Summer Sucesses

Reader Contribution by Nebraska Dave
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Summer is waning and the sounds of the locusts can be clearly heard in the cool of the evening. Because of the rains in August, the foliage is still green and lush; weeds are still fighting for control in the gardens; and garden/yard cleanup has begun. Two loads of fence line trees have been hauled away to the company that take brush and makes mulch out of it. It costs $10 a pickup load to dump, and $20 a pickup load for hardwood mulch.

July was a great month. The sweet corn fortress was a great success.

One-hundred and sixty prime ears of corn and forty-five second ears were harvested. I ate corn, corn, and more corn. After four years of total devastation by the raccoons, it was sweet  to be able to eat as much as I wanted and even give some away. I thought about throwing the cobs over the fence just to say, “In your face, Rocky Raccoon.” Instead, I threw some of the second ears over the fence for them to eat. I just couldn’t be that mean to them. After all, I did invade their land.

July was a month of more construction.

It seems that I can’t be without a garden project in progress. This is the entrance of Terra Nova Gardens. Over the course of the next two years, the pathways of the formal part of the garden will be bricked, and the beds will be outlined in limestone rocks.

My green peppers were a bust. They had wrinkly leaves and never put on any peppers. The cucumbers had about five cukes, then the vines dried up and died.

The tomatoes were slow starting.

What started as a tiny seed oh-so-long ago has filled up the tower and is still climbing. Since this picture, the first two tomatoes have grown out the top of the tower. I’m harvesting about a five-gallon bucket of tomatoes every couple days from these seven tomato plants. I eat a few and put the rest on a pallet by the road in front of the garden with a sign that says “free.” They always disappear overnight. It’s the start of something good. Next year I’ll be doing the free vegetable stand again. It’s my way of giving to the neighborhood. I’m not much into preserving anyway. I just like growing veggies and designing and building garden structures. So I have another three months to play in the garden before the snow shuts down all garden activities.

How did your garden do this summer?

  • Published on Aug 26, 2016
Tagged with: Reader Contributions
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