How Does Your Garden Grow?
If you were lucky, your garden had moderate success this year. Mine, however, produced wonderfully in the spring and early summer with a bumper crop of berries, and then spiraled downhill quickly. Since then, we have produced three banana peppers, a dozen summer squash, and a handful of tomatoes.
Bugs demolished the five rows of potatoes, and the beets and carrots didn’t even attempt to make a presence. We tried everything to get rid of the bugs, but they were merciless this year. The garden sits on high ground, so the rain should not have impacted the plants that much. What do I do?
I’m thinking about approaching the coming winter a little different this year. I will be pulling a soil sample at the end of the summer to see what I’m missing. We haven’t done that for a while, and I think it’s time. I’m also going to put some sort of cover crop down. I had a heck of a time loosening the ground this year.
Want to learn more about what you can do? Mercer County OSU Extension will be offering a class on August 27th from 6-8 pm in the Extension Classroom on exactly this topic. To find out more, call 419-586-2179. Also, the Mercer SWCD and Helena Agronomic Center still have soil coupons available for $5 until November. Soil samples should be taken after garden harvest and before the application of any fall fertilizers or soil supplements.
Submitted by Abbey Tobe
GLWWA Watershed Coordinator
Mercer SWCD