I’m struggling with a bit of Imposter Syndrome lately. I mean, who am I to blog about how to grow a garden, when our own garden is pfffft!?
We came home from our camping vacation to discover the cabbage plants all but destroyed. Papa found at least one worm crawling on it – but my guess is there were several at work. No signs of a cabbage head and we doubted it would survive, so the plants went to the chickens. 🙁
That’s not to mention what’s happening with the green beans. Dozens of Japanese beetles have invaded this year and are mating and munching on all our plants. It may be fortunate that I over-planted this year so they may survive (safety in numbers). I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Japanese beetles in our garden before – but we are overrun with them this year! They seem to appear as fast as Papa picks them off!
That said, we’re having a few successes: the tomatoes are growing, flowering and starting to ripen; the basil needs to be harvested; the peas have already been picked and are ready for a second planting; and the beets are looking SPECTACULAR!
Almost overnight our onions started to look wilted and the tops fell over. I’ve never planted onions before but I’m hoping this means they’re finishing their growing season already and are started to dry. The bulbs do look huge so that could be the case.
Most of the corn plants look really good. They’ve tasseled out nicely and are starting to form the ears. We’ll probably only get a dozen or so ears, but I’m happy with that.
We had a near disaster while on vacation last weekend. None of us noticed until the day after our return that one of the plum trees was leaning almost at a 45° angle and the roots had been pulled up a bit! Apparently we must have had a really strong wind-storm come through during those three days/two nights we were gone. Nothing else on the property seem affected. Papa was able to use a strap and his pickup truck to pull it upright. Now the tree is supported on one side with a concrete slab we had lying around – and it will have to stay that way for a couple of years to ensure the roots take hold again.
What is growing at your home(stead)?