Earth Bats Last

The Lemon ~ I've spent a lot of time in my garden lately, pulling OUT recently planted veggies, unfortunately.  After the first crop of salad veggies in mid-spring, things have not been growing as well as I hoped they would.  My research into the matter seems to indicate that the nearly ever-present wind in my area has been making the veggies tough very quickly and keeping them small.

Every nano location in coastal California is its own microclimate.  Things can grow well around the block but not necessarily precisely where I am, all factors considered.  And erecting a windbreak where my garden beds are would be impractical and cost-prohibitive.

Bummer.  It's back to store-bought organic greens for me.  The truth is, after those first few salads, I haven't been enjoying eating out of the garden because the veggies are tough and bitter (several lettuce varieties, two spinach varieties, two or three romaine varieties).  And what I planted from seed, although nearly everything germinated, has been extremely slow to grow as well as attracting snails to those tender new shoots.  I can't bring myself to kill snails -- I put them in a dish a carry them about 200 feet to the bluff and wish for them happy lives elsewhere.  Fortunately there aren't many of them, but just one can do a lot of damage.

The Lemonade ~ I'm turning the veggie beds into flower beds and mulching with cocoa bean mulch which repels snails.  I have a few starts to put out already and will add more over time.

Just another one of life's many lessons that you gotta go with the flow.  Also that you can't bend nature to your whim...earth bats last.