Temper Tantrum Gardening

    Exhausted and ready to give up.                                                                    
   I've been trying to grow food for 10 years, starting in a few containers  and progressing to 7   2' x 8'  beds.  When I moved onto this almost-acre plot, I spent the winter familiarizing myself with the land and the concept of a food forest.  I now have a perimeter of wine raspberry and blackberry which I have managed to corral and trellis.get a bumper crop every other year. In the front of my house I have blueberries and have strong plans for transforming my suburban front yard into an edible landscape.
       But the food forest part comes later; let me say first that I know it's all about soil health and I am trying REALLY HARD to achieve that within the guidelines of permaculture principles, organic methods,  sustainable choices, budget considerations, and the fact that I am doing this completely solo unless I hire someone.
      I expanded  and reconfigured my beds this year, splurging on Vermont Organics Reclamation Raised Bed Recharge to amend my soil in both the new and old beds and improve water retention. I believe I followed the instructions correctly.  I ended up with sky-high nitrogen and high PH.  So, my tomato plants are going to look really pretty and probably not fruit.  Time to adapt.  I planted a ton of leafy greens, especially spinach, in the other beds and applied a tad of organic soil acidifier.   The spinach was beautiful until tonight I noticed the leaf miners.  I just ripped off most of the green foliage from every plant.   Beautiful beautiful heads of spinach, grown only for me to watch them die.  Any suggestions?  Of course I searched the web.  Wasps, the gurus say.  Am I supposed to pull them out of my magic hat?  
   
    I also discovered tonight that my container lamb's quarters probably attracted the leaf miners.  So much for growing sustainable wild plants.

      Every year I learn something new at the cost of a productive harvest.   Every year have one  or two large bumper crops (last year it was tomatoes and garlic), some minor successes and one or more major disasters.  Cabbage borers, aphids, brown spot (last year it was literally everywhere locally) and other diseases have, in previous years, cut my harvests  severely.  I 'm usually grateful for learning, grateful the the abundance of one or two vegetables, and look forward to improvement the next year utilizing everything I've learned.  Now I think I broke something in my patience and coping mechanisms.

        I am now developing a new type of gardening.  I 'm going to call it Tantrum Gardening. Last week I got frustrated  and threw handfuls of spinach and beet seeds on of the soil of my beds that have bean and tomato plants so they could suck up the nitrogen and let one or two produce a bean pod or two or a tomato. I filled a last empty bed with the same, just thrown and patted.  More food for the leaf miners I just found.

     I planted random sunflower seeds everywhere ,even though it's late to do so, just because I felt like it. Oh, and I threw radish sprouting seeds onto an area  of plain soil and  I'm eating the microgreens.  Don't know what the hell is wrong with my pepper plants, in one bed they're all yellow and not growing and in the next bed over they are growing, but about to be attacked by leaf miners.  

     Rabbits got the strawberries.  The fencing I bought for them is in the packages because I have rocky ground and need to hire someone to install it for me.  And that costs.
     One beautiful container zucchini plant in a pot.

      I am overwhelmed.  And cranky.  But I hope I can recover and lean in to my philosophy:

       I choose...to be the best me I can be, to be the strongest me I can be, to learn the most I can. I don't know what comes next. But I'm gonna go into it balls to the walls, flames in my hair, and full speed ahead.
       
       

And I still have a bumper crop of garlic ready to be harvested.

Hey Susan.. sorry to hear about your frustrations, and exhaustion. I can only advise you to give it one more day.. everyday! I won’t share my struggles here, but believe me when I say that I know the feeling. Our feelings, and perception, can make the difference of an experience being a miserable task, or a joyful engagement. I’m sure that most people would prefer a picture perfect garden (and life), but fall somewhere short of that mark. The modern world has magnified the “need” for instant gratification, and when that is not met, we suffer an exaggerated sense of disappointment. Ponder the time spent in fresh air and sunshine, and working with life and learning its lessons.. many times, the hard way. The worst day on the land for me still beats the best day of life in a cubicle, bathed in fluorescent light, and stupefied by the lullaby of Muzak.

