After about four inches of rain earlier this week, Saturday was a garden make-up day. The yard is looking lush for the first time since June, and was in need of cutting. I have some bare spots that I will work on this fall and next spring, but overall the grass is in great shape.
The garden is moving along. Everything planted on August 13th is up and beginning to fill in as scheduled. The stuff planted on August 20th is a little water logged and we’ll know by Wednesday how those plants will do. Some transplants from August 20 did not survive the heavy rain. I lost about 20%. But the wife says, “Well, you planted 300% of what we need so we’ll have plenty.”
I planted about 25 feet of beds yesterday with various seeds—succession plantings, including–lettuces, swiss chard, spinach, beets, kale, carrots, radishes, and turnips.
I also followed up a bean bed with some buckwheat. I now have about 36 feet of beds that will be my season extension experiment. I will also have some late fall crops going in on another 50 feet of beds that currently have winter squash and sweet potatoes.
An intensive garden system like I’ve got going is never a dull a moment, and keeps me busy with planning and execution.
Lots of activity in the garden last night. After rains on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it was actually dry enough to do a few things. Here is a rundown of garden tasks:
- Planted the last of the cole crops that were in seedling flats–10 broccoli and 4 cabbage plants (I lost a number of bok choi and cabbage plants to some kind of insect–they didn’t eat on the broccoli plants)
- Picked the last of the beans. There were about 8-10 pounds of beans on the plants–the plants were then pulled from the ground and the bare spots were planted in a short season cover crop of buckwheat.
- Side dressed winter squash and sweet potatoes as they produce fruit.
- Thinned turnips and radishes
- Checked over beds already planted–most everything is on target with germination and growth
The Blue Ridge Gardener site, as of August 27th, had 100 posts since its beginning in April 2008. Here are some statistics for the site if you are interested:
Total Unique Visitors- 396
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Not bad for a little known, little publicized blog about gardening in Western North Carolina.
As nice as the rain has been this week, wea re still about 10 inches behind normal. Lake Logan in southern Haywood County is filling back up, but we may see it empty again. It is difficult to keep a yard and garden going well in dry seasons so here are some tips that i found on the Haywood County Cooperative Extension Service site:
Dealing With Drought
Basically, a page full of links to all kinds of materials on drought proofing and water conservation.