I think I know how it feels to garden in the desert

NOTE:  All the pictures in this post were taken in the last week.

Good grief.  The drought has been brutal and my garden is suffering.

I am pretty spoiled in the garden department.

1. I have raised beds.  These are notorious for being able to grow plants even in the worst conditions. I can create a healthy, rich soil that warms up fast and where roots can go deep.  Raised beds also allow me to condition soil individually for each plant’s needs (think sandy soil for carrots, loamy soil for bulbs).
2. I have 3 cows.  This gives me the richest compost a gal could ever dream of.  In a land where many struggle with rock hard clay soil or soaking wet slop – I have beds loaded with manure.
3. I have a frost-free pump in my garden.  This means I have water anytime I want – no rain necessary.
4. I use deep mulch.  Plenty of manure soaked hay and straw coat my garden beds.  This holds in moisture like a boss and provides unlimited nutrients.
5. I have a fenced-in garden.  No chickens, rabbits, deer or other critter looking for a free meal is going to get one from me.

Even with all of these factors in my favor, the drought still killed half of my fall garden.

This is how gardening goes.

Sugar Snap Peas

We have experienced the worst drought in decades here in Kentucky and had the driest September on record EVER.

For this reason, my fall garden did not achieve the start I hoped for, nor is it as fruitful as I planned.

And that is OK. 

Rainbow Chard

My plants that were killed by the drought:

• Late summer squash plants
• Kale
• Mustard Greens
• Turnips (which is hilarious – I didn’t think anything could kill a turnip)
• Collards
• Cabbage
• Broccoli

I tried to save them.

I put forth a monster effort.  I even watered like a maniac – which is against my religion.

There just is not enough water sometimes.  I planted on the right dates.  My soil was good to go, but it was too HOT and TOO dry.  Even with regular watering, the seeds couldn’t make it.

Beets

In very hot climates it is difficult to achieve germination –

1. Sometimes the seeds simply fry in the heat and die.
2. Watering can actually exasperate this because [the seeds] become moistened by the watering, and then get dried out by the blazing sun.  In a word: murder.
3. If the seeds do germinate, and the 100 degree days continue – they may still die.  Tiny baby seedlings are fragile little things.

This was my case.  I watered, but then the sun simply fried the seeds.  The few seeds that germinated died a week later from the furnace.  The plants (squash, cabbage, broccoli) all fried in spite of my hose.

The drought has ended, and we are having some regular rainfall, but it is too late. Precipitation and tolerable temperatures did not settle in Kentucky until the middle of October, and it was simply too late to sow seeds.

Winter is a few short weeks away.

Lettuce

I have a grateful heart and am happy to have any crops at all right now.  Most folks called it a year when September tried to kill us all.

Still Growing

Plants that survived the flare in the garden now-

• Cucumbers
• Yellow squash (I have one plant that made it through the drought – he is a trooper and I love him)
• Swiss Chard
• Buttercrunch Lettuce
• Bibb Lettuce
• Red Leaf Lettuce (it is heat tolerant)
• Onion sets (I think 4 survived, LOL)
• Beets
• Radishes
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Late Potatoes

Tomatoes

Unstoppable Herbs

It is official.

I have been telling people for years that they should grow an herb garden.  Herbs are easy to grow.  They can survive with less sunlight, less rainfall, and less fertile soil.  Herbs are half-weed and half-plant.  They are disease resistant and most bugs hate them.

Go Herbs.

Once again, the herbs have proven that they can be neglected, beaten and still come out a winner.  My herbs survived a couple of months without rain and under the hottest conditions.  I love herbs.

My herb bed is thriving.  The basil and parsley died the first night temperatures touched the low thirties (weenies) but the rest of the herbs are thrilled that fall is here.

Herbs I still have in the garden:  rosemary, thyme, oregano, peppermint, chives, lavender, cilantro.  I am good to go for thanksgiving.

Peppers. See the trees in the background changing colors?  This is not going to end well for the peppers.

I am always a little sad to see the inevitable freeze take out the troopers of the garden who are just not ready to call it a year.

This is the case for several happy campers in my garden.

The okra is still blooming and bursting with spears.  Okra is one magnificent plant.  This was my first year growing it, and I am here to tell you, it is worth the garden space.  I have eaten my weight in okra and couldn’t be happier about it.

This has been one of my best years for tomatoes.  We started slow with a cool spring, but my tomato plants came through in the end.  I planted 2 rows of tomatoes in May (about 30 plants) and I planted a second crop in July (6 plants).  Those extra 6 plants really extended the tomato season and they are still producing tomatoes and BLOOMS.

I tried to tell them it was almost November, but it was no use.  They wanted to make babies.

HOLY PEAS!

I typically struggle to grow sugar snap peas in fall – not this year.  I guess these guys don’t like water, because somehow the seeds (I sowed the pea seeds in August) germinated and turned into this with no rain.

I have also been impressed with the cucumber’s ability to perform in the heat (without water).  The great part about a drought is there will be NO mold.  And my cucumber plants usually die from powdery mildew.

Not this year.

I dug up 2 bushels of sweet potatoes whom are curing in the garage right now.

And I grew an unknown number of tiny pumpkins.  They are adorable, but I’m not sure what to do with all of them.  They are hanging out on the back porch right now, but it is just a matter of time before the chickens figure out that they are food.

I suppose the moral of the story is,

“Don’t Give Up

even when it is hot and there is no rain in the forecast.”

Because you never know what may survive and give you food for fall.

Don’t worry, he didn’t hit his sister with the metal rake…

It doesn’t matter if they are 9 or 19, I swear.

XO,

Candi