Breathe.. and cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Humbly surrender to what is, and it may get better!

Love always..

.p.s.: Have you ever read ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ ?

https://ia800702.us.archive.org/34/items/TheSecretLifeOfPlants_201811/The%20Secret%20Life%20of%20Plants.pdf

Susan Mené wrote:And I still have a bumper crop of garlic ready to be harvested.

I would recommend removing those garlic from the earth, and basking in the glory of that successful harvest..

Ted Abbey wrote:Hey Susan.. sorry to hear about your frustrations, and exhaustion. I can only advise you to give it one more day.. everyday! I won’t share my struggles here, but believe me when I say that I know the feeling. Our feelings, and perception, can make the difference of an experience being a miserable task, or a joyful engagement. I’m sure that most people would prefer a picture perfect garden (and life), but fall somewhere short of that mark. The modern world has magnified the “need” for instant gratification, and when that is not met, we suffer an exaggerated sense of disappointment. Ponder the time spent in fresh air and sunshine, and working with life and learning its lessons.. many times, the hard way. The worst day on the land for me still beats the best day of life in a cubicle, bathed in fluorescent light, and stupefied by the lullaby of Muzak.

Breathe.. and cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Humbly surrender to what is, and it may get better!

Love always..

.p.s.: Have you ever read ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ ?

https://ia800702.us.archive.org/34/items/TheSecretLifeOfPlants_201811/The%20Secret%20Life%20of%20Plants.pdf

Thank you, Ted.  What you wrote is beautiful and pure truth. It echoes the "usual" not-discouraged me.  I needed to hear it from someone else and needed to hear that I am not the only one without a picture perfect garden.  Life every day is good.

When I read "The worst day on the land for me still beats the best day of life in a cubicle, bathed in fluorescent light, and stupefied by the lullaby of Muzak" it reminded me I am in a period of transition.  I am giving up nursing (except for volunteer work) after 34 years because in the rush to provide healthcare for all, it has become corporate, with profit going to corporations and becoming cold, impersonal, cost-saving mediocre health care.  I loved being a nurse, but I would stare at whatever glimpse of nature I could get through a window and think about digging in the dirt.  Being with those I love and in the glory of nature is where I belong now.  

Enough whining from me, I can't put up with it!  And I will read ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ starting tonight.
Ya done good, Ted!

You are welcome Susan. I live just outside of Death Valley, and raising plants and animals (not to mention sustaining myself!) is tricky.. to say the least. Little money, no help, and a tenuous grasp on reality.. I like to say that “I’m only here, because I’m not all there”. It is wonderful and horrible in turn, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! Bittersweet is the flavor that this warrior prefers..

Please read the book, and you will never see things the same again!

I have read that soil health can help with pest problems.

Have you tried using wood chips?

https://permies.com/t/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

In the fall you can gather leaves to make leaf mold:

https://permies.com/t/152261/Fall-Leaves

https://permies.com/t/204699/Fall-leaves-place-wood-chips

https://permies.com/t/125311/leaf-mold-awesome

Anne Miller wrote:I have read that soil health can help with pest problems.

Have you tried using wood chips?

https://permies.com/t/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

In the fall you can gather leaves to make leaf mold:

https://permies.com/t/152261/Fall-Leaves

https://permies.com/t/204699/Fall-leaves-place-wood-chips

https://permies.com/t/125311/leaf-mold-awesome

Good morning. Thank you for the help.  I've got my big girl panties back on and I'm ready to go.  Can't look at my spinach yet though, haha.

As I said in my post, I know a lot depends on soil health, and have been working diligently on it.

