Garden

While I wait for the drive nut for my Roto Zip to get here I figured I might as well clean out the summer garden. As you can see in the picture it's quite a mess.

It was really strange this year. You may have noticed the only plants I really mentioned or showed pictures of were the peppers and grapes (against the fence) and of course the wonderful tomatoes. That's because those were the only things that were growing.

We tried some of our usual no-fail veggies, like carrots, beans, and beets. I can't tell you how many packets of carrot seeds we went through. Most of them never germinated. And I'm talking about different brands and varieties. Kern County is a huge carrot growing county. You may recognize Grimmway Farms (producers of Bunny Luv carrots) or Bolthouse Farms (producers of the 100% juices and misc carrot products). They are Kern County based.

The beets and beans grew but never prospered. We did manage to grow a few squash, but thinking back, they were planted along the fence also. We planted some watermelon, which also failed.

I thought maybe the soil was getting "used up" and I was going to have to go to the store next season and buy commercially made soil enhancers and mulchers. I didn't know why our usually reliable poop pile didn't seem to be doing the job it should have.

I think I discovered the reason after talking to my husband the other day. I told him I'd noticed the weeds and grass were getting out of hand in the poop pile lately and I'd have to go pull the plants and turn it. He mentioned he'd just "spray RoundUp (a powerful herbicide) like last time".

I asked him if he thought that would be a good idea. And then I asked if he thought that might be why the garden didn't produce as usual.

Oh.

Well, you gotta give him credit for trying.