Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Not here.
Yet.
Today, I planted my second crop of lettuce. Funny thing is, I don't remember harvesting the first. Between the slightly disappointing summer weather, the attack of the killer slugs, and my mediocre watering skills, the garden has gotten off to a pretty rocky start.
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| Something's been eating well. |
I'm happy to say, we're finally winning the war against the slugs. And let me tell you, it has been a war of epic proportions. Besides the pepper plants, the slugs have decimated the lettuce, spinach (I even questioned whether we had remembered to plant the spinach!), the Swiss chard, and the cucumbers. They had just discovered the squash plants when we declared war.
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| New growth, thanks to some strategically placed copper tape! |
As far as the slugs are concerned, I think we can finally claim victory.
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| See the little peppers? |
Now if we could only get the sunshine to cooperate.
Some of our crops are doing well with the cooler weather though.
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| The beans love this weather. The corn? Not so much. |
We'll add some fish fertilizer this week and hope that encourages the corn to reach for the sky. Right now they're not even reaching my knees. And that's not too much of a stretch.
We made our first trip out to "The Island" and picked marion and raspberries for the freezer a few days ago. I didn't think we were going to get any from our own vines.
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| Madison thinks the "wazzbewwies" are liking the cooler temps too. |
Now that the granddaughters have discovered the berry patch, I guess we'll be visiting "The Island" again...soon.
And finally, it seems our strawberry plants have decided to participate in this year's harvest. For 3 days I watched and waited for the first red juicy berry to ripen.
Apparently, someone else was too.
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| All that remains of our first berry. |
Good thing I was smart enough to provide a decoy...
this is the one I really wanted.☺
**You still have time to enter to win "Ball's Blue Book of Food Preserving!" The giveaway ends Monday night and a winner will be drawn and announced on Tuesday.
Will it be you?
At opposite ends of the continent, we have similar problems. My garden doesn't like the heat and lack of rain. Deer and rabbits, as well as aphids and slugs have been eating well. I have kept things green but it is not setting fruit. Maybe a fall garden?
ReplyDeleteKim, We've been battling the slugs with a vengeance this season, too; they've really enjoyed our lettuce and have, thankfully, left everything else pretty much alone. The 10-day forecast looks sunny and warmer than we've had of late; I'm sure your corn will love it!
ReplyDeleteDespite the weather and late start, our garden is looking good. I'm praying for a bountiful harvest for both of us!
Blessings,
Lisa
Looks like chipmunks have found your strawberries as well as mine! It drives me crazy. This has been a challenging year for gardens, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we don't have to worry about slugs and snails here in the desert! It looks like that copper tape is working well.
ReplyDeleteSomething keeps eating my strawberries too. I finally resorted to covering them with row covers, the bird netting wasn't getting the job done.
Crazynursea~I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with the heat! A Fall garden sounds like a good plan to me!
ReplyDeleteLisa~I'm looking forward to some warmer weather...strictly for the corn of course...;) Maybe we'll have an Indian summer?
Susan~My "chipmunk" has 2 legs and blond hair...he also had a piece of strawberry stuck between his 2 front teeth! The nerve...
Candy~I'm going to invest in some row covers. I think my lettuce will thank me for it. Who knew making a salad would prove so difficult?