Western WA garden failure year vent

[silkiechicken]

Boy is the weather bad for the garden this year. The April hot spell and then April snow set back all the cold season stuff to where I am finally getting snow peas. Yeah, snow peas just now starting in LATE July! But the weather seems right for them. Yesterday's high was 62F.


What corn made it from the early June planting is far from tasseling, and the corn planted on july 4th during a fit of desperation are only 6 inches high. That's fine in some areas... but this is where 64 day corn takes darn near 100 days! I'm crossing my fingers that there is enough days for me to get anything from them.

With summer average highs in the mid to low 70's... I can grow cool season stuff nearly year round, but those few days that it hits 80 causes them all to bolt! The temps fluctuate so much that I'm jealous of everyone who get's to say they are digging up their zucchini's and peas to open space for planting #2! I have two zucchini's that are just starting to show flower buds, with the rest all having about 8 leaves. Had to replant because the cold spell caused all the others to rot!

Tomatoes just started to flower, and I am questioning if anything will ripen this year, because all other years are very close to being able to get any fruit at all.

To top it off, I was out of town and missed the first HALF of my strawberry season. I had to throw out a good 5 lbs when I got back because they had rotted, and then had to cull bunches of others because the unripe ones had molded due to cold weather and rain. Only got 5 lbs total from my path.

Then for some reason between the hot and cold spells all over this cold summer... my potatoes all got to 2.5 feet high, fell over, ONE out of about 20 flowered, and all are dying! Now I don't think I'll be getting any potatoes this year either!

At least I'm greatful that I tested a type of bok choi. That's the only veggie we have been able to eat much of. Just finished off the lot and was able to get about 20 lbs total.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Experiencing similar problems as you are, silkiechicken.

Yesterday I had to pull all my potatoes, because mine were being mined by voles. I have no idea what to do with them all, since I can't store them now. I don't even really like potatoes.

I'm glad you had one success. That helps avert the sense of failure a little bit anyway.

I think you could really use a greenhouse and/or plastic tunnel set-up. Consider it a crop insurance measure.

 

[silkiechicken]

I wish I could do a bunch of cold frames and such... but I don't have the funding for such things. Last year I picked 400+ lbs of stuff that was able to last the family 4 months of veggies solid, with some of the more proliferative stuff being eaten up till last month. This year, not even the green beans did well! And how do green beans not do well! You win some you lose some. Now if I had a 1000 sq feet green house... that'd be nice.

Good luck with your potatoes. Gotta go play the more gruesome game of wack-a -mole and rid of your problem there.

 

[Nubsmum]

I feel your pain silkiechicken. I have probably posted this info before but I put in the biggest garden I have ever done. Mainly due to the high cost of produce and we are trying to eat healthier. I started in April. got in the peas and early stuff. It just sat there. In May I got ambitious and got my cucumber starts and toms and peppers. The cukes died and the toms and peppers just sat there like everything else. Even the spinach did terrible. What little did germinate was so small. (can you feel my frustration? )

Our temps in Oregon have been similar to yours. I finally got some lettuce going so we were able to enjoy that and then -bolt bolt bolt. We are getting an abundance of snow peas now. Too funny as it is the end of July. Our zukes are just now starting to produce. I have been able to get a couple of crookneck squash. I did not plant a lot of zucchini because usually a couple of plants is all we need. Now I am hovering over the plants trying to send them good vibes.

And don't even start me on the toms and peppers. I can usually get some decent toms and I only have some small nubbins starting. I will be lucky to get any green ones of some size so at least I can ripen them indoors.

So, in conclusion-I am have higher hopes for a winter garden. I have never grown one but am hopeing to get good results with cloches. At least we may get some root crops and some greens.

(insert dramatic music here-and southern accent) After all....tomorrow is another day. And there is always another seed.

:dance

 

[Nubsmum]

Silkiechicken-cloches are easy to make and fairly inexpensive. You can use two foot sections of rebar and bury one foot. Have another piece on the other side of the row and bend over a peice of 1/2-3/4 inch Cheapo pvc. I do a hoop about every 4 feet. Then I cover with rolled clear plastic. I used cheapo hand clips to bunch up the ends and hold the plastic on the hoops. I have not used this for winter before, but I plan to plant some kale, winter lettuce, chard carrots, brussel sprouts, leeks, beets, radish and turnips. Now I just need to order my seeds.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yeah, I second what Nubsmum says. You can find a way to do plastic tunnels fairly cheaply. Any climate mitigation you can do will improve your results . . . on good years too!

I'm afraid I will have to take the blame for my vole problem. I planted my potatoes way out on the edge of our overgrown field. (I had high ambitions that petered out as the growing season failed to collude). I later learned that that is just asking for vole problems. Oh well, I guess you learn something new all the time.

In my garden it has been a banner year for volunteer kale.

 

[silkiechicken]

It's too late for this year. I am starting a PhD program out of state so this was my last ditch effort before going off to self induced slave labor for 5-6 years, while living out of a concrete box. Rental properties won't let you dig up yards so I turned around and rented a 2006 condo instead. I've got nearly 2k sq feet planted this year, with 1/4 of it being that whimpy 6 inch tall corn. I am really hoping for a few hot weeks to get them gong so my parents can harvest them all up. I should video my mom picking beans. She's scared of bugs so takes a broom and brushes the plants before she starts. I'm actually leaving it all behind in 30 days so am trying to get them as far along as possible before it's taken over by the rest of the family who can barely water and don't know how to pick peas... they thought the shell peas were snow peas and tried to eat them as such.

Since it's been so cold and still is... I have just sprouted another flat of bok choi and plan on planting it between rows! Being a cold crop, they seem to do pretty well out here in the middle of summer! Last bunch took 5 weeks to mature.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Wishing you good luck, silkiechicken, in your academic pursuits! You are a braver sort than I. Grad school is not for the sensitive types (me).

Who knows . . . you may meet someone who has a little patch of dirt they are willing to set you loose on. You may need a little soil therapy before you get out with that PhD.

Best wishes.

 

[silkiechicken]

Thanks! Guess we'll see if I make it. I found community gardens... but went poking around and the soil isn't anything I am used to down there... But perhaps having literally a ton or two of chicken manure built up over the past decade changes the soil. LOL

I see the sun is out today so perhaps the corn can get a few more heat hours they need to grow.

 

[patandchickens]

I have read of people taking discarded windows or storm windows, and wiring them together at the corners (stabilized by stakes) as open-topped boxes around their tomatoes or eggplants or peppers. In borderline climates. The idea being that all that 3'-high glass around the plant gives it a hotter microclimate to hasten ripening, and also provides you with a convenient frame over which to chuck a bedsheet on the odd extra-cold night.

Haven't tried it, but if you happen to see some old windows of whatever sort lying by teh side of the road as you drive along itmight be worth stopping for them

Pat