greenhouse « Robin Writes

So my husband got his pond cutter thingy and started cutting all the water lilies and dragging them to shore. And he spent a fair amount of time cutting up the giant tree and hauling logs to the pile behind the house that we’ll use this winter in our wood furnace.

And then he hurt his back.

Oh, not too seriously, but he was out for the count last Friday and Saturday, and I suspect he overdid it a bit early this week when he went back to the pond for a while before the temps zoomed into the 90s.

But he’s fine. Just ask him.

The garden is winding down; I’m still getting a few tomatoes and the pepper plants are alive, but I don’t think those melons are ever going to do anything besides show us some pretty yellow flowers. My stepmom suggested we carve them for Halloween. Ha. Probably take that long.

Of course, the asparagus and strawberries are permanent beds, and the garlic still has a few months to go. The second round of garlic will go into the ground in late fall.

But the rest is kaput. Let the cleanup commence!

So I’m planning for next year already . . .

We’ve ordered a small, inexpensive greenhouse to see how well it works this winter. We’ll decide next spring if it’s worth it and whether or not to expand that. The fence, however, will be expanded to include the greenhouse and about half again as much space as we have now.

We’re still debating on whether or not to call the plow guy or just rent one for a day. Probably no point in buying still more tractor implements.

More building projects are on paper: the picnic area, dock, and kitchen shelter (still!). And of course, the rest of the fencing, pasture and perimeter. We still won’t know about purchasing the extra ten acres until sometime next month.

Right now, though, I’m sweating buckets just from giving some minor assistance with the rest of the patio furniture. That ol’ Weather Channel was showing temps in the 70s coming up, until it changed its mind and gave us more 90s.

Bad Weather Channel, bad!

Some of you have heard how damn excited I am to have grown potatoes—two 20-foot rows. Next year, that will double, at least. You may have also heard about the tomato fiasco: disappearing plants that reappeared a couple months later, and the addition, in the meantime, of a dozen seedlings.

Kinda makes “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” perhaps a new reality . . .

My corn experiment, which was transplanting the thinned stalks in the next row, was a success!

Anyway, I did have some failures:

There is one section of the garden that killed off my pepper plants, Bell and jalapeno, and also killed off the Romaine and Butter Crunch lettuces. Weird, right? I’ll try that section again in the fall, with kale and spinach, now that it’s rested for a couple months.

By the way, weeds grow there just fine. Of course.

And about that corn. It’s short. Very short. I do have some ears growing, and I’m guessing I might get a dozen. Maybe. That’s certainly not enough for two 20-foot rows.

And the cabbage. Good grief. Besides bugs, which can be eliminated, the darn plants never quite grew any heads. Just a lot of spreading leaves.

But!

Since the deer didn’t get inside that seven-and-a-half-foot fence, I had a lot of green beans, as well as kidney and pinto. And the asparagus is doing well—we’ll be eating that next year. I’m getting cukes, and three cute little acorn squashes. Yellow squash and zucchini, well, those are self-explanatory.

The strawberries transplanted from STL are actually producing, and spreading, but I still only got a few blueberries. The domesticating of the blackberries continues, and the orchard trees look good. Grapevines, too!

So now we’re at the point where, besides sweating gallons, we’re planning next year.

Besides expanding the garden, which means the removal of a huge dead tree and a few other live, smaller ones, not to mention a stump or three and a LOT of rocks, we’re going to add a greenhouse.

I’m determined to grow lettuce, one way or another.

We’ll see how it goes, but check back in the late fall to see what’s happening. It could be quite entertaining!