End of Season Wrap Up (2014)

This was the 11th season for the Food Patch and all in all it was a spectacular year; moderate temps, adequate rain fall, and minimal insect damage. Except for patch watering by hand to help along new seedlings we only had to drag out the whole-garden sprinkler about three times, really nothing in the grand scheme of things. A few things to note: 1) melons, while fun to grow they take up way too much room for the yields. There really is nothing like cutting into a fresh picked cantaloupe but with the particularly virulent strain of aphids we are plagued with and the practically overnight cracking and waste of much ripe fruit, these will no longer be on the A-list for future plantings. 2) aggressive prophylactic spraying of insecticidal soap and other organics kept the aphids from the squash and cucumbers and this facilitated probably the largest yield we have ever had allowing us the opportunity to experiment with lactofermentation for pickling. This will certainly be repeated in the future. 3) the addition of chickens to the yard required a lot of work and planning but so far the reviews are favorable. Let's see how things go through this first winter. Right now the girls are still laying well on twice weekly grass rotations in a dedicated section of the yard. Soon, the grass will go dormant for the winter and we will need to move them to a holding spot closer to the house mainly so we can run an extension cord out to keep the water bin from freezing. We originally thought about adding a light to the tractor to extend the photo period so as to keep them laying into the late fall/early winter but since they have been producing so well we decided to let nature take its course and see how the lay rate falls off with the temps and decreasing day length. Their bodies could probably use the rest. Plans are under way to sprout trays of grain in the depth of winter so they can get some greens as well as to start a meal worm colony so they can have some supplemental protein even though the layer crumble they are on should provide adequate nutrition. 4) it looks like the stink bugs are finally falling off. Don't ask me why as there still do not seem to be any natural predators around, but they are much less of a problem this season. We still noted some cosmetic damage to the peppers. We also have discovered the importance of a couple of early season fires in the fireplace to sterilize the chimney. We found out last year that this was their primary over-wintering spot for our yard. 5) for some reason the Japanese beetles made a startling come back this year. We don't know why as last winter was particularly hard and the last three years or so we basically didn't have any to speak of. I hate using traps as the conventional wisdom is that they attract more to your yard. But how else to get them away from the basil, something you don't want to ever spray even with an organic? And the chickens totally loved it when you dump some of the day's collection into their pin. It got to the point where I was afraid they may eat too much and make themselves sick. I had visions of iridescent greens eggs being laid! We didn't notice any change in taste though. If they come back next year we may just stick a lure above their pin and do away with the collection bags! 6) the rabbit fence came down for good. It was just too restrictive when it came to getting the tiller around and a pain in the ass to trim in the summer. It will be replaced next spring with an electric fence that can be adjusted and moved easily. Fencing material had really improved especially with the newer plastic roping and cheap controllers.

Other big news this fall was the tear-out of the strawberry patch. It pained me to run the tiller through there yesterday and I could almost hear the tiny screams (Why are you doing this to us?). But its been five years and strawberries need periodic renovation/rotation. Next spring their bed will be moved from the end of the patch to the middle. Since our yields have been very good over the years we are thinking of splitting the new bed in half between June berries and day neutrals. Our past experience with ever-bearers was not good but as long as we can preserve a good yield of Junes perhaps having a few ever-bearers around all summer will be a nice addition for fresh eating.

Its a cold and blustery weekend. Except for some remaining plantings, the majority of the Patch was worked under yesterday for the winter and covered with stray for stabilization. We'll do some trench composting with the weekly chicken litter clean-out as long as we can before the ground freezes solid and await the spring thaw to start all over again.