July has come and gone, and it feels like it only lasted a few seconds. While I was off from my job this summer and was pretty convinced I could keep up with the garden, I failed… utterly. Last year, we came back from vacation to a garden that had been almost wholly destroyed by cucumber beetles. This year, they were kind enough to strike before we left town.
It is of the upmost importance for us to grow food that is healthy for our family. That being said, we were again faced with the issue of treating our garden organically and watching most of it be destroyed or, to go ahead and use a pesticide. We tried Diatomaceous Earth, Neem Oil, and even tried to vacuum up thousands of cucumber beetles. When all of that failed, we sparingly used Sevin. Even with the use of a commercial pesticide, it barely put a dent in our pest population. I didn’t feel comfortable using more than one application and we ended up losing half of our garden. Our pumpkin patch was completely demolished and we pulled it before it produced more than a handful of pumpkins.
Most of the time, the garden is my place of peace. This year, I was ready to throw in the towel by the time it was mid-July.
Front Yard Garden
Since our most extensive garden is in our front yard, we try our best to make it look presentable. This year’s big project was to pull the landscape fabric by the raised beds, as it was doing very little to suppress weeds and had dissolved pretty thoroughly over the past few years. This was my fault for using the fabric you buy at Lowes instead of investing in a heavy-duty fabric. Rather than put more down, we seeded clover and hoped for the best. We vastly underestimated the amount we needed and will buy more to spread out this fall.
Our peppers are the only plants that have been thriving this year. While they had some transplant shock at first, they quickly recovered. They are also our only crop that had no pest damage.
I tried to save seeds from my Roselle last year simply because they can be hard to find. I assume they were cross-pollinated as the plants have been stunted and have not been producing calyces.
High Tunnel
Once again, we had issues with blossom end rot in our high tunnel, most likely due to inconsistent watering. It’s difficult to get a deep water in there when hand watering and it would benefit from a drip irrigation system. While it started strong, it too was almost entirely demolished by cucumber beetles. I had to pull all of the tomato plants before getting more than a handful of tomatoes.
On the Homestead
Surprisingly, I have been able to keep many plants in the greenhouse over the summer with the use of a shade cloth. My Orange Top Tomatoes are still going strong, along with my basil and Moonflowers.
We pulled and cured our potatoes and onions in early July. We received a nice crop of both and will definitely be growing them next year.
I’ve been dehydrating jars full of basil to make my favorite – basil tea. Not only is it easy to do but it makes your house smell wonderful!
We had three rabbit deaths this summer due to the heat – we had a waterer fall off in 100+ degree weather and didn’t notice until the following morning. It was a sad lesson to learn, but it has helped make us more cautious when it comes to our rabbits’ care. We have sold all but one female and, when the weather cools off, will attempt to breed her.
My husband’s big project this fall is to make a duck pond for these guys. We currently use a baby pool, but the bigger they get, the more water they need.
Looking Forward…
After doing some research, I read that you can use beneficial nematodes to disrupt the life cycle of the cucumber beetle if you apply it in the fall. This is now at the top of my to-do list. I have also started Kale and Chard with plans to direct sow Lettuce, Carrots, and Sugar Snap Peas in the high tunnel.
With school starting next week, I won’t have as much time in the garden, which makes me both sad and relieved- at this point, I am looking forward to having a break from weeding, harvesting, and preserving.
What are you looking forward to? Are you planning on starting a fall garden?
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