I think redoing my beds and amending the soil at the beginning of the season was not smart.  I should have done it end of the season last year and let everything percolate, so to speak, over the winter.
I was had to stretch my compost this year.  I had about 1/4 of what I usually have, due to being away from home a lot; was helping my sister-in-law who was dying of cancer.
Any miracle remedies for leaf miners that you know of?

Hey, I have a tantrum garden! I was angry about the coming winter and having to be here instead of traveling to warmer climes like I usually do. Along with my snow peas, I threw out handfuls of daikon radish seeds- they've never done well in my dirt, normal radishes neither, and I was just done with all these seeds hanging around.
Lo and behold, two months later we've had perfect weather and I probably have 100 young daikon that are right now about the diameter of a tennis racket handle. They've NEVER done well here. I'm looking forward to some serious pickling.

Every year for me pretty much involves "win some, lose some". I moved to a new climate where nothing works the way I'm used to. We can't get all the cool stuff (like diatomaceous earth, for example). Also it's southern hemisphere but it's not just a question of shifting everything 6 months back or forward.

The permaculture mindset gives me some relief: I'm watching patterns and observing. Future years, I'll be better prepared. You'll be better prepared next time too. In the meantime I'm jealous of your spinach: I had only maybe 3 plants come up this year. Win some, lose some....

I'm not sure about your miners, here they attack my orange trees and I use a soap spray. Soap spray probably won't hurt anything (unless you apply it on a sunny day), so maybe give that a shot?

Anne Miller wrote:I have read that soil health can help with pest problems.

Have you tried using wood chips?

Double edged sword. We use a lot of woodchips. I now tend to keep them out of growing areas, and reserve them for paths. In our climate (damp, generally cool) they are just fantastic slug habitat

Susan Mené wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I have read that soil health can help with pest problems.

Have you tried using wood chips?

https://permies.com/t/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

In the fall you can gather leaves to make leaf mold:

https://permies.com/t/152261/Fall-Leaves

https://permies.com/t/204699/Fall-leaves-place-wood-chips

https://permies.com/t/125311/leaf-mold-awesome

Good morning. Thank you for the help.  I've got my big girl panties back on and I'm ready to go.  Can't look at my spinach yet though, haha.

As I said in my post, I know a lot depends on soil health, and have been working diligently on it.

I think redoing my beds and amending the soil at the beginning of the season was not smart.  I should have done it end of the season last year and let everything percolate, so to speak, over the winter.
I was had to stretch my compost this year.  I had about 1/4 of what I usually have, due to being away from home a lot; was helping my sister-in-law who was dying of cancer.
Any miracle remedies for leaf miners that you know of?

Another thing to consider is trace minerals.. from sea salt! Everyone should examine the work of Dr. Maynard Murray in this regard. His book ‘Sea Energy Agriculture’ is a must read in my opinion.

https://dokumen.pub/sea-energy-agriculture-1-2nbsped-9780911311709.html

Glad to hear you sounding recharged and focused!

Tereza Okava wrote:Hey, I have a tantrum garden! I was angry about the coming winter and having to be here instead of traveling to warmer climes like I usually do. Along with my snow peas, I threw out handfuls of daikon radish seeds- they've never done well in my dirt, normal radishes neither, and I was just done with all these seeds hanging around.
Lo and behold, two months later we've had perfect weather and I probably have 100 young daikon that are right now about the diameter of a tennis racket handle. They've NEVER done well here. I'm looking forward to some serious pickling.

Every year for me pretty much involves "win some, lose some". I moved to a new climate where nothing works the way I'm used to. We can't get all the cool stuff (like diatomaceous earth, for example). Also it's southern hemisphere but it's not just a question of shifting everything 6 months back or forward.

The permaculture mindset gives me some relief: I'm watching patterns and observing. Future years, I'll be better prepared. You'll be better prepared next time too. In the meantime I'm jealous of your spinach: I had only maybe 3 plants come up this year. Win some, lose some....

