2013...the year I sucked at gardening but that we got the house going again

Yes, I sucked at gardening in 2013. I had such high hopes. The veggies got started nicely in the greenhouse (which was really falling apart by this time) and the boys helped till the garden up really well again, to which we added a LOT of composted horse poop. The garden really should've done quite well...but it didn't. Part of the problem was the very LATE frosts we got...and snow...in May!!! It's very rare to get snow in May this far south. It does happen occasionally, or should I say RARELY. 2013 was the year of the rarely seen snowfall in May. The temps just never got very warm all spring. I was finally able to get the garden in after Mother's Day..and by then it was HOT. So once again, lettuces didn't do well, and I got zip for peas. I was really hoping for good results with my sweet corn...after all, if the grasshoppers hadn't eaten it all last summer, it would've been great. NOPE. It didn't grow.

Here's a picture of the garden in LATE May...things are just going in the ground and starting to grow. It just was a very COLD spring:

The tomatoes really struggled to produce all summer, and my peppers died in the ground. It was a really frustrating year. I think my best crops were radishes. Even the cucumbers struggled all summer. I got plenty for eating, but not near what I'd gotten the year before for canning. No pickles or relish this year.

What did do well were my herbs! They were really bountiful. We enjoyed them fresh in pizza and pasta sauces, chicken saltimbocca, etc., and I got a LOT dried for winter, too. Here is a picture of our dog, cats & chickens napping in the shade by the herb garden (various pots in partial shade surrounded by chicken wire to keep ALL the animals out the best I could).

Oh, and the small patch of sorghum I had experimented with was FABULOUS! I was so happy to see them grow tall and put out a lot of seed heads. If I had the equipment for making sorghum syrup, I would've given it a shot (it's like making maple syrup, only have to press the juices out of the stalks...not tap a maple tree for the sap). :) I did harvest the seed heads and have been feeding them to the chickens all winter. They really enjoy them. I am saving a sackful for planting this spring, a bigger plot than last year, so I can get LOTS of seed heads for feeding the chickens. I am also going to try millet and oats this year.

By late summer Jason had decided that he was going to get the walls and 2nd story deck on the house, even if he couldn't get the roof up right away. Friends of ours, for whom we will always be grateful, came to help. It took a whole day to get one wall up, but after everyone got in a rhythm, the rest of the walls went up very quickly! After the walls went up the floor joists for the 2nd story, and then the decking on top of that. Rain was forecast, so we had to get that second story covered up. We went looking for a hay tarp like we'd purchased the year before, which had done a great job at keeping the first story floor protected. Nope, no luck. They had sold out. I was able to get Tractor Supply to call around to their other stores and found one about an hour and a half away. I headed there the same day to pick it up.

When we got it home we were really disappointed. The tarp had cost the same as the one we'd bought the year before, but the quality was a very poor second. It was thinner, much thinner. It was all they'd had left in the size we needed and we prayed it would make it through the winter.

Here are pics of everyone getting the house up.