Marcelle St.Germain, Big Ugly
Once again our gardeners are facing a stiff weather challenge as they try to keep their gardens from being flooded. Some have been successful and more than a bit lucky. Others who have so much of their garden located on the flood plain have been washed out.
The set of storms that came through West Virginia in late June caused tragic loss of life and damaged property in many different counties just north and east of us. Here in the more southern part of the state, the storms of late June did not wipe out our Grow Appalachia gardeners. However, subsequent storms in July that have come on top of the saturated ground have resulted in both partial and total garden loss. The work of the day has been ditching around the gardens rather than hoeing and weeding. The amount of rain falling in the garden has made it difficult to get in the garden and take care of the plants. And it seems to be still a touch and go situation as the storms that come through dump a lot of rain within a short amount of time. It remains to be seen whether the crops can survive until the weather clears and we get more dry weather as a weather pattern.
Luckier gardens off the flood plain have been doing very well this growing season. Many of our gardeners have had their first try at using the hortonova netting for their green beans. They are pleased with the results. The beans are easy to harvest as they are easily detected in the netting. Gardeners are also quite impressed with how strong the netting is as it can hold many pounds of produce.
One gardener was totally unprepared for the amount of the green bean harvest using the hortonova netting. So he paired up with another gardener who had just a very small amount of land to garden and who lives relatively close by. He brings her the produce and she proceeds to can it. They both share the freshly picked produce and the canned green beans. Excellent team work!
Leave A Comment