How does an entire month go by without a blog post? How??? Cuz homesteading ain’t easy folks, that’s how. It takes a lot of sweat and, even more, a lot of time. Otherwise, everyone would do it, right? So, just exactly what does a homesteader do all day you ask?
Plant. Weed. Start Seed. Squash bad bugs. Weed. Harvest. Weed. Squash bad bugs. Plant. Water. Weed. Squash bad bugs. Weed. Harvest. Weed.
Yeah, I know, there’s definitely a theme running here. Why is it that weeds can survive anywhere and under any conditions? Why do they inevitably grow right under a vegetable plant so that, when you pull them up, you often pull up said vegetable plant as well? Why are their roots deeper than veggie roots? Why does a six inch layer of mulch not keep weeds out of the growing beds? Why are the weeds consistently lush and deep green while veggie and fruit plants struggle with heat and/or too little or too much rain?
Usually, about this time of year, I just give up and let the weeds take over until cooler weather rolls around. Once fall has arrived and I can work outside in more than just the few short morning hours, I get a bit more caught up and the old homestead looks a little less scruffy. So, other than the ongoing weed battle, it’s all good here on The Little Half Acre that Could.
Most things are growing well — the easy to grow stuff like green beans, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, beets and carrots. Normally, I would list tomatoes as well, but not this year. Blight. Everywhere. Climbing inexorably up each stem. Sigh. Not gonna be a lot of tomatoes this year on The Little Half Acre. But hey, there’s a been a valuable learning experience here so that’s okay. Seems like tomatoes don’t like to be planted too early. The first tomatoes I put out are totally eaten up with blight. Guess I’ve been lucky so far with early planting but not this year. The second round of plants (started several weeks later) showed some signs of blight as well, but since they were planted out much later they are much healthier and seem to be holding their own. So, next year, I start seed later and the plants stay in the greenhouse much longer before being planted out. The good news is that we’ll still have tomatoes to eat fresh even if we won’t have many to freeze.
Hhmmmm. . . I wonder if weeds could get blight? One can only dream!
