This has been some strange year. I think that every year
actually. This year it warmed up and then got cold and then repeated several
times. It went from eighty degrees at the end of April to nine inches of snow
May second, which melted and replaced itself with two more inches by the fourth
and then of course melted. Mud is everywhere.
It finally warmed up so I could plant all those plants I
ordered for my garden. My brother talked me into planting my potatoes in old
hay bales. I looked it up to see if it was an actual way of planting them
before I did it and it was. However, it takes massive amounts of water to keep
the hay bales hydrated and now that it seems to be raining every day and going
from below freezing to eighty in a day, the bales are molding instead of
producing potatoes. I don't think I'll do it again next year. I am thinking of
replanting potatoes in dirt already for this year. Naturally, as soon as I got
that garden all ready and planted asparagus it rained and filled the trenches
with so much water I think it drowned the roots. I had also planted
strawberries and they too are suffering the effects of the weather. I think I
have maybe four out of thirty plants left. The only thins 'happy' are the
onions. I planted four rows each of various beans and peas and the seeds are
not doing well. Finally, some of the beans are coming up, and for some reason
the lettuce survived the deluge of rain. The spinach and cucumbers washed away.
Luckily, I had started some cucumber plants indoors, so as long as the rain and
too cool weather doesn't kill those off too, I might actually get some cucumbers.
Obviously we couldn't cover the entire tree.
It seems when we need it warm; it's cold. When we need it
dry; it's wet. When we need it wet; it's dry. We wrapped a couple of our
smaller apple trees to protect them from the freeze, and then it turned out the
ones that didn't get wrapped came out okay, then it rained and the wind blew
like crazy and blew a lot of the blooms off. Last year's drought killed my
blueberries, possibly the cherries, and one of my plumb trees. So, to anyone
who thinks farming is easy- think again. It's a hard job keeping our family fed
and possibly yours too for those who sell excess veggies at the farmer's
market. I used to do that too, but that's another post!
An older apple tree in full bloom- That's what they should all look like!
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