2011 Garden Season was a Bust

Hard to believe it's raining AGAIN......ya in the northeast USA are getting rain from the Gulf Tropical Storm after our hurricane a week ago. It rained heavy all night, stopped now and feels like winter outside it's so damp and cold. Ground can't take any more rain it's like walking on a sponge and you sink in leaving prints even in the stone driveway. They say we'll get this through Wednesday & Thursday.

Yesterday picked the few carrots which were half rotted or eaten by something, got only two meals but the horses did get a good treat. Today I'll do the last of the beets, hope they keep as there is not enough to do much with so will just refrigerate and eat them soon. Tomatoes are done growing with this cold snap, they will now come in. Yesterday froze some which will be good for stews or sauce, used some in the slow cooker dinner with Italian chicken. There will be green ones to fry up and some to freeze, for stewed tomatoes, put one or two small green ones in each bag to ad flavor. Will slice them and dehydrate with a zucchini and green pepper which are tough, in stir-fry they should be ok. Only thing left are string beans and each day pick and dehydrate cause they aren't very good tasting but will be fine for stews. This soil needs lots more compost and lime. Squash are few, lucky if there is enough for meal every other week through the winter, will purchase some from a local farm to store, but they can be bought all season. The few squash left must be closely watched they don't rot before they ripen. Potatoes are a question of course, they also got way to much water so may be rotted. Gardening sounds a like it was not much fun for most of us this year...so I'll have to reset my mind here and try indoor greenhouse again to supply something over the winter.. the mind isn't there in the moment but that is the only way to deal with it that I can see. There is a 10x10x8foot plastic garden green house on sale at Tractor Supply for $99, for that price I may get it to do some in ground stuff using compost as a heat source in the far end. Of course not this year but will set it up for that in the spring, winter weather would destroy the plastic cover but can't pass it up for that price and it may allow more control of some crops in extra early and late fall, it could be heated if set over the compost pile, so even run duct work from the middle of the compost into the greenhouse. Something to give thought to for next season.

This is a lesson cause I'm use to planting only what we will use as gardening is becoming work not fun these days. So in future will plant more than we need and maybe get enough to go through the year if these odd changing climate conditions continue. Of course we never know till after the fact do we, you just doesn't know how to deal with such unseasonable changes. Of course this is coming at a bad time with Jupiter (planet of abundance) in retrograde. Why should I expect abundant crops, it's not like a wait would help as it will be Rx till Christmas when it's in the 30's with snow and ice on the ground. So it's on this note I'll end the 2011 garden season and say the one high note is the Gogi Berry bushes have flowered and there are small white berries on them.