Gardening is magical. You put things into the ground and get to eat the fruits of your labor.
Unfortunately, you’re also subject to the whims of nature. You can do all the planning that you want, but you still need Mother Nature to help you out a bit.
I was fortunate this growing season. The only real problem I had was powdery mildew on my zucchini plants that, after a little research, I was able to get a handle on. Otherwise, there have been a few spiders, some lady bugs, and some wasps that have made my garden their home. I’m okay with this as long as they stay outside. Plus, they keep the bugs that will eat my garden at bay.
However, my luck ran out this past Tuesday. While I was talking about how excited I was about the fall bringing cooler temperatures, I may have put too much of that energy into the Universe. This past Tuesday, our high was 37 degrees! Yes, you read that correctly. We went from 97 degrees and sun on Monday to 37 degrees and snow on Tuesday. First frost doesn’t normally come until mid- or late-October. My garden was decimated.
I spent Monday evening harvesting all of my green tomatoes and putting them into a banker’s box with newspaper. Hopefully they will continue to ripen. We also covered my two fall raised beds that I had planted with spinach, carrots, and snap peas when the weather report was only predicting rain and I slight dip in temperatures at night. We covered the exposed sprinkler system parts, but didn’t winterize the whole system since temperatures will be back up in the 80s by the weekend.
There were a few other things that we had to do to prepare for this random storm including putting our chihuahua, Commander Sisko, in a hoodie. I decided the floral hoodie was the correct choice since it’s both warm and honoring my garden. We also turned the heat on for the house knowing that we’ll be turning it off in a few days.
Farewell to my 2020 garden. I feel like I hardly knew you, but you taught me a lot this year!
Homespun in Colorado 