What's This About Trial and Error...

Disappointment. That was the emotion I experienced, returning home from what felt like a very long week away, to find that very...very few of the plants survived the transfer from greenhouse to garden. I wanted a learning experience, and guess what I got...a learning experience. Being completely honest, I wasn't sure what I would come home to. Sure, my day dreams conjured something resembling the beginnings of the Garden of Eden, but again that was a day dream. I didn't however expect the near total dessamation of garden life. Being the learning experience, I pondered what might have caused this, or what could I have done differently. Certainly (duh!) not being away for a week would have been a good place to start. However, in my defense, the week away was filled with mild temperatures and rain. I did check the soil when I returned home, and it was moist. Could it have been a shock to be transfered directly from our indoor greenhouse (a comfortable and consistent 72 to 74 degrees) to the garden (dipping into the high 50's to low 60's at night)? Could it have been the exposure to newly applied fertilizers (i.e. compost and steer manure)? I just don't know and may never know...and that's okay.

So, if that was my trial, and my error, then this would be were I try...try again. I have decide (of course) to re-seed the entire garden, minus the three living survivors (one kentucky green bean, one summer squash, and one swiss chard). I also have decided that the beds need to be re-vamped. The first time, the ground was roughly leveled flat, and then small paths were created around the planting beds. This time, I have decided to build up small berms around each of the planting bed to help keep the water were I wanted it, and to keep them from drying out by the wind (which might have been a problem before). While re-vamping the beds, I did a little light weeding (very thankful that the Garden of Eden in my day dream wasn't in reality lush with milkweed).

Again, a lot of work has been put into our garden, but I have rather enjoyed the mindless simplicity of working with the soil, and turing into the personification of Peanuts Pig-pin. In summary I have planted 24 different types of vegetables in our garden this year. Our list of veggies include: corn, green beans, peas, black beans, soy beans, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, poblano peppers, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots, green onions, white onions, swiss chard, beets, spinach, arugula, butternut squash, summer squash, and zucchini. Woo, that's a mouth full. I still plan on planting some herbs this year, but that's another day.