I suspect every garden year can be considered unusual and unexpected. This year, well I can’t remember another quite like it and I’ve been growing a garden for well over 50 years.
In our neck of woods in central Wisconsin, April and May were wet. On April 22 we planted potatoes, peas, lettuce, radishes, onions, carrots, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and sweet corn.
On Memorial Day weekend we set out tomato plants, planted zucchini, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and more sweet corn.
Then we had a couple weeks of dry weather, no rain, and the garden struggled, and some of the vine crops did not come up.
The week of June 12 nature turned on the faucet and we had 8 ½ inches of rain, washing out some of the sweet corn, and leaving standing water on one end of the garden.
On June 16, we replanted sweet corn, squash, cucumbers and zucchini. And then it rained 4 ½ more inches before June 23.
Our sandy soil can take lots of rain, but 13 inches in less than two weeks??
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being outstanding, here is the report of the Roshara garden as of June 25, 2017: So far the only out and out failure has been the radishes. Apparently not their kind of weather.
--Potatoes-10
--Onions-10
--Lettuce-10
--Cabbage-10
--Brussels sprouts-10
--Broccoli- 9
--Carrots-8
--Tomatoes-8
--Snap beans-7
--Cucumbers-5
--Zucchini-5
--Peas-5
--Squash-5
--Pumpkins-5
--Sweet corn-3
--Radishes-0
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s the mystery of gardening that keeps me in the garden.
SPECIAL NOTICE: My newest book, “Old Farm Country Cook book” (with my daughter, Sue) is just off the presses. It should be in the bookstores in a week or two. See notes below for upcoming launches of the book.
WRITER’S WORKSHOP: A few slots remain for my one-day writing workshop on writing your own story: Friday, August 18, 9-4:00 p.m. The Clearing, Door County.
Call 920-854-4088.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday July 7, 7:30, Village Booksmith, Baraboo, WI
Wednesday, July 12, 7:00 p.m. Middleton Public Library. Launch of Sue’s and my new book: OLD FARM COUNTRY COOKBOOK.
Wednesday, July 26, (time to be announced) Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Central Wisconsin launch of OLD FARM COUNTRY COOKBOOK.
Saturday, July 29, 1:00 p.m. Symco Thresheree , Symco, WI
Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835
No comments:
Post a Comment