As we wind down the first month of summer in our Year of the Garden, it is amazing how far our garden has come, and what it has overcome. We have harvested the spring radishes and greens, and are starting to enjoy some peas.
Our garden had a rough start. With the warm spring, we transplanted our tomatoes, peppers, and other tender annuals on May 16. We also sowed seeds, including warm season vegetables such as cucumbers and squash. The plants quickly got settled in and flourished. Spring was warm and we had some rain. Things went well for the next 2 weeks, until May 29. I let the dog out at 5:30 AM, glanced at the thermometer, and came to a stop. The thermometer read 32F - frost. Disaster! We lost everything except two tomato plants and some heirloom beans that died back to the ground and re-sprouted. Our tomatoes, peppers, basil - plants we had nursed from seed from as early as March - dead. I had noticed it was cold the night before, but it never occurred to me to check the weather for a frost warning.
The next weekend, we went to Oak Shade Nursery and bought more plants. Chatting with the owner, we learned we were not alone, and even folks who were able to cover their plants still had losses. We re-planted and re-sowed, starting over. We vowed to plant later next year - a lesson learned.
A week later, the garden faced its next challenge. A week after seeing a low temperature of 32F, our thermometer read 100F. I always find it amazing that plants and animals can survive such an extreme swing in temperature over the course of a year. The next 2 weeks of heat also included an absence of rain, an absence that continued into the third week of June. We watered a little, but decided we did not want to overdraw from our well. We focused on watering the new fruit trees in an effort to save that investment.
Eventually the temperature dropped to seasonal levels, and we got some much-needed rain. The driftless was in a moderate drought, and still has a rainfall deficit. But after this past week, the rain gauge Saturday morning showed 3 inches of rain had fallen, with 2 of those inches falling within a 24-hour period. The garden now looks lush - peppers and tomatoes are starting to form, and the beans and cucumbers are starting to climb their trellises. In a couple of weeks we will harvest our garlic and re-plant with bush beans. We will see what July brings for the garden. I have already picked and crushed a few Japanese beetles, which may be the next challenge. At least we have water in our rain barrel again.
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