I'm not sure about your miners, here they attack my orange trees and I use a soap spray. Soap spray probably won't hurt anything (unless you apply it on a sunny day), so maybe give that a shot?

HAHA! I knew someone else out there had a tantrum garden!
Thanks for responding.  Wow, tackling the new climate sounds like and impressive task!  And you're right, the permaculture mindset offers relief AND solutions.  Permaculture requires patience and observation.  My patience took a vacation last night.

I'll address the failures by robbing and paraphrasing a saying from the fishing community:
"I guess that's why it's called Gardening and not shopping"

Michael Cox wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I have read that soil health can help with pest problems.

Have you tried using wood chips?

Double edged sword. We use a lot of woodchips. I now tend to keep them out of growing areas, and reserve them for paths. In our climate (damp, generally cool) they are just fantastic slug habitat

Oh, I  think I'ver heard this.  More to read up on.  I've use straw and pine needles for mulch in the past.  This year I have plain leaves in two beds, experimenting with natural burlap in three others. I used what I had on hand.   Two are unmulched as of now.

Really, I have nothing new to add here except that I feel your pain. In the past (at another house) we have had a problem with rabbits eating everything useful but not the weeds. They left me two daffodils in a tub (it was a huge tub and the beautiful daffodils used to lift my spirit when I saw them on my way back from walking the dog) but the sheep bit the heads off them on the way past. The mice ate all my peas and also the tiger nuts I decided to try one year. The failures (also called "experience") made me enjoy the successes more even if everyone who came to the door had to go home with a carrier bag full of purple sprouting broccoli.
Enjoy that garlic.

Michael Cox wrote:Double edged sword. We use a lot of woodchips. I now tend to keep them out of growing areas, and reserve them for paths. In our climate (damp, generally cool) they are just fantastic slug habitat

The forum is full of amazing threads that will teach you how to build up your soil health.

My bet is that the wood chips you used were not thick enough and had not been being used long enough to build up you soil health thus a slug problem.

Of course, I have never had a slug problem so who knows?

I have read that salt will end the slug problem.

https://permies.com/t/211919/minerals-garden-performance#1778572

https://permies.com/t/132842/Soil-Mineralization-Recipe#1041651

https://permies.com/t/123928/Growing-Plants-builds-soil-health#989692

Oh the failures!  It's something every year isn't it?

Maybe your ripping out the miner-infested spinach will help you out for next year, though.  My pet-peeve pest the last 5-6 years has been plum curculios in my cherries.  Last year, on the other hand, it was early heat + late frost in spring that left me with no cherries at all. Lo and behold, this year I have no curculio damage probably due to no cherries for them last year!

There's so much soil info available here, and I am going to review and read and read again.  I have serious gratitude for this website ,  the knowledge so generously shared and the people!  

Anne Miller wrote:

Michael Cox wrote:Double edged sword. We use a lot of woodchips. I now tend to keep them out of growing areas, and reserve them for paths. In our climate (damp, generally cool) they are just fantastic slug habitat

The forum is full of amazing threads that will teach you how to build up your soil health.

My bet is that the wood chips you used were not thick enough and had not been being used long enough to build up you soil health thus a slug problem.

Of course, I have never had a slug problem so who knows?

I have read that salt will end the slug problem.

https://permies.com/t/211919/minerals-garden-performance#1778572

https://permies.com/t/132842/Soil-Mineralization-Recipe#1041651

https://permies.com/t/123928/Growing-Plants-builds-soil-health#989692

Thanks again to the more experienced who have gone before me, those that are stumbling along with me, and the novices who are just joining this dance with the earth!
I think I need to stop trying so much.  Nature knows what it needs.

i like the saying 'keep calm and carry on'. my gardening has been disastrous for many years, but i didn't stop trying. i'm trying more than ever & it's getting more fun now as methods advance and become refined.

one of my latest failures was planting a cantaloupe seedling. all seemed well for a couple days, then i reckon a snail ate its stem nearly half in two. i figured there was no hope, as with the many other seedlings that went down before it. ...but hey, what about that crazy video recommendation i seen the other day about tomato grafting? after cutting out the damaged portions with a razor blade i grafted a wilted cantaloupe leaf back onto its stem. i don't know if this is going to work, but i can say the leaf is no longer wilted. that's fun.

like a squirrel with their acorns i'm trying so many different things now i can't keep up.

