Monday, October 4, 2010

Garden 2010

OK, it has been a bad year for my garden, the start was late and the growth has been weak for everything but the scarlet runner beans, those I have more than enough of.

So why the bad year? 

I got a late start - I planted some stuff early but it suffered, then it took my a long time to get the bulk in.
The soil needs more fertilizer - I know I was low in what I added this year and I can see the results.  I need to add more manure and compost.   My plan is to plant a bunch of fall rye as a green manure crop.

I also seemed to be short of time to get outside to get into the garden this year - I know this had to do with the scope and scale of renovations I took on in the spring and summer.

I have a whole bunch of strawberry plants to plant, I just need a location, I think will simply dig a whole and plant them all there to keep till the spring.

The chickens are slowing down and one has died.  I am getting only about 2 eggs a day at the moment, sometimes less.  I wonder about how well they will do this winter and if they are coming to the natural ends of their lives.   I actually have had to buy eggs for the first time in several years.

Total value of my crops this year?   Maybe $1000 this year and most of that is from the eggs.  

2 comments:

Patricia said...

We planted fall rye in our allotment garden one year. We did not know that it attracts wireworm, which subsequently destroyed our potato crop. So just be forewarned - do not plant root veg there for a while after. Apparently buckwheat deters wireworm - not sure how easy it is to grow...

Bernard said...

Thank you, that is good to know. I am not planning on root crops anytime soon, I find that in my limited space I prefer to stay with plants that I can stake to maximize space use