City Gardening- June 24, 2009

The showers that deluged us in the spring have clearly subsided but the intermittent thunderstorms that speckle Summer afternoons have successfully supplanted them. Unfortunately heat indexes over one hundred tend to wilt unwatered gardens. Depending on occasional showers to do my job for me has met with withered results.

I’m completely to blame, not Mother Nature. During the spring I could forget to water my garden for a day or two with little consequence because it rained daily. But now the rain comes once in a blue moon and is not substantial enough to alleviate the wilting heat of the beginning of an oppressive Georgia in July. I thought I was too busy to spend the five minutes necessary to sustain my green dependants. I didn’t water them at all over the Father’s Day weekend. Two days of neglect have rendered my city garden on the verge of collapse. Luckily plants are more resilient than man. Though they are in intensive care now, with daily watering they may all spring fully back to life. None of the peppers have produced yet and my neglect hit them hardest of all, but I hold hope for the jalepeños.

The potted plants took the greatest punishment. Luckily most of the veggies in the ground survived the two 115° days with little damage. My corn formed kernels on stubby two foot stalks– needless to say they were underwatered, but being a fast grower corn requires substantial watering when grown in a garden box.

So far my attempts at city gardening have met with significant setbacks but I remain unperturbed. After all, this is my first attempt at replicating the gardens I grew up with, those idyllic days when we had tomatoes, onions, blueberries, pears, black berries, potatoes, peas and beans in a backyard garden on a lot out in the country. With a busy Valdosta lifestyle a six by six box in front of my apartment is the best I can do. Even if my efforts meet with less than moderate success this year I will at least know better what not to do next year– namely, not to neglect my garden!