I do not recall a year as bad as this one, and that includes the 20 years I was raising tobacco. It started with a cat eating the tops off a bunch of my seedlings - I had to but them in a grow box and keep the door closed and then put up barriers for the ones that did not fit.
Then my big sale day was rained out and the main event - a Car Show, was rescheduled for early July. Was invited to another event the following weekend - the night before a huge cold front moved through dropping the temps 25 degrees, plus we had constant winds (cold winds) with gusts up to 35 MPH during the sale. Last year, I sold about 75 plants at one sale, this year about 5!
My rotary tiller, weed eater and lawn mower all died and it was the middle of May before I accumulated enough funds to buy the tiller.
Rains kept the ground wet for a couple of weeks, but then I was able to get some of it worked so I could get my 16" tomato plants out. Finally I was able to get the rest of the garden tiller and everything planted. Then the rains came, and came, and came. The ground stayed wet for three weeks, killing a bunch of stuff, especially potatoes and much of the last tomato plants and letting weeds overtake everything else.
It finally dried out so I could work in it but by then some of the ground was like concrete. Took a day and a half to till and hoe 900 sq. ft.
We had about a month of nice weather, right up until about the end of July. Then it got hot and dry. Real hot and real dry. Plus the whiteflies moved in. They didn't do much damage but didn't help anything. About the same time, a groundhog discovered my garden. Before tomatoes were ripe, he was helping himself to them, what few there were. But with temps in the mid to upper 90s,the maters just sat there. No new blooms, rarely a ripe tom, just orange one. Last year, I had harvested about 650 pounds by this time, this year 50 pounds. Since the end of July we have had maybe 1/2 inch of rain. The peppers are doing okay as is the sorghum but that is about it.
If we don't get a drenching rain this weekend I'm gonna pull up everything and sow some wheat. I have about 12 plants for the GH and another 12 upstairs so I won't have to visit the supermarket but I will end up buying tomato juice and probably potatoes before next summer.
Maybe all this is good, though. Next year should be much better (law of average) and I hope to raise about .5 acre of tomatoes!
Mike
Then my big sale day was rained out and the main event - a Car Show, was rescheduled for early July. Was invited to another event the following weekend - the night before a huge cold front moved through dropping the temps 25 degrees, plus we had constant winds (cold winds) with gusts up to 35 MPH during the sale. Last year, I sold about 75 plants at one sale, this year about 5!
My rotary tiller, weed eater and lawn mower all died and it was the middle of May before I accumulated enough funds to buy the tiller.
Rains kept the ground wet for a couple of weeks, but then I was able to get some of it worked so I could get my 16" tomato plants out. Finally I was able to get the rest of the garden tiller and everything planted. Then the rains came, and came, and came. The ground stayed wet for three weeks, killing a bunch of stuff, especially potatoes and much of the last tomato plants and letting weeds overtake everything else.
It finally dried out so I could work in it but by then some of the ground was like concrete. Took a day and a half to till and hoe 900 sq. ft.
We had about a month of nice weather, right up until about the end of July. Then it got hot and dry. Real hot and real dry. Plus the whiteflies moved in. They didn't do much damage but didn't help anything. About the same time, a groundhog discovered my garden. Before tomatoes were ripe, he was helping himself to them, what few there were. But with temps in the mid to upper 90s,the maters just sat there. No new blooms, rarely a ripe tom, just orange one. Last year, I had harvested about 650 pounds by this time, this year 50 pounds. Since the end of July we have had maybe 1/2 inch of rain. The peppers are doing okay as is the sorghum but that is about it.
If we don't get a drenching rain this weekend I'm gonna pull up everything and sow some wheat. I have about 12 plants for the GH and another 12 upstairs so I won't have to visit the supermarket but I will end up buying tomato juice and probably potatoes before next summer.
Maybe all this is good, though. Next year should be much better (law of average) and I hope to raise about .5 acre of tomatoes!
Mike
