C'est La Vie Garden Update

Nice, huh?

Yeah, that's not my plot.

This one's mine:

Sad, I know. The greenest things in there are the weeds growing in the trenches.

I planted packets and packets of seeds (over 20 packets), and got nada. These pics are from a few weeks ago, but there hasn't been much change, so I haven't bothered to take new ones. The lettuce that came up is still 2-3 inches tall. The only things that have thrived are the beans.

beans, corn, and mystery squash

You know, the three little spots of beans. <sigh>

So... I took everything that was growing and consolidated to the edges. Then I rototilled the center and re-seeded with lettuce, beans, bok choi, chard, spinach - you know, short term cooler weather stuff. So far, beans love it.

A few potatoes came up, and the basil is doing ok.

potatoes and basil

I transplanted a few dozen tomato plants that haven't even bothered to flower.

it's so depressing even the kid cried

You know what's sad? Even the weeds don't want to grow. Though that makes weeding pretty simple. The weeds tend to stay in the trenches I dug (along the right of the above photo).

This last week I went out to pick some green beans (yellow and purple are on their way) and there was another lady there watering her garden, which was actually growing. We chatted and I found out that my plot is typical. The soil is crap, so the only way to grow something besides green beans (which love neglect and poor soil) is to amend it with lots and lots of compost. She's had her plot for three years, and she said the first year was so frustrating she actually cried. The second year she gave up halfway through. This is the first year she's had enough compost that something's grown.

That made me feel better. I haven't cried and I haven't given up, so I'm not doing too shabby after all.

I'm on the fence about keeping the plot next year. I do enjoy beans, so I could just fill the plot with pole beans, string beans, and 'dry' beans, as well as a few potatoes if they don't drown again (normally potatoes also like the clay soil). If I want to grow anything else, I can plant it in a shovel-full of compost or put it in my home plot. But, it's a lot of extra work for beans.

We'll see.

How's your garden growing?

(BTW, my home plot looks awesome, I'll share pics of that later)