After years of searching, we finally found someone in our area who sells straw. Now the garden has straw mulch. Together with the straw, we finally got some rain, and now we’re in almost ideal condition, preparing for the late season.

The unbearable drought has ended

The 14mm of rain that we got during June left us completely dry, and to be honest, I was starting to worry about July and its potential warmth. However, unlike June, July arrived with tolerable temperatures and abundant rainfall. The temperatures were still above 30°C most days, but with some summer storms, the nights are much cooler, and this makes the situation better. In total, we got 160mm of rain during the entire month, which brings us a bit above average. Since June was unbelievably dry, this amount wasn’t concerning. Unlike the past couple of years, all of the rain came from the north, which is a real blessing for us. Although the garden is located on the north side, it is incredibly well protected by the forest around us. Also, the position of the village and the fairly big mountain in front of us form a sort of barrier, and the storms that come from the north are never too concerning for us. The only thing we get is strong wind, which we’re used to, but thunder and hail are non-existent from the northern side.

The soil inside the garden is finally recovering, most of the giant cracks have gone, and the grass is growing again. It will soon need mowing, which will be the first one since the beginning of May.

The garden is doing really well, although the drought was challenging, I’m pretty satisfied with this year. We’re slowly starting to harvest most of our vegetables and fruits. The only thing that is still not being harvested is potatoes, but I’ve planted them really late this year. It was almost the end of May, so I’m not surprised that they aren’t ready yet. They are still completely green and haven’t started flowering.

The straw saga

I wrote many times before that I’m having trouble finding any hay or straw in my area. There aren’t many farmers here; these are mostly small rural homes with enough produce for their own needs, so extras are hard to find, especially during the dry years. I’ve been relying on my own things for mulching, such as grass clippings, leaves, branch clippings, and ashes for years, but this year, due to the very dry spring, I had nothing to use. Luckily, I finally found someone close who sells straw, and now I can say that I will finally have a certain straw supply every year.

We’ve ordered 50 straw bales for the beginning, which were delivered the same afternoon. It was great since we had only 3 sunny days to mulch the entire garden. We managed to cover 80% of the garden, and were left with 10 bales that we didn’t have time to use. I spread those bales a couple of days later, when the first round of rain passed. I’ve mulched basically everything that doesn’t require mowing. Since I had enough of the straw, I decided to use it as a barrier between the intentional plants and my husband’s trimmer. So now, instead of walking behind him and pointing at stuff that has to stay, I have straw beds all around the yard. Every flower bed, every shrub and berry, every rose and vegetable got a nice layer of straw.

I will place a second layer in the winter to prepare the garden for next year, and since I’m now certain I can purchase straw, I will not be hand-tilling the garden anymore. The only things that will be hand-tilled will be new beds that will be made.

What will we do next?

Now that the entire garden has been mulched, there’s already less work every day. There is no need for constant weeding. I still need to weed the paths. I didn’t cover the paths since it is very difficult to walk downhill in a covered path. So I will keep them nice and clean, weed and mulch-free. There is less chance of slipping this way. But the beds will be much easier to maintain.

I’ve already started preparing for the autumn season and started sowing vegetables that like colder weather. There’s still plenty of time, but I plan to sow every so that I don’t have to transplant everything at once. Also, I’ll try to buy some more berries and start to clean up the external part of the yard where I plan to make onion/potato/ lettuce beds next year. Now with a nice mulch, things will be much easier, and even this neglected area will finally be useful.