Thursday, June 20, 2013

A Sad Garden Update!

If you read my previous blog post you could see how great our garden was doing . It was the best garden we have had in years. I worked so hard in it and was so proud of it. You will notice I am using past tense. Last Saturday the wind was blowing hard from the southwest. Our neighbor across the road hired a company to spray his beans. My thoughts, they should not have been spraying during a strong wind. Well, they did. Then we had rain twice, so I couldn't get out into the garden to work. Last night I decided to go cut some broccoli and do some  hoeing. You can imagine my shock when I found this....
And this....
And this....
And this....
And this....
And this....
And this....
And this....
I could go on and on, but you get it. Spray drift killed our entire garden. Even the sweet corn has spots on it. We contacted the company who did the spraying and their rep came out to see the damage. He said that yes it was spray drift. Well, duh!!!! He is on his way to talk to his boss to see what they will do about this. It did not kill the beans. He pointed that out to me, but I told him that was not the point. These are all heirloom seeds, grown organically. Now they have been contaminated. We will have to mow the whole garden off. We planted heirloom so we could avoid GMOs and also used no chemicals on the garden.  I am pissed. (Please excuse my language as I do not normally talk like that, but that is the best word I can think to use.) This is just so heartbreaking. We not only have lots of money wrapped up into this garden, but hours and hours of work.

We also started an asparagus bed, strawberry bed, garlic bed, and blueberries. It looks like they were hit too. I am not sure if they will come out of it or not. I think it also got our grapes and all the black walnuts are falling off the tree prematurely. All the weeds around the duck shed and chicken coop are getting speckled so I know it drifted down there too. In other words, our whole place got hit. The really scary thing is that Kevin and I were out working in and around the garden the day he was spraying. That is why I was able to get pictures. I was taking pictures of the garden. I also snapped a couple of pictures of the sprayer. I let the rep know that I had pictures taken of the garden on Saturday just prior to spraying, the guy spraying, and pictures of my poor garden on Wednesday. My camera date stamps each picture. I think that got his attention. I also told him that I posted pictures on my blog of a great looking garden. Now was going to post pictures of a ruined garden.

I am sorry for the rant. Today is my feel sorry for myself day. I am comfort eating and will do some crafting. I can't stand to be outside and look across my garden. I get teary every time I think about it. I hope this doesn't happen to anybody else, because it just breaks your heart. I had such big plans for putting up lots of organic food for our winter. I got a few messes of spinach, some lettuce, and some peas. That is it!  I thought we may be able to salvage the potatoes, but Kevin said anything that gets on the leaves will go down into the potatoes. We don't want to take the chance. (so sad) Well, I am off to sulk. Everyone have a great day. Thanks for visiting and putting up with my whining.


8 comments:

Terry said...

What a terrible thing to have happen! I'd do some checking to see what it would cost to replace everything that was ruined...new plants plus try to figure out how long it would take a person to remove the old and replace it with new plants. Then you'll have a number in mind if they make you an offer to settle up for their mistake. Sending hugs for you!

Unknown said...

I think it's more a matter of your plants being destroyed. Those chemicals are now in your soil. I'm one who thinks there are way too many lawsuits these days but I believe in your case, I would be contacting an attorney.

Unknown said...

There I go with an anonymous comment again. It was me . . Judy L.

Lee said...

So sad for you, I'd be pretty tweaked too! What kind of chemical spray is it? You said for beans, but is it for pest control or something else, that it would cause so much damage to everything? As Judy said, it'll be in your soil, so wonder how long it's 'life' is.

Andrea said...

Aww what a shame - hope you get some compensation - and I would definitely be pissed off (as we say in UK) too. Good luck with it Winona xx

Just Ramblin' said...

I am so sorry about your garden. I just can't believe anyone would be out spraying when there is a wind. Will you even be able to plant a garden next year? I hope the company does something for you and it better be good! Just hope you and your husband don't have any side affects from being outside. And, you certainly had every right to vent! Your earlier pictures of your garden were so lovely. Hope things get better. Nola

Julie Fukuda said...

I sure don't blame you for being irked. You had a garden to envy and they messed it up big time! I feel sorrier still that you will have to deal with contaminated soil for time to come. The rental where my daughter lives, was covered with chemical weed-killer and years later, they can hardly get any plants to survive.

superman said...

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