Susan,  I can relate to your frustrations.  We’ve had 8 weeks of severe drought here with nights in the 48 degree range mid June, very unseasonable.  The peppers are just sitting there and not growing.  Now it is raining (too much), but the peppers, or most of them, won’t have time to make a crop this year.  First time I’ve ever failed at growing peppers.  

Excess nitrogen attracts bugs, so that may be one of the problems.  They attack a stressed plant and that can be due to temps being out of their favored range, too much or too little water.  Generally spraying plants with a hydrated calcium gets rid of most bugs, or use diluted milk.  We use hydrated lime or coral calcium if we don’t have milk. There is a lot of nitrogen in the air and it comes down with the rain.  Chicken litter fertilizer has too much nitrogen for most crops.  Just adding a little more calcium to soil that has too much nitrogen will make it outgas to drop levels of the nitrogen if you need to correct that.  

Ted, you made reference to the sea water.  My husband, Allan, is an ag consultant doing organic/biodynamic.  Many years ago he consulted to a wheat farmer on the west coast. Got him to spray all his fields with diluted sea water.  Production went through the roof, wheat made more tillers than usual and large, plump kernels.  It has all the trace minerals in it and yes, sodium is one of the minerals plants need, in moderation of course. The grower had big tank trucks loading the sea water and bringing it to his farm.  The ships went out a couple of miles to get water uncontaminated from land runoff to avoid the nitrate fertilizers.  Sea water has the correct ratio of minerals that healthy human blood has, and plants also need to be healthy.   Everything is interconnected.  

We all have to be aware that earth changes are going on, with lots of volcanoes currently erupting, causing more cloud cover at times worldwide and it does affect growing conditions.  Also all those fires in Canada and elsewhere.  Some days are hazy due to the smoke, depending on wind patterns, and I’m way down in western part of North Carolina.   Less available sunlight, less plant growth, cooler weather out of plant’s comfort zones.  

One mistake I’ve  made in the past has been to take on too much at one time.  Get really good with one thing and then start adding more.  Pace yourself, and take time to smell the roses, not just work wide open all the time.  I know, class A personality and you sound like a go getter which is admirable.  However, don’t burn yourself out or you won’t accomplish your real goals.   Take care of yourself as well as your garden.  

Hi Faye! Everything you said was helpful.  THANK YOU!  Yes, I'm yelling it!  
    About once a growing season I forget that this is a lifestyle, a privilege full of opportunities to learn.  The good part about my freak-outs is that they invariably refocus my being into gratitude for this one day, this one moment.  Permaculture's/nature's principles remind me that nature cannot be manhandled by me .  When something fails, it's like the earth is telling me, "HEY! I'm talking to you.  Shut up and listen!"  

Faye Streiff wrote:Susan,  I can relate to your frustrations.  We’ve had 8 weeks of severe drought here with nights in the 48 degree range mid June, very unseasonable.  The peppers are just sitting there and not growing.  Now it is raining (too much), but the peppers, or most of them, won’t have time to make a crop this year.  First time I’ve ever failed at growing peppers.  

Excess nitrogen attracts bugs, so that may be one of the problems.  They attack a stressed plant and that can be due to temps being out of their favored range, too much or too little water.  Generally spraying plants with a hydrated calcium gets rid of most bugs, or use diluted milk.  We use hydrated lime or coral calcium if we don’t have milk. There is a lot of nitrogen in the air and it comes down with the rain.  Chicken litter fertilizer has too much nitrogen for most crops.  Just adding a little more calcium to soil that has too much nitrogen will make it outgas to drop levels of the nitrogen if you need to correct that.  

