We had a particularly rough year in the garden in 2011. It seems like Winter keeps pushing Spring and Summer further and further into the year, making it extremely hard to predict when to best plant or direct sow seeds.
Our first victims this year were the peas. Tara was especially enthused about having a nice crop of tasty snow peas, but the late frosts were just too much. By the time the weather stabilized, it was already too late.
Our cabbage seemed to do all right. One lesson we learned this year with our chickens is that the girls aren't always the most careful in the garden. They did take care of many of our potato bugs, or pill bugs as some may call them, which was nice. But then again, they also loved eating our tomato plants. In the end we had to resort to putting up a temporary barrier until we can erect a proper fence.
I like how they love to rummage through the garden area during the early months of Spring, so it comes down to only allowing them in the garden when we want them there. Hence the fence that I'm hoping to get in before the weather gets too bad this Fall. Otherwise, they make excellent tillers and their droppings help to fertilize. Nothing like turning bug pests into plant nutrition with minimal effort, and getting eggs to boot!
Two of our apple trees did very well this year, but the two newest ones were quite barren, without a single apple adorning their branches. Our peaches took a major hit, having all their fruit blown off by the angry Spring winds. The rest of the early peach-bearing crop in Utah took similar hits. Somewhat more disappointing, however, is the fact that the two peach trees didn't seem to grow much this year, if at all. I was really hoping for some sturdy growth in place of the missing crop, but we'll have to see how they do next year. Perhaps our clay soil is holding them back, could just be a matter of time before they can establish proper root structures to support any significant growth.
Another update, the hazelnut bushes have been separated and moved. I believe I posted about this earlier. I joined the Arbor Day Foundation Hazelnut Bush program, but all of my plants died from the first planting. They did send me more after their survey, but only one survived. I'd actually planted one of the bushes over at my mom's house in hopes that I could get a start from it if the second planting went as bad. Unfortunately, she didn't water the little guy and he died. That left 2 bushes at my house, and one didn't make it. Much to my surprise, though, it ended up sending up another secondary set of stems, so I carefully dug them both up and relocated them to a sunnier location. I'm hoping the extra sun is what they needed to thrive. So far they are both very small and the root structure hadn't penetrated the clay very well.
In addition to moving the hazelnuts, we also purchased and planted two additional pears and an Italian prune tree, which has rave reviews from my dad. I might have been a bit rough with the prune, it isn't looking so hot. We'll see how it's looking in the Spring.
Our first victims this year were the peas. Tara was especially enthused about having a nice crop of tasty snow peas, but the late frosts were just too much. By the time the weather stabilized, it was already too late.
Our cabbage seemed to do all right. One lesson we learned this year with our chickens is that the girls aren't always the most careful in the garden. They did take care of many of our potato bugs, or pill bugs as some may call them, which was nice. But then again, they also loved eating our tomato plants. In the end we had to resort to putting up a temporary barrier until we can erect a proper fence.
I like how they love to rummage through the garden area during the early months of Spring, so it comes down to only allowing them in the garden when we want them there. Hence the fence that I'm hoping to get in before the weather gets too bad this Fall. Otherwise, they make excellent tillers and their droppings help to fertilize. Nothing like turning bug pests into plant nutrition with minimal effort, and getting eggs to boot!
Two of our apple trees did very well this year, but the two newest ones were quite barren, without a single apple adorning their branches. Our peaches took a major hit, having all their fruit blown off by the angry Spring winds. The rest of the early peach-bearing crop in Utah took similar hits. Somewhat more disappointing, however, is the fact that the two peach trees didn't seem to grow much this year, if at all. I was really hoping for some sturdy growth in place of the missing crop, but we'll have to see how they do next year. Perhaps our clay soil is holding them back, could just be a matter of time before they can establish proper root structures to support any significant growth.
Another update, the hazelnut bushes have been separated and moved. I believe I posted about this earlier. I joined the Arbor Day Foundation Hazelnut Bush program, but all of my plants died from the first planting. They did send me more after their survey, but only one survived. I'd actually planted one of the bushes over at my mom's house in hopes that I could get a start from it if the second planting went as bad. Unfortunately, she didn't water the little guy and he died. That left 2 bushes at my house, and one didn't make it. Much to my surprise, though, it ended up sending up another secondary set of stems, so I carefully dug them both up and relocated them to a sunnier location. I'm hoping the extra sun is what they needed to thrive. So far they are both very small and the root structure hadn't penetrated the clay very well.
In addition to moving the hazelnuts, we also purchased and planted two additional pears and an Italian prune tree, which has rave reviews from my dad. I might have been a bit rough with the prune, it isn't looking so hot. We'll see how it's looking in the Spring.
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