Gardening is one of those universal hobbies for women, men and children that everyone can get involved in. Not only is it therapeutic, but it can also be a great deal of fun. Additionally, there’s something so satisfying about witnessing the fruits of your labour as each plant blooms throughout the year.
However, this has been a very frustrating year in the gardening department. *We spent several hundred dollars (and several weekends) getting the irrigation set to the garden beds. And several hundred dollars on great earth and heirloom seeds and plants. And then, several hundred dollars on water.
This year, we’ve produced two squash, a couple dozen tomatoes and a dozen peppers. Total. The birds have eaten another two dozen tomatoes. And we’ve lost some of everything to the sun.
We are currently in the middle of a crazy heatwave, even for Arizona. It has been 115+ for the last few days. My green, leafy garden looks like someone took a blow torch to it. The leaves of the trees are singed along the edges, if not entirely dead. I remember a friend of mine had a similar problem with her trees one year and a few even ended up completely dying! She used a company similar to these Belfast Tree Surgeons to have the trees removed after she realised there was no saving them, so I have my fingers crossed that my trees will be fine.
On the plus side, we do have gourds going nuts, vining all over the yard. And the herbs, happily potted in the shade, are also doing well in the heat as of today. The inside isn’t any better with the heat, air conditioning is certainly important during this time, so having an air conditioning repair service is vital because that certainly can’t stop working!
But man, the first year of a new garden is rough. It is a lot of work for future bounty. I need a good attitude to keep everyone else in the house who is waiting on the bounty interested, instead of wondering where all of our time and money went.
Our fall garden? It will be great. We’ll pull everything out in late-August, mix in new soil amendments and start over. I’m half-tempted to pull the remaining tomatoes now and plant pumpkin seeds for autumn. We are trying something new: starting tomato starts from cuttings. I’m going to do the same with both types of basil we are growing as well. There is a chance we’ll be able to keep our favorite tomato plants from this year alive indoors until mid-October and then transplant. Because if it is 118 in June, it better not freeze come January. That’s the deal I’m making with Mama Nature. Hopefully, sooner or later, we could get a garden room also. Maybe, I’ll have to start looking for garden rooms for sale at the earliest then!
Gardening is a long-term hobby. Some years you fall flat. Or burnt.
~K
*and by “We” I firmly mean “Jason.”