Gardening Ups and Downs

Reader Contribution by Tracy Houpt
Published on July 6, 2015
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I’m not having a great gardening season. We had too much rain in June, and our clay soil was waterlogged for most of the month. Also during June I had two bouts with an illness that was not serious, but completely sapped my energy and made it a challenge to get through the regular daily chores. I had no extra “oomph” for the hard work of weeding. With every day of rain that caused the weeds to thrive, I got more discouraged and just couldn’t drum up the motivation to even begin!

Then the Cavalry showed up this past week, in the form of my son Kyle and his girlfriend Wendy. They brought a much-needed dose of youthful energy and enthusiasm with them. They spent a couple of hours working in the rows of tomatoes and peppers, freeing them from the surrounding tangle of lamb’s quarters and other weeds.

Amazingly, there are fruits forming on the plants, so all is not lost.

I hope to get out there this week and tackle the rows of bush beans and cooking beans, as well as the carrot and beet areas. If I end up with some tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, and cucumbers, I will need to be satisfied.

Years like this make me thankful that I’m not completely dependent upon what I can grow in my own backyard. Striving to be more food self-sufficient is a worthy goal, but I doubt that I’ll ever be a completely closed system out here!

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