My first garden was on our new property this year. I was discouraged at the time that I had to let it die off, and thought it was an experiment gone sadly wrong. I vowed never to garden again! But since then (time and thought), I have realized that every garden is an experiment! Some things will go well every year, and some will not--the point is to learn and adjust! I'm reading the book "No Time on My Hands" again (second time, first time was maybe 6 or 7 years ago?), and Grace Snyder had many gardens just ruined by the Nebraska/Wyoming hailstorms or by her husband's horses, or etc., and that was their grocery store!! So of course it never occurred to her to "give up"! Ha!
My pumpkins and tomatoes did very well. I just planted too many tomatoes, and my garden was in a place with no shade. While this may sound fantastic to Nor-Cal folks :) , in the desert, this was a mistake. It took a lot of watering to keep them from wilting. My tomatoes next to my son's cabin did much better, thanks in part to the shade. My potatoes were a total bust. This time, I am trying potato towers. :) My poor, poor peppers never did take off. We had one plant produce two beautiful peppers--only to come home on day and find the rabbits had helped themselves. Heartbreaking, I tell you!!! However, I have since learned that I planted my peppers too close to my tomatoes--peppers are apparently selfish plants, and like their space. So they will be my container-gardening experiment this spring. I am going to try cucumbers, and also melons and watermelons...I think vine fruits do well in our desert, surprisingly!! I am composting through the winter (and I have no idea what I'm doing...)--I'll post some pictures of my little compost bin later. I am thinking of how to fence off my area, whether or not to do raised beds, how to level the ground, how much ground I want...I didn't realize how much work it would take to maintain our garden, especially in our summer heat in the full sun. One reason I am making adjustments. It needs to be something I can manage in the early morning through the summer. The place I'm considering now has a watering system built in it. Oooh, I also just read that you can make your beds out of bricks?? That would satisfy my aversion to power tools and asking my Handsome Husband for help. (Call it pride. Go ahead. I dare you.)
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Garden Dreaming. :)
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