So the end of the 2016 home garden season has come to a close.  Here we share our successes and failures so that we can learn from our history and make this valuable hobby more fun and productive.  Bottom line of the 2016 season … we grew a lot of food … for the deer.

Our main focus next year will be to set up some sort of fencing system.  We may install a sonic deterrent as well.  Additionally our wood chip project should be completed, at least in the garden area.  I’m still so happy about having scored about 10 yards of free wood chips!

We didn’t grow as many greens in 2016 as in seasons past.  I’m contemplating if we should focus on that a bit more in the early and late part of the season.  We really need to be eating more greens!

Also, because of the cold May and our late start on things, the compost and leaf mold wasn’t prepared in time to add early in the season.  The low effort techniques we are using backfired for us due to the cold May, but we will be more than prepared for 2017.  Also, we don’t anticipate adding more 4×4 SFG boxes in the next year or so.  My hope is that the wood chip project will be conditioning the soil underneath such that we could perhaps grow some tomatoes up electrical conduit and pruned to a single stem as a way to increase our tomato production to make fresh salsa and better utilize the space in between our 6 established 4′ x 4′ gardening beds.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; …