Flowers and Broccoli and Bugs Oh My!

Quite a bit has happened since I last shared my garden journal with you. The title only mentions a portion of it. Let’s just say I think our growing season is about over.

I have learned a lot in this first year of gardening; what to do’s and not to do. I understand why gardeners prefer certain things over another. I’ll get more into that later as I share some happenings with you.

I’ll also share what plans we have for future gardening that we think will work better for us. Let’s dig into what has transpired in our little garden.

Rocĸ Edɢιɴɢ

𝒥𝓊𝓃𝑒 10𝓉𝒽

The little white gate that was around our garden kept collapsing every time it rained. We’ve had a lot of rainfall and sometimes it rained for almost a week straight. I became annoyed and decided to go with something different where I wouldn’t have to keep fixing.

Our neighbors gifted us with these beautiful rocks so we decided to put them to use.

We began digging around our garden to create a border for the rocks to be placed in.

We wanted it deep enough to fit at least two layers of rocks in. My husband shaped out a pretty design with curved edges.

Here is the final look…

My parents thought it looked beautiful but they warned me that without the gate more animals would come. They said the rocks don’t provide a barrier of protection and we are now providing an all you can eat buffet for the wild. 😏

I knew that probably was going to happen and we should have gotten some other type of fencing but that is not in our budget right now.

Cαввαɢe

𝒥𝓊𝓃𝑒 29𝓉𝒽

I was so excited to see how well our cabbage was doing. I loved seeing the shape it was forming in the center and the leaves looked so fresh and healthy.

That was until this started happening just a week later…

Yea my parents were right. We opened an all you can eat buffet to the rabbits. My kids keep scaring them off but I’m sure they feast throughout the night while we’re sleeping or at the break of dawn.

Thankfully we were able to harvest enough to cook a nice big pot of chicken and cabbage soup. We had a few that weren’t feeling well so it was right on time.

We have cut the rest of the cabbage plants down to the healthy leaves which didn’t leave much. We’ll see how well they keep growing.

Broccolι

𝒥𝓊𝓁𝓎 4𝓉𝒽

Yay! We have broccoli sprouts! Once again I was excited to see it coming in. With this being my first time doing all this I have no idea how long it takes for them to reach full maturity.

We are really looking forward to enjoying these because my kids eat them raw and use them quite often in our meals.

Well, we were looking forward. Not sure they will live to meet our bellies. 😞

It’s soooo frustrating! You do all this work and try different things just to have it all taken from you within a night or two.

This happened within just four days of the healthy photo above.

If you think that’s bad look at the one next to it…

Another mistake I made was giving the plants a break from the neem oil concoction because clearly the rabbits aren’t the only ones enjoying themselves. I believe it was helping to keep pests off of the leaves but I thought it was a good idea to give them a break from the spray (since it is so potent).

Now I wish I would have kept going with my once a week spraying schedule. 🤦🏽‍♀️

At this point I was about to throw in the towel for the season but I remembered we still had something growing strong…

Toмαтo Flowerιɴɢ

𝒥𝓊𝓃𝑒 29𝓉𝒽

Yes, our three tomato plants are growing really well. The flowering began late June so I had to grab some photos of this pretty yellow sight.

My only hope is that since the tomato
vines grow so tall they will be high enough to bypass being on the buffet.

Does anyone have experience with this? Are your tomato plants victims of the hungry wild?

We haven’t had any tomatoes peek out yet but I’m waiting and watching.

Here is a full view of how much the tomato plants have grown. It’s fascinating looking back on how small they started.

I hope to report back to you that we were able to at least enjoy a few.

Sтαrɢαzer Lιlιeѕ

𝒥𝓊𝓁𝓎 8𝓉𝒽

Our beautiful lilies have began to bloom. Tbh seeing these really cheered me up from dealing with all the damage in our garden. My kiddos love smelling them.

They most certainly attract plenty of bees but I am still working on my phobia. For the most part I have been able to ignore them and walk around as they enjoy the flowers.

We have a few more that should be blooming soon and we’re looking forward to them showing their beauty too.

I have to be honest and tell you I had a little breakdown last week. As I was out clipping away all of the eaten through leaves I just wept. I felt like a failure who disappointed my family since we probably won’t get to enjoy much more of our harvest.

Notice I didn’t mention the lettuce? Well that’s because there is no more. The lettuce was so demolished and torn through that I had to dig them up and get rid of them altogether. Thankfully we were able to get three rounds of salad in at least.

I am not really motivated right now. Normally I am the one to point out hope for others and keep a positive attitude but this just took so much out of me; mentally, physically and emotionally.

My husband and I discussed building raised beds possibly for next year. This way our food will be off the ground and we can organize to where each type of plant is grown in its own bed. Right now I’m just trying to get through the season and reap a little more of what was sown.

I am open to any advice you are willing to give because this lady is tired and feeling defeated. 😔

I appreciate you always tuning in to see what’s going on in our little garden.

All photos are my own and were taken with our Cannon EOS Rebel T6.

A wearied soul,
@crosheille 🌾