Garden Rewards: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

This is only my second time growing sweet corn. This soil has barely been amended at all. I only applied some top dressing of organic fertilizers, and transplanted my seedlings with the fluffy soil they grew in. Looks like four of my stalks grew well enough to reach maturity. That last one has been about the same size for the past three weeks, so I'm going to harvest it today.

Not bad for my first ever homegrown corn. I think it would have made better kernels on the back if there was more corn planted nearby to increase the pollination rate. There were some bugs that looked like earwigs hiding in the corn husk earlier this month, and I sprayed them with soapy water to deter them. Very glad this corn is not infested with worms and bugs. I was really worried about that.

The Bad

Trumpet Vine spreads everywhere. It grows fast. It sucks soil dry to the bone, making it hard to dig out. It seeks out other plants to steal nearby moisture and nutrients. Eventually it will kill off nearby plants by crowding them out, or strangling them like in the photo above. Usually it makes long lateral roots that can be ripped out like a rubber hose. Sometimes the root goes straight down, deep into the hard rocky dirt.

Trumpet Vine will eat a Vine Maple tree for breakfast. We peeled off as much off from the base as we could. This year we had to remove the entire tree and root ball.

This is the proper way to grow Trumpet Vine. Professionally planted in a landscaped area of a park. The vines will crawl up the arbor and set flowers for birds and bees. Roots are trapped inside an enclosed space.

Who in their right mind would want this tunneling through their yard? Last year I dug up as much as I could. Each week, I had another pile of roots. Sometimes I would win and get it all out. Sometimes the plant would win and only give me parts and pieces.

This year, I'm still finding smaller roots at the end of the summer. Every little bit has to be removed so it does not continue to spread underground in the winter. I like to put them in a pot so the roots will shrivel up and die. That gives me small pleasure in my own twisted kind of way.

The Ugly

Planted a new native species this past spring. It is called Black Coastal Gooseberry. Supposed to produce tons of edible berries.

Looks really strong in the first few months. I may even be able to shape this into a nice looking dwarf tree.

Many of those flowers should turn into berries.

Where did all of the berries go? Oh well, still a nice looking bush. It will probably do better next year.

Not looking so hot anymore. Has something been chewing the leaves off?

Okay, so I knew this plant was going to be beneficial for wildlife, but this is getting ridiculous. Looks like there won't be much left for next year.

So I may not be the best gardener in the world. At least I can say I wasn't dumb enough to plant a Trumpet Vine in the middle of the yard. I also grew carrots this year...

Oh good god!