Its been a while since I have taken time to talk about the homestead. Busy with working and life has taken much of my online time, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.
The Bad
I did not have the garden plowed this year. We have had a lot of rain, then none and now a lot again.
I did plant a few tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, cucumbers, squash and green beans.
I got one good batch of tomatoes but the rain grew the grass up and almost over the plants, allowing pests to attack the plants, they died.
The squash made a couple messes but they just did not make, the rain?
The corn is short but it does have corn, I am watching it.
The rabbits ate the green beans. Seems like the deer or rabbits are always feasting on the green beans!
The bell pepper are doing okay, small but making.
The cucumbers bloom but I have yet to find one.
The Good
I had an awesome blackberry patch this year! I picked daily for a while then every other day, always a pint but up to a gallon a day.
I made several cases of no seed blackberry jelly so far, I froze the rest till I can make more jelly or just home can them for pies and such.
I did pretty good with the honeysuckle and roses, I made cases of jelly also.
The chamomile did okay and I got a quart jar dried.
I did get a case of poke salad home canned and I still have plenty to pick or just eat.
The Bad
The rain. Yes we need rain and I get that but I have so much grass! As soon as I mow it rains and then I have to do it over again.
Seems I am mowing to keep control of the fields more than anything else.
The bushes! not the ones you want to grow but the privet, those useless invaders. I have piled them to the road for pick up each moth and there are more and then they grow from the base, it seems to be an endless fight.
The rain brings bugs, allows them to breed, so I have had more than one red bug this year.
The Good
Since I am not tending a garden I am learning more about what lives in my yard, what I can use for many different wild foods and how to make money with what I do have.
I am also learning what I can grow in a flower pot and what I cant. How the herbs do better or not in this hot Alabama sun.
And while I do have some down time, due to the rain, I have went back to writing the book I have worked on for a while now. I can say that I have more than a couple chapters finished.
Plus, I am making raised beds for the fall garden, not there yet but I am hoping it will help as far as the grass part goes.
I am making new products for the online store as well as making progress with the physical store. To visit just click on : Sunshine`s Homestead Creations
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Life is never perfect and not every year all your plant thrives, its all trial and error, we learn from each season of each year about how the weather will allow the plants to thrive or not. If its Gods will to have a lush garden full of vegetables or you skip a year.
This year its Gods will for me to skip the summer vegetables on my homestead and help some other homesteader out by buying from them.
How is your garden growing?
Photos by Andria Perry
I dad did raised beds for years. He loved them!
ReplyDeleteI think they would serve me well too.
DeleteWhat is the 4th picture, the one before the farmers market photo? Is it a mushroom?
ReplyDeleteYes its a mushroom.
DeleteHas your passionflower set fruit? The one in your picture?
ReplyDeleteYes I have a patch of them and they have fruits everywhere. green so I wait till they are yellow.
DeleteOh My! If I had all that gardening to do....! I'm no longer able to do that, but I remember the joy of growing things.I admire your persistence and your ambition.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I know things will change as I age.
DeleteTip on privet management...I like it. Hard to kill, holds soil on steep hillsides (which you probably don't have), hosts cardinals, makes great pre-soaked skewers for grilling, dries out to excellent kindling wood, great for privacy & boundaries & cheerful cardinals, plus I love the fragrance. But if you want to get rid of it, water it heavily, keep it wet (nature takes care of that here), and wait for carpenter ants to find it. They'll kill it. Dabs of grease or sugar above the water line, especially in any holes created by inexpert pruning, will attract them to target shrubs before other shrubs.
ReplyDeleteThen you only have to figure out what to do with the carpenter ants before they move on to chew up your bathroom floor. Borax is relatively safe, and the ants are also a favorite food of the pileated woodpecker, who, with any luck, may help destroy a target tree.
Lordy girl! invite one pest to get rid of the one I have. I will chop it, shred it for mulch.
Delete