Thank goodness for Google and Facebook. Both were great resources.
Here are the biggest challenges I had last year in the garden:
1. Not knowing whether a bug was “beneficial” or “harmful.”
There are entire books on insects and their effect on the garden. I haven’t read any of them – yet. I didn’t even know there was an entire science behind what to plant and locating certain flowers and herbs to attract or ward off insects.
The one insect I did know was beneficial was the bee. I’d go out in the mornings and the zucchini in particular would be covered with bees pollinating the flowers. It was because of the huge number of bees that I did not try harvesting the zucchini flowers, which I’m told are actually delicious when prepared correctly. Too bad I’m afraid of getting stung.
But I did see my share of bugs I'm pretty sure were not beneficial. I’m not sure, but I think my lettuce was eaten by slugs. Or at least I thought that was what was happening but when I put out an aluminum pie pan with a little beer in the garden near the plants, I only found a couple drunk slugs the next morning.
It was really a miracle my lettuce was still alive, given how late I planted and how hot it was last summer. Which leads me into my second biggest challenge …
2. The drought.
I had to choose the year we had a nationwide drought and record-high temps to try to grow something in Colorado for the first time.
What’s more, I planted at perhaps the worst time: late May, early June. That may be OK for certain plants, but the temperatures were averaging mid-90s at that time. It was unseasonable hot.
Lucky for me, one of the people who lived in this house before we did installed a drip system in the garden. This is a good example of the drip irrigation system I have throughout my garden and throughout my bushes and flowers.
Even with the drip system set up, I had to give my garden some water every day. It was parched in the late afternoon. I have always had trouble overwatering plants, so it’s a wonder I didn’t do that with this. But the veggies thrived despite the dry weather.
It makes me wonder how I’ll do this coming year if the weather is back to normal!
3. And finally, overcrowding.
As I mentioned in my zucchini recipe post earlier this week, garden overcrowding was a big problem for me once I learned the value of fertilizing. (I know, duh. But I was a beginner, remember?) When my husband and I got home from the garden center, we couldn’t believe the space recommendations they gave.
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| Right after we first planted. Looks like they are far enough apart. But they weren't. I will avoid overcrowding in the garden this year. |
Turns out, they were right. My veggies grew like crazy, and by the end of the season, they were a little out of control. Part of that is due to the fact I didn’t quite know what to plant and when – some of the vegetables were out of season – but most was due to planting everything too closely together.
The problems that result from overcrowding include: the abovementioned pests, plants that did not grow like they should have (my green peppers were completely overshadowed), and fungus.
In the end, it was not a healthy environment for vegetables. I ended up pulling up some of the plants to provide some breathing room, but it was too late. To be clear, I did see success with some of the vegetables I planted, including tomatoes, the zucchini (for awhile), cucumbers and the lettuce (for awhile).
But I know what to do next year to fix the problem, and hopefully it will result in a much better harvest. Lessons learned!
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