The front page of the Vail Daily headline this morning read “Community gardens reap harvest”. It went on to recognize the half dozen or so gardens in Avon, Minturn and Edwards. I read about their successes and wondered “what did I do wrong?”
This little girl is showing off some tomatoes from the Avon Community Garden (Vail Daily).
I had high hopes this spring when I transplanted my seedlings to the irrigated confines of our courtyard. I believed with the right amount of high country Colorado sunshine and a little love, the Antlers Herb and Vegetable Garden would thrive. I probably spoke too soon when I predicted we all would be helping ourselves to bushels of the fall harvest. The following photo’s will demonstrate why we probably would have starved if anyone actually depended on it.
On June 11th this past spring, the garden took shape:
A little Fennel
Some Green and Red Peppers
Basil and Tomato’s
At the end of the month (June 30th) there were illusions of success:
Tomato’s are good
Basil hasn’t been over-run yet
Peppers seem OK
Something happened in July and by August 28th there was reason for concern:
The Peppers are being eaten and not by humans
Running out of time and thoughts of green – fried tomato’s is becoming more of a reality.
The basil refuses to grow and is being over-run by tomato plants.
While the Community Gardens are showing off the fruits of their labor in today’s newspaper, we in turn, have not been contacted by their office. I felt it my duty to forward our progress to date.
As of September 9th of 2013…..
The Fennel is now over one and a half inches tall and two of the plants grew back into the dirt.
The Peppers are no longer holding on after the nuclear fall-out.
The aphids eat the basil slowly as if they feast with manners.
The tomato plants are now big, bushy and green with very little fertilized off-spring.
This Years Harvest.
Needless to say, the guest list for this years Organic Farm BBQ is limited but we look forward to feeding the masses next year.
Greg
