At the beginning of the year, I am always hoping we will transition easily into garden season. Unfortunately, that has never been the case. Between southwest Missouri receiving enormous amounts of rain this spring and then switching to unseasonably hot weather in a matter of days, merely keeping plants alive has been a struggle.
Last winter, we planned to expand our front yard garden as it has the most space and receives full sun almost daily. We keep most of our animals in an adjacent area to our backyard, and it’s always risky to plant food back there as our chickens are constantly finding ways to escape. It seemed like a solid plan, and we were eagerly prepared to add 1000 square feet of in-ground space to our already existing raised garden.
What we failed to consider is that our yard is on a very slight incline; not only does it slope downward, but the west side is lower than the east side. So, with the flooding this spring, we actually had to plant and make our rows twice. We don’t use machinery so this was a disheartening process and back-breaking work.
However, it all paid off and we are slowly starting to see progress in what was a very bare area.
Front Yard Garden
While I really like the look of raised beds, rising food costs and inflation made it impossible to expand our garden with more galvanized beds without going into serious debt. That being said, we invested in raised beds last year out of necessity. Most of our front yard has less than an inch of topsoil and tons of rocks. We knew if we were serious about growing the majority of our food, we would need to bring in compost to amend as well as nourish our yard.
Since tomatoes develop root systems that can be 12-18 inches deep, we decided to grow those in our raised beds. We kept more shallow-rooted plants, such as squash and beans, in our in-ground garden. This also allowed us to trellis our vining vegetables to cut down on disease and make harvesting more convenient.
High Tunnel
I wanted to experiment a little in the high tunnel this summer. I over-wintered some kale which I left to go to seed and the plants that haven’t bolted (so far my Thousandhead and Dinosaur Kale are still going strong) we use to supplement our chicken and our rabbits’ feed.
I made it a goal to start all of our plants this year and successfully grew over 300 from seed, peppers included. I did decide to keep growing them in the high tunnel as it provided them with optimal conditions to flourish. While I babied them, they lasted maybe three days after I planted them outside and were demolished by what I suspect were grasshoppers. Since it was so late in the season, I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to start a batch all over again.
If you have a Sutherlands in your area (and this ever happens to you) they have early bird specials in the spring/summer seasons where you can get starts for half off. Needless to say, I grabbed a cart full and spent maybe $18. While they don’t have the rare seeds that I enjoy growing, they do have a number of practical varieties that work in a pinch.
I did decide to try to grow some cucumbers and beans in the high tunnel to see how they do in a more controlled environment. I usually struggle with my cucumbers in late July and early August. By planting them in the high tunnel, I can easily add more shade if needed.
And, of course, everything is amended with rabbit waste. I have found this to be especially important in the high tunnel where the beds don’t receive much, if any, worm activity or rain.
This seasons struggles….
Obviously, we will have to figure out our flooding issue before next year. We have kicked around the idea of putting in a french drain as well as edging around the perimeter to help divert water if needed.
But the real struggle this year has been a pretty common one – the dreaded squash bug.
We have squash bugs every year but never so many and never this bad. I have tried neem oil, diatomaceous earth, and the most surefire method I know – picking them off by hand and stepping on them. It seems they come back twice as bad and I’ve already lost almost half my plants.
Besides planting resistance squash varieties, has anyone else found a way to get rid of them without using chemicals?
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