Hiya Rural Sprout Readers,
We’ve been dealing with steady downpours for most of the week where I live. We started Monday with a flash flood watch, and it stayed in effect for most of the week.
I drove past angry muddy waters normally dotted with anglers in hip boots casting lines across a tranquil stream.
There were spots far from the creek where water drained across the road from all the rain coming off the hills. Normally sun-dappled hillsides in the forest looked like sparkling streambeds as all that water made its way down to Spring Creek.
And the worst part is the ground is so saturated that the tree roots can no longer grip the soil. Countless trees have been ripped up from the ground, huge patches of earth stuck to their muddy roots.
Between the flooding and the upended trees, it made getting around interesting this week.
On Thursday, I went out to the rooftop to survey the soggy garden and found that several of my containers had standing water above the soil, despite having drainage holes in the bottom. Coupled with the impending work our landlord is planning on the fire escape, I decided to wrap the rooftop garden up for the year.
Most plants will be pulled from their containers and composted at a friend’s house. The soil will be dumped from grow bags into large plastic totes for the worms to work their magic in over the winter so I can use it next year. And I’ll bring a few plants inside to overwinter or finish out the season.
As I walked around the rooftop, I was mentally cataloging the successes and failures of the season.
I went back inside, grabbed my gardening journal and began writing what worked well and what didn’t this season. I noted that the new variety of beans I grew this year, Dragon Tongues, were the most tender and flavorful beans I’d ever grown. I wrote that the yellow pear tomatoes, while pretty, were outperformed in both flavor and yield by the Principe Borghese tomatoes.
In short, dear reader, I began planning next year’s garden while this one was still fresh in my mind.
As you’re finishing up the garden season, don’t forget to take some time to write up a garden review for the year. Be sure you note what did well, what didn’t do well, what pests were prolific this year, and things like where crops were grown for crop rotation purposes next year.
Writing up this kind of garden debriefing is a great way to get a jump start on the next season.
You get the satisfaction of closing down the season in a neat and organized way, and you get some truly handy notes to put to good use next year when it comes time to buy seeds and plan your garden layout.
As I sat drinking my tea and writing in my garden journal, I was already planning on skipping out on green beans and growing twice as many Dragon Tongue beans, and before I knew it, there it was – the spark. That excitement that only comes pre-garden season.
It was like getting a small preview of the gardener’s itch that usually shows up around January.
Once you’re done reading the newsletter and checking out all the new articles this week over at Rural Sprout, grab a pen and a notebook and spend some time recapping the season. You’ll be glad you did.
How To Make Dehydrated Mirepoix for Easy Soups and Stews
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Carrots, celery, and onions. These three veggies are the start of so many great dishes. Mirepoix is a kitchen staple. Make up a large batch and dry it to store for later easily.
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7 Uses For Citrus Leaves You’ve Got To Try
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Are you growing a citrus tree? Put the leaves to use any time of the year. There’s no need to wait on the fruit.
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16 Natural and Easy Ways to Keep Spiders Out of Your Home
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It’s spider season! And I’ve got a slew of ways to discourage these eight-legged visitors from making an appearance in your home.
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Why Is There White Mold On My Houseplant Soil & How Do I Fix It?
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What on earth is that white stuff on the soil of your favorite houseplant? I’ve got answers and how to treat it.
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That's all for this week, Rural Sprout Readers.
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