W and L' s

There's no denying gardening is work. I like to think of it as my daily work-out not requiring treadmills and such. This past week I took down field peas which is major. Bending, pulling, lifting, carrying, raking-all motor planning tasks that took a few hours. Scott joined in and dug in compost. Then I finished off with new seed beds of lettuce, beets, and carrots. Succession planting works here in the South. I have become more skilled at planning for ongoing lettuce and such with time and experience. It just happened but the key to success is to plant before you think you should. This is a win.

Now that Summer crops are out (mostly), a review of wins and losses. I have theories on why the beans failed, lima and green. Limas failed because the person in charge of watering does not get that lots of water, more than you think is required for a big plant producing a big crop. They flowered but never produced. Green beans suffered from poor advisement. After Hurricane Matthew all the rules about fertilizer were wrong. Fifteen inches of rain with epic rains leading up to the storm washed away the rules and all the nutrients out of the soil. I am guessing microorganisms were absent also. Round two of all peas and beans were paired with good amounts of fertilizer and pea/bean inoculant. It worked. This fall I will get a new soil test even though it's only been a little over a year.

Okra is standing tall with pods maturing for seed harvesting, one lone tomato has fruit and sweet potatoes are fattening in the ground. The rest of the garden is devoted to Fall and Winter crops. Carry on, Y'all!