Insects, Diseases & Weeds (oh, my!)
Last year it was a drought. This year it was flooding. However, that isn’t all I have been dealing with in my garden this year.
Squash bugs, and probably vine borers, are at work on my zucchini. I don’t think my plants are going to make it much longer. There are also some little worms in some of my ears of corn.
Corn smut has been affecting some of my corn plants. The only way to deal with it is to remove the affected plant from the garden and dispose of it somewhere far away from the garden.
Weeds. The bane of my gardening existence. 🙂
I still believe the best way to deal with weeds is to pull them, till them, or lay down some sort of barrier so they don’t come up in the first place.
I have really neglected my garden this year since I lost so much of it to the flooding. These weeds, and some you will see below, are the result of my neglect.
Now, before I totally discourage you into thinking there is no good reason to garden, keep reading to find out why I garden in spite of any issues that my crops face.
My Garden This Week (8-1-13)
While my main garden spot doesn’t look too pretty, we did get to enjoy a dozen ears of corn last night for supper.
There are tons of weeds in my back garden spot, but there are some things still growing in there.
My potato towers are hopefully going to be done in the next few weeks (They better because a barn is going to be built on my garden spot in another month.).
The reason I think they are getting close is that the plants are starting to die and that is a good thing because it means they are almost done growing.
Would you believe that there are a couple of pumpkins growing in that weed patch?
There are even close to a dozen butternut squash of varying sizes growing.
Our little apple tree has apples falling off of it (I think it is an early tree.) so the kids and I harvested a bushel yesterday that will make great applesauce.
We’ve also picked about 7 gallons of blackberries in the last week or so.
Our chickens have been laying a few more eggs each day and we are up to 4-5 per day.
Since there are 29 of them I am hopeful they get to full capacity soon.
So, while there are many aspects of gardening that I haven’t mastered, I do it because I love the fresh, organic produce we get. That’s the bottom line.
Plus, I learn new things every year and, if I actually do something about what I learn, I may one day have an awesome garden. 🙂
What have you harvested from your garden this week?
