Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Dumbest thing we ever Did

This is the Garden the first week of April and everything looked great..Billy lost 15 pounds trying to save a Garden with what we thought would fill the freezer. Had between 1/4 and 1/2 acre of Garden and was very expensive but there is nothing better tasting in the winter than Home grown veggies...Big mistake..we thought it was plowed..nope..just cultivated..was told it was good soil..we believed it..wrong again. Needless to say we wasted a LOT of money and put a lot of work into a garden that we are getting NOTHING out of This is the first plot of Corn and there isn't even any corn on these stalks
Here is what the second plot of corn looks like but there is NO corn inside the stalks

This is the BIG area that was peas and beans that Billy spent hours weeding by hand and has maybe gotten 1 bowl full and a lot of them had bug bites and had to be tossed



This is one of the pumpkins that I was planning to cook and freeze for Pumpkin Pies this winter. Not happening. Rats decided to eat it




We had 60 Watermelon plants and the rats decided they wanted to eat them also


Well..Here is a Melon that looks pretty good but I bet the Rats find it before it ripens










Also had 40 cantaloupe plants...just more food for the rats

So much for the expensive garden that we were so happy about. Cost over $350.00 to plant and work at and got nothing. Was told 3 months after we planted it that we should put some ammonia nitrate on it...why didn't someone say that before it was planted insted of saying it was Good soil.
So retiring to South AL was a bad idea all the way around. Costs more to live here (even with cheaper rent) that it did up North plus when I planted a garden up there ...IT GREW...because I knew what I was doing and didn't have to take advice that came to late.
I just want to go HOME and maybe next year plant a small garden that I know will grow. Much shorter growing season and the corn is supposed to be Knee High by the 4th of July..I can handle that...Don't need 2 seasons to grow a garden..1 will do just fine like I have always done in the past.
Thanks for listening to me whine...I just keep marking the days off the Calendar until I can GO







4 comments:

Linda ★ Parker's General said...

I have never seen such damage by rats. Darlin', you need some cats or rat terriers. Believe me, rat terriers are hell on rats! Usually, the county extension office will test soil for you and if there has never been a garden there, chances are it will need all kinds of amendments to raise a good crop of anything. Sweet corn is hard to grow unless you are doing a field of it. It has been our experience that you get 1 ear per stalk---not a very good return. I am so sorry that this didn't work out for you. Gardening can be so relaxing and really helpful to the grocery budget. Come up to the Midwest. We have iffy winters but our summers are perfect for gardening. We'd be happy to have you!

nancy huggins said...

I know about the midwest..That is where I am from but my Husband was raised down here until he graduated from High school. Thought it would be nice for him to retire down here but in all honesty I do not think he is all that happy.
We will be locating back to IL in the central part of the state and I have grown many great gardens there and was no where near as expensive even when we had a huge garden in WI.
No one can tell you what it will be like to live somewhere...you don't know until you ACTUALLY live there. Sorry but I guess I am just a Land of Lincoln person and I think Billy liked it a lot more up there.we lived up there for 30 years..Another mistake and it won't happen again :)
We have 4 dogs and 3 inside cats which keep rodents out of the house...I would NEVER let my dogs go out where there is rats and snakes.

Cora from Hidden Riches said...

It's the pits, isn't it????? When I added up all the costs of my pitifully small garden, I could have stocked my freezer ten times over from the frozen dept of the grocery store!!!!! Southern gardening is so different from the North. Nothing grows in the summer except black eyed peas and okra. Most farms are planting corn now for a fall harvest. All our U=pick=um's were done several weeks ago --- green beans, squash, zuchinni, etc., are all done. And even then, they had the black ground cloth down so they didn't lay on the ground, and all had automatic, continuous watering systems underground. I would never have the money to invest in all of that. And I don't like okra. And a bag of black eyed peas is about a dollar, so . . . . not happenin' here!
Hope you can get back to IL soon, Nancy!

Unknown said...

Hope you find a new home, and can grow a better garden next year. You do have to do something about the rats or what ever is eating your garden, this is not safe.