Rolling down my garden

  We all strive to grow big and beautiful pieces of vegetables. We want perfect lettuce heads, big cabbages, long carrots, and lots of beans and peas per plant. But, what if we notice that no matter what we do we can't achieve this? What if every year the results are getting worse, and each year we struggle more to grow vegetables? Do we continue to grow the same vegetables blaming it on us, or do we try to see what has changed over time.? My garden has been in the same spot for over 35 years, and in these 35 years, a lot has changed. We had rainy years, years with lots of snow, and hot and drought years. In each of the years, there were always some excellent vegetables and others that didn't grow well. During the rainy period years, we grew huge amounts of beans on netting, as soon as the summers became unbearably hot, we switched from beans to tomatoes. Once the springs became very cold, we switched to varieties with shorter growth periods. We just try to see what has changed...

  When we decided to make new beds in the yard, we had no idea the problems we'd have with the new onion/lettuce bed. The bed itself is great, on a great spot and the veggies grow nicely, but the storms are a big problem. The bed is directly under the balcony and when the rain is pouring all the water ends up in the new bed.  This is why my hubby built a temporary awning out of scrap nylon... Read more here As of June 2022, Rolling down my garden will be moving to its own side:  https://rollingdownmygarden.com Full new posts can be read on the new page.

There's something very heartwarming about an unexpected harvest. We all like to see and gather the fruits of our work, but when these fruits come earlier than expected they cause real joy in us. I wasn't planning to do any harvest, but coming to the garden after the rain made me realize that my strawberries and lettuce need to be harvested. So I rushed back to the house to gather the needed bags and containers and went on my first strawberry hunt. The old strawberries are still producing high-quality strawberries. The amount is smaller than in previous years, but the taste is still the same. The Alpine strawberries are also producing well,  although they are a real pain to harvest. Harvesting them takes ages.  On the new bed, most of the strawberries are still too young to produce anything. The only difference is the Korona strawberry, which is already producing fruits just a month after I've transplanted the plants to the garden.  The fruit of Korona strawberry isn't h...

A few weeks ago, I said that once I finish sowing the summer seedlings in the garden, I'll finish my sowing season. Well, as it turns out I was wrong. I decided to buy more bags of seeds and start sowing more vegetables.  The truth is I didn't think I would need so many plants in my new garden. Once I've finished sowing and planting in the main garden, I saw that I still have empty space in the main garden and that in July I'll also have room in the side garden. This is why I sent my hubby to buy me more seeds. Buying seeds after May 15th in Croatia is actually a real pain to do. Most of the stores order seeds in March and sell what they have during the whole gardening season. In May there's actually a very small selection available, and you have to buy what's left. Usually, the varieties that are left are the most popular ones, which are ordered in huge amounts. This is great for a normal garden, but for my forest garden sometimes this just doesn't work. St...

 Sun, sun, and more sun is the review of this week. Temperatures have been through the roof, with morning temperatures around 15°C(59°F), and daily have been around 30°C(86°F). Of course, because of the temperatures, the soil is pretty much all dry, and I've been watering the garden every day. We were supposed to get some rain earlier in the week, but all we got was more wind. Luckily, on Saturday we got a big weather change, and finally some rain. Although the weather reports said we should get lots of rain and even storms, the amount we got was little. I will probably need to water the garden again in a couple of days. The only great thing about this change is that the temperatures dropped to only 12°C(54°F) on Saturday afternoon, and we finally got a much-needed break from the heat. The break will be very short since the forecast is announcing a temperature rise, and another heatwave with maximums over 33°C(91°F) on Friday. I guess this year summer came almost 2 months earlier. ...

 Lots of showers, heat, and wind is the easiest way to describe the week behind us. The temperatures have been way above average, and except for Wednesday and Thursday, daily temperatures have been over 30°C(86°F). This is of course stressful temperature for the plants, but since the soil hasn't had time to heat too much, the plants are still doing very well. The tomatoes, after being completely yellow are now starting to grow and get their normal, green color.  Peppers and cucumbers benefit from the shade I've built them with agro-textile are also growing well, and should start flowering soon if Srećko doesn't kill them before... Read more here As of June 2022, Rolling down my garden will be moving to its own side:  https://rollingdownmygarden.com Full new posts can be read on the new page.

 This year, besides the main garden, we're making a side garden. It has been a lot of work and we still haven't finished, but we're making some progress. The small veggie garden is finished and mostly planted. I've planted 4 out of 5 beds, the last bed hasn't been planted so that my hubby can work on the support wall for the second terrace. He will make a wall once he finishes the new steps. He made half of the steps and if things go well they should be finished by the end of next week. The veggies in the new garden are growing well, some are growing faster and others are slowlier. The right side of the garden gets more sun, and the veggies on this side grow much quicker than the veggies on the least two beds... Read more here As of June 2022, Rolling down my garden will be moving to its own side:  https://rollingdownmygarden.com Full new posts can be read on the new page.

It is now becoming a pattern. A week of good, even hot weather, is interrupted by a storm at the end of the weekend. The same thing happened this week. This time after the summer temperatures and intense heat, the weather change came abruptly. The wind again did a lot of damage. The strong north wind completely tore down my hail defense and damaged some of the plants. Luckily there was no hail, but the rain looked a lot like a monsoon and in just a couple of minutes half of the garden was flooded and the paths turned into small rivers. I can't really do much in the garden right now, it is just too wet... Read more here As of June 2022, Rolling down my garden will be moving to its own side:  https://rollingdownmygarden.com Full new posts can be read on the new page.