Ted, you made reference to the sea water.  My husband, Allan, is an ag consultant doing organic/biodynamic.  Many years ago he consulted to a wheat farmer on the west coast. Got him to spray all his fields with diluted sea water.  Production went through the roof, wheat made more tillers than usual and large, plump kernels.  It has all the trace minerals in it and yes, sodium is one of the minerals plants need, in moderation of course. The grower had big tank trucks loading the sea water and bringing it to his farm.  The ships went out a couple of miles to get water uncontaminated from land runoff to avoid the nitrate fertilizers.  Sea water has the correct ratio of minerals that healthy human blood has, and plants also need to be healthy.   Everything is interconnected.  

We all have to be aware that earth changes are going on, with lots of volcanoes currently erupting, causing more cloud cover at times worldwide and it does affect growing conditions.  Also all those fires in Canada and elsewhere.  Some days are hazy due to the smoke, depending on wind patterns, and I’m way down in western part of North Carolina.   Less available sunlight, less plant growth, cooler weather out of plant’s comfort zones.  

One mistake I’ve  made in the past has been to take on too much at one time.  Get really good with one thing and then start adding more.  Pace yourself, and take time to smell the roses, not just work wide open all the time.  I know, class A personality and you sound like a go getter which is admirable.  However, don’t burn yourself out or you won’t accomplish your real goals.   Take care of yourself as well as your garden.  

MK NEAL

Thinking about my (so far) thriving squash, I remember it was devastated last year.  hmmm.
And I thought (for a moment) everyone else's garden/farm was already-perfect.  :)

Susan Mené wrote:

The spinach was beautiful until tonight I noticed the leaf miners.  I just ripped off most of the green foliage from every plant.   Beautiful beautiful heads of spinach, grown only for me to watch them die.  Any suggestions?

So are leaf miners edible?

Anne Miller just started this thread: https://permies.com/t/219561/permaculture-upcycling/Lets-eat-Today-National-Upcycling
Who cares if the food is ugly if it's nutritious? Maybe more nutritious than normal spinach?

That said, I refuse to eat grey aphids - they taste totally yucky. My chickens don't seem to agree with me, so maybe it's just me.

Jay Angler wrote:Susan Mené wrote:

The spinach was beautiful until tonight I noticed the leaf miners.  I just ripped off most of the green foliage from every plant.   Beautiful beautiful heads of spinach, grown only for me to watch them die.  Any suggestions?

So are leaf miners edible?

Anne Miller just started this thread: https://permies.com/t/219561/permaculture-upcycling/Lets-eat-Today-National-Upcycling
Who cares if the food is ugly if it's nutritious? Maybe more nutritious than normal spinach?

That said, I refuse to eat grey aphids - they taste totally yucky. My chickens don't seem to agree with me, so maybe it's just me.

Holy Cow! You are amazing.  Thank you so much.
The responses to my Temper Tantrum post have brought such a change in me, like an exorcism of negative thoughts and ideas.
Your comment,Jay Angler, has done for me what I imagine magic mushrooms or LSD would do.  My mind has been blown wide open to a whole new way of thinking, a way of thinking I had believed I had already incorporated into my being.  

Again, thank you, Jay Angler Oh my, do you want some pie?  I sent you some pie.  I wish I could bake you some pie, lol.  Apple with a crumb topping.  Or pear.  or strawberry-rhubarb.

It amuses me when I'm told/realize I need an attitude adjustment.  Y'all here on permies are way more gentle than my homies around here.

I need to clarify something I wrote above.  When I wrote that I was "told I need an attitude adjustment",  I meant I was discouraged.  And when I came to this community for advice the support I received turned my whole outlook from negative to positive!
Thanks again all.