Half As Many Tomatoes
I knew as we drove down to the garden that it wouldn't look the best. We had been nearly three weeks without any measurable amount of rain with the last one arriving before we even planting a single seed. Thus crops like the peas are stunted and every single tomato plant we set out the previous weekend had died of dehydration. So we set out the bulk of what we have remaining and hand carried buckets of water the 1/8th mile round trip to the nearest hydrant hoping that little amount will get them through the next rain. Suddenly, I was quite happy my MIL went so overboard in her starting tomato plants in our greenhouse.
The fallow side of the garden had been seeded down in later winter with clover but it was old seed and didn't germinate at all. So I tilled it up in a cloud of dust, to kill the weed cycle and try again with some pasture seed I found at a local farm and home type store. But again, unless we get some rain sometime soon, it will be futile.
It isn't all for not though as we've had a bumper asparagus crop with year. Besides what we have gorged ourselves on in the last several weeks, I've put up 25+ pints of spicy pickled asparagus and with what you see above, I turned that into 7 pints of dill pickled (not spicy) asparagus for my wife who thinks my spicy ones are a bit too hot for her even though I went with the medium spiced version of pickling spices. Already, one of my spicy pickled asparagus jars left our house as a gift so I'm glad I was able to pickle a lot this year.
This one was a first for me. We have never had an issue with moles at our garden though this year for the first time, I noticed some activity in the part we hadn't planted earlier this spring. They haven't bothered anything that we care about so I left it alone. However when we arrived on this morning, it was dead and laying on top of the ground. I'm not sure what happened to cause it's death. Perhaps it was too dry for even him to survive.
As you can see, our streak for morel mushrooms continues though it was a team effort, i.e. my wife found these two dried up sorry specimens. Cold only delays the mushrooms arrival but a dry spring like what we've had, kills the crop for that year. We went out after our garden visit and it will be the last time this year. I'm rehydrating those two in a bowl of water and will cook them this evening so the three of us morel mushroom eaters can get a taste. In times like these, I'm glad my kids aren't interested in trying them.
And here, we have had what seems like never ending rain. It looks like we're getting a break this week, though.
ReplyDeleteFeast or famine is seems when it comes to the weather. Just a year or two ago I was blogging about how we couldn't garden because it was just a mud pit.
DeleteWow, it looks dry. I will put out my tomatoes on Saturday as we can get frost as late as May 10. But we've had a fairly wet spring.
ReplyDeleteThe evening of our garden visit, a storm cell went over top of the farm garden according to radar and two nights later, we received a more general rain though not very intense. So I'm hopeful that moisture has been added though I'm not optimistic it was much. I'm guessing less than 1/2" which can easily be evaporated within a few days. There are chances of rain on the ten day forecast but not very high. Hopefully this pattern changes to some more rain out here.
DeleteWe've had a very wet spring. I put out tomatoes and herbs right after Easter and, so far, everything is doing well. I hope that can make up for no pears or peaches this year. I'm not sure if the mayhaws made it or not since I haven't been able to walk to the pond lately.
ReplyDeleteJust from the comments I have received, it seems as if most have had adequate rainfall and indeed, most even in my state have had the same. But fate has just caused the storms to go by to the north or the south thus far.
DeleteWe had a week of much rain recently after a dry spell in which fires were prohibited. Weather is nice now. I think there is some rain in the forecast; hopefully, it will be sufficient but moderate.
ReplyDeleteSufficient but moderate is the dream of every gardener/farmer!
DeleteNone of us can get the nice mix of rain and sun that would help our plants! We've got a long stretch of dry sunny weather (and a little hot for us) I don't see any potential rain in the forecast until the 22nd.
ReplyDeleteWe have some chances of light rain here tonight and maybe Saturday night. But there is no long soaking rain in sight which is what we really need at this point.
DeleteThat dead mole looks so cute! But I am glad I don't have them around here. Congrats on the 2 mushrooms!
ReplyDeleteI always think they look bizarre for land creatures with their webbed appendages.
DeleteI can see why you want to move your garden closer to home! Weather is the most challenging part of gardening. We often have the same situation you mention to Kelly; the general area gets plenty of rain, but it often goes north of us, or south, or splits to leave a dry area in the middle, which is often us!
ReplyDeleteDisappointing about the lousy morel season. At least you get a taste!
Close to home, we could at least keep it watered in dryer times. Last year we didn't water it a drop and it was abundant. Just a different year.
DeleteI'm sorry you're not getting enough rain, Ed. I'm so admiring your canning ability. Your family is so lucky. I love asparagus and really envious you got to have all you wanted. And morels? Wow!
ReplyDeleteMy mom always did all the canning though my brother and I often helped prep the food for canning. Then for a decade or two off on my own, I never did any but I certainly missed the taste of home canned foods. After I got married and our kids were a bit older, we got into garden and I resurrected the canner and find that I kind of enjoy the process.
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