Summer Summary

Well, what a year to start farming. Apparently it was a terrible year to start farming in the Willamette Valley, with cold wet weather thwarting almost all attempts to grow anything at all. Outside my window are tomatoes that did eventually grow to about 5 feet tall, but have yet to produce…well, really anything edible. Lots of growth and a couple of them turned red, but they were all too bug and/or weather damaged to eat.

Our braeburn apple tree did flower, but no apples were produced. Even the crabapple tree, prolific creator of crabapples for the spiders and birds, produced very little.

Our pumpkins never made it past flowering stage.

Our cucumbers died in the pot.

Our eggplant is still alive, but is currently being drowned by rain and did not flower.

Our sunflower grew to about 3 feet and did actually flower, only to droop the next day.

We did have one successful crop though: potatoes. Red potatoes, fingerling potatoes, chieftains, and bakers all did relatively well in the rocky soil by our house. We might make that entire area potato next year.

We might do winter crops, kale, carrots, garlic, but I’m not sure.

In other, more positive news, the chickens are doing well and we now have 5 rain barrels attached to the house.