First, let me say that I’m delighted that my house did not burn down and was not burgled during our long absence. I’m also happy to report that the cats emerged from our long absence in good shape . Sadly, my garden did not. Out of about 7 dozen pepper plants, I lost all but about a dozen. My eggplants that survived are being eaten by flea beetles. All of my summer herbs died. Only the tomatoes did well. Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful to the house/cat/garden sitter, but I am facing a year of eating past years’ bounty from the freezer and jars instead of fresh as we anticipated.
The tomatoes did so well for two or three reasons. First, they were planted extra deep, making them more likely to survive the drought that started when we left town. Second, I mulched them well, using straw and leaves over cardboard and newspaper. Third, I made it easy for the garden sitter to take care of them; she just had to hook up a soaker hose. Everything else required standing and watering.
Oh, well. At least I’ll get that freezer and pantry cleaned out!
Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.
Ouch! You have my condolences. That’s a big price to pay.
You got lucky! We were on the dirty side of the hurricane that went into Mexico…and I am 30 miles South of Houston.
Then we got hit by some type of tropical storm….a one two punch. 10-12 inches of rain on flat land! The ants crawled up onto the tomato plants and deposited their eggs on top of the tomatoes. I have never seen anything like this before.
My pepper plants survived, and are thriving…who knew!!!
Glad you are back safe and sound and ready to tackle new projects!!!
Hurricane? Mexico? I’m guessing this happened while we were gone. I’m sorry to hear about your tomatoes and happy about your peppers. If we lived closer, we could exchange.
so sorry to hear this. I know we couldn’t ever afford to make a long trip like yours because I don’t know of a sitter who would take on all the chores, in their right mind that is. 2-3 days is about all we can allow off-farm. I never thought of that as we were gathering animals, plants, and all the responsibilities that come with them.
So glad your tomatoes made it, though! And you are right, we all need a good reason to clean out our pantries, otherwise stuff hets pushed to the back and before you know it it’s not as good…
We thought of the responsibility and therefore waited on chickens until we knew we could be around for them. The cats genuinely are healthy and happy (although a big clingy for summer), so I’m pleased overall. And I really am looking forward to cleaning things out as well as exploring our nearest farmers’ market, about 25 miles from here.
What a disappointment. I’m so sorry to hear about your loss of plants. I’m happy to hear that the tomatoes survived, though!
Hey, it’s just one season out of many I’ll be growing!
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