, he takes the torch and burns them all, then rakes the ash into the soil. The carbon is wonderful for the soil, and it has definitely made a big difference in weed control. Today we got the bed torched and then realized that it was looking pretty low on dirt, so we went to Lowe’s and bought a few bags to top it up. Tomorrow I’ll plant our green beans for our fall crop, as long as there’s no rain. Last year green beans produced beautifully in the fall, so I’m hopeful for a similar outcome this time around.
We have been working on our planting plan for the fall which has already gone through several revisions as we’ve decided which crops to grow, which are staying a bit longer, and what needs to be started now vs. what can wait a little longer. The next thing we need to prepare is the long, narrow garden bed that has had a few strawberry plants in it. Since we added our gutter system for strawberries this year, the few lingering plants in the bed are kind of pointless. The bed has been overtaken by weeds and grass and is essentially wasted space right now. In a garden as small as ours, there’s no room for wasted space. That bed will get torched as well, and dirt will need to be added to top it back up. The current plan is to plant carrots in it, but as with everything else, that plan could change at any moment. Until the seeds are in the ground, who knows what will be planted there.
Chickens on the Loose
The chicken coop was another project. Even though it is covered, and the windows were closed, some rain got in through the vents near the roof and made all the shavings wet. In order to freshen it up, I had to wait for the shavings to mostly dry so I could toss in some barn lime and fresh shavings. Doing either of those things on damp shavings is definitely not recommended. They still need a few more shavings added, but the coop is definitely well on its way to recovering. Other than the shavings, we have to clean out the nesting boxes, because muddy chicken feet, and chickens deciding to hang out in the coop instead of the rain (who can blame them) makes for messy boxes.
My amazing husband mowed the grass this afternoon. With all the fresh glass clippings and unearthed bugs, we thought it would be fun for the chickens to let them out of their run and allow them some time to free range in the backyard. This is not a common occurrence, although hopefully we will be able to do it more now that they are getting a little bit older. They are so funny to watch as they scratch in the grass and dirt, flinging it high into the air. My favorite is when one decides it’s time to take off running full speed around the yard. They look like tiny velociraptors ready to attack. We kept them out for a little over an hour, watching them as they foraged in the fresh grass. Occasionally the kids would chase them around or pick one up to give it some loving. Even our rooster Frank got some snuggles from the kids.
Hope Abounds
Seeing the new growth and the second chances that are happening in the garden brings me so much hope and joy. It’s been a difficult summer for the garden. It’s taken a toll on me mentally and honestly made me question even continuing. The tiny little green tomatoes beginning to form, the new cucumber vines growing, and the rebirth of so many strawberry plants have given me a gift I can’t fully put into words. They have given me the drive and desire to move onward, to persevere no matter what the outcome is. This is your reminder that even when things look bleak, there is always hope.