Then and Now (Garden)

THEN: 

Long forgotten about potatoes are planted in their own patch.  It's an experiment to see if it is REALLY necessary to buy healthy and fresh seed potatoes.  

When I was haying around plants, I was startled when a bubbling cackling sound started eminating from the inside of the bale.  I discovered a chicken had made for herself a nest in the haybale. 
Chickens are not my favorite creatures right now (chicken poo on the porch?!  Damaging plants over and over again?  NOT COOL.) but I have to admit, that was awfully cute.

There is always someone I catch reading the newspapers they are supposed to be mulching with.

In which Moses discovers Mr. Toad.

NOW:

I call this one "The Overseer"

Lest you be impressed by those gorgeous and prolific pepper plants... I offer you this travesty:

Half of my bell pepper plants, left only with a dead and pitiful stalk.  I don't know what happened to them.

The corn was planted twice and still is full of empty spaces where plants refused to grow.  

I tried to plant basil from seed three times with no success and eventually gave in and bought plants.  I don't know why it refused to grow. (I blame the chickens.) 

Something has blighted my mint- which is devastating!  Everyone who knows me, knows that mint iced tea is my go-to drink.  There will be NO WAY I can harvest enough for all of winter.  

I started TONS of pumpkins and they all looked like beautiful little plants- but I ran out of space to put them in the garden.  I very cleverly (so I thought) decided that I would plant them in the pig pen across the road.  Good fertilizer, out of the way and as we do not have pigs right now- a safe spot.  That is, until I discovered Matt dumped tractor loads of dirt and stone on top of them!  

I missed my window for spring peas (again!) but saved a spot in the garden to plant them in a few weeks for a fall harvest.

I reserved a whole hay bed for potatoes this year- some with seed potatoes and some with VERY pathetic looking basement potatoes.  I am experimenting with never needing to buy seed potatoes again.  (I always reserve potatoes that I already have for seed- but they usually look much better than these.  These potatoes were almost not even potatoes anymore- and if they produce lots of potatoes that will be amazing.)

I planted barely enough onions to last a week. Really.

The tomatoes look wonderful.  A half dozen or so plants were given to me (the ones pictured with the dog in front) by my sister-in-laws' father who planted, nurtured and coaxed them into life this spring as he always has.  He died recently and so, even though they are just plants, my tomatoes are more special and even a bit nostalgic to me this year.

We harvest three cucumbers and three zucchini just this morning which is AMAZING because those were both crops we got almost NOTHING of last year.

Moses keeps coming to me, excitedly bringing beautiful tomatoes and peaches that are not ripened- hard and green.  GAH!