Property - Garden
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Property - Garden
We have a rich, manure-laden, well-tilled veggie garden area that is about 20 feet by 40 feet. Last year (1999), the previous owners were very enthusiastic and planted tomatoes (several varieties), lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, cabbage, green beans, corn, pumpkins, acorn squash, zucchini, brochalli, and several other veggies. There were thousands of tomatoes, hundreds of bell peppers, many heads of cabbage for their goats to chomp on, 30 or 40 pumpkins, tons of squash and zuchinni, several pickings of brochalli and we're not sure about the green beans as they were gone when we moved in. The ground squirrels ate the lettuce and carrots as they were growing and the corn did not work at all. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the huge 8 foot tall sunflowers! Unfortunately, we did not have our digital camera yet, so the only thing we got a photo of was the remains of the pumpkins after the first hard freeze (frown). The garden really was quite a site to behold, and quite a task to maintain. This year, we decided to give the ground (and us) a rest from daily gardening tasks. We'll see about next year when it gets here (smile). |
(10-23-99)
The pumpkins are all that remain after we harvested the entire garden just before the first hard-freeze. |
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Actually, the harvest, in and of itself, was quite a story. With a small backyard veggie garden in the city, it is quite easy to simply cover the plants with a sheet or some such when an overnight frost or freeze is expected. However, out here on the windy plains, and with such a large garden, this is not possible.
So, one night while we're nearly ready for bed, watching the 10:00 pm news, the weatherman forcasts a hard-freeze. We looked at each other with disdain and great sadness in our faces and asked the million-dollar question "Do we want what's left of the veggies in the garden?" There were still hundreds of tomatoes, squash, zuchini, bell peppers and the pumpkins. The sad answer was "yes". So, at nearly 10:30 pm, we got dressed again and set forth to harvest our garden. The temp was about 35 degrees and the wind was blowing at about 20 MPH. You figure the wind-chill factor (somewhere around 10 degrees)! The only light we had in back at the time was the one by the back door, and it was just a single bulb in a wall-mounted fixture. So, we went and got both of our vehicles and aimed their headlights into the garden area. If anyone had driven up during our "Midnight Harvest", they would have split a gut laughing at us. It took us until nearly 1:30 am to finish, but by golly, we saved all the remaining veggies! What a night to remember. |
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