Catching Up
The garden was not quite the success I had hoped for. Some issues with a wilt on my tomatoes as well as less than desirable growth out of other plants left me a little frustrated. I now have my doubts about square foot gardening, but to be fair to the method I think my biggest problem may have been less than desirable compost. The compost I found was mostly horse manure from stalls where wood shavings had been used. I think it was too much wood shavings and not enough manure.
I think one of my biggest doubts about the square foot gardening was the depth of the soil. I believe the book recommended 2x6 lumber which only gives you a depth a little over 5 inches. I used 2x8 lumber and I still feel like the depth was not enough. In order to improve on this for next year I'm digging into the soil below the boxes by about 6-8 inches and mixing in even more compost. This will eliminate the weed barrier between the box and the soil underneath, but since I'm out in the garden almost daily, picking weeds as they sprout should not be a problem.
Out of everything I grew the strawberries were by far the healthiest looking plants. They really took off. I had to replace 2 or 3 plants that didn't make it at first but that wasn't a problem since I had more than I could plant to start off with. I planted an everbearing variety and per recommendations I picked all the blooms in the spring and kept runners trimmed. Trimming the runners was a SFG (square foot gardening) recommendation in order to deal with the limited space. I kind of expected to get a few berries later in the year but that never happened. Can't wait to pick some berries in the spring.
The corn I planted looked to be doing great at the start but once it reached a certain height (3-5 feet) it mostly quit growing taller. Ears did form but most were very small and the husk busted open before they matured. Thinking that I had planted it too thick and the soil was not deep enough I made the correction I mentioned about to that box and replanted mid summer. The second crop was better but still not what I was looking for. I'll have to think hard about doing corn again.
Some other plants I had some success with were potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, carrots, peppers, and cucumbers. Broccoli, cauliflower, beets, brussel sprouts, and tomatoes were all mostly a bust.
I wish I had taken pictures to share but unfortunately I didn't.
Finishing Up
Well today was the last day of deer season and after missing twice this season, once from about 20 yards, I came up empty handed. I guess that is just the way deer hunting goes some time.
One of the most frustrating parts of hunting this year was being in the woods, finding some trails, but never feeling really good about what tree I should climb. It is almost impossible to find a tree in the dark that will present shots once you are 30 feet high. Keep in mind I'm hunting public land that I don't always know very well.
The next steps are to start scouting very soon for next season in order to take advantage of the lack of foliage that will allow me to see further and look for this past season rut sign. This should allow me to setup some trees and have some more definitive places to go once deer season rolls around in the fall. I should also be able to clear some better shooting lanes.
Cheers!
