an aussie in austria

I have to say, the season started off promising. I felt good. I felt ready. I planted like crazy. And then it rained… and rained… and rained… And I guess a lot of the seeds rotted or washed away. Or got eaten by bugs.

But eventually they sprouted. And then it got hot. And hotter. And hotter. So hot in fact that at one point I even had to admit that it was hot.

So… it was a bit of a struggle. But I struggled on.

I began early with lettuce and radishes in the mini raised bed and got good crops from both. Of course, I had my little helper to water (or drown) the plants whenever we went outside, because the watering can was his thing this year.

But even the simple things like pumpkins struggled, and at one point I was panicking because they just wouldn’t sprout. Luckily, I was gifted a bunch of zucchini plants… of which most were pumpkins, and lo and behold, I got my single zucchini and cucumber, and a forest of pumpkins, both Hokkaido and Butternut.

The snow peas and beans went great guns, as usual. Apparently they’re my thing. I nurtured a single broccoli, disappointed, but that single broccoli was like the one broccoli to rule them all, so in the end I was happy with the outcome.

Tomatoes are always a struggle, because I don’t do anything to protect them from the rain, which they do not like. This year I went for a different technique… I planted only four but I let them go wild. And what happened was… well yeah eventually they rotted but there was so much plant and so many of the tiny red dudes that I had more than enough, even to make a bit of pasta sauce. 

To keep weeding to a minimum, I kept most of the garden covered in weed barrier fabric, and though it definitely saves time, I think it also warms the soil, which means that nasty creatures can live protected underneath. So next year I might take a different tack… I might let more of the garden breathe, and see how that goes. If my back can stand for it, I’m sure the results will be better! Which has got me thinking… I need to go out there and rip it all off, so I’m ready for next year!