August 2013 Garden Update

Even in my total neglect of my blog, I did remember to take some pictures at the end of the season.

Here is the corn as it dies and turns brown. I meant to give it to my friend to decorate her front porch. The best intentions . . .

The tomatoes were a jungle! If you look, you can see the large piles from my efforts to prune them (to avoid growing over the fence into the neighbor’s yard.

There are only two tomato plants in this bed, and my peppers. 3 out of 4 pepper plants were great.

This is the trellis at the end of the year. I loved looking out at those pumpkins hanging in the wind.

The last of the cherry tomatoes, kale, and green beans.

The kale always makes me laugh! I harvest the kale from the bottom, trying to take about 1/3 of the leaves at a time. It ends up looking like a funny palm tree.

Here are the spaghetti squash I grew. They didn’t seem to ripen well, I don’t think I’ll grow this variety again next year.

And so ends the 2013 season of my garden. As I’ve written these last posts I’ve reflected on how much I love my garden. I love planning it, working in it, planting, harvesting. It’s so rewarding, even when everything doesn’t go just right.

I can’t quite describe the feeling of satisfaction I get when my family sits down to eat, and the whole meal is from my garden. And yet, the satisfaction is mixed with awe, because I didn’t do much. The miracle of seeds growing into plants and producing fruit blows me away. We get so far removed from our food, and I love and appreciate being so intimately connected to it. I take care and nurture the plants, and they in turn produce and nurture my family.

I also love taking pictures and writing and remembering my garden. But I’ve realized that I need to find a better balance, so I don’t post so much in the winter/spring but then burn out and refuse to face it at all during the summer.

So, you’ll notice that I’m taking steps to simplify and minimize the work my blog creates. First, comments will automatically close after a few days. I hate worrying about spammers and hackers getting access that way. Also, I’ll post all the guest posts, so I don’t have to worry about others signing up and having access to the site.

Finally, I’ve shut down my newsletter, and launched a sister-site Planting By Color. There you can find all the planting schedules and dates (color coded, of course!). I’m hoping that this, with a little moderation in posting frequency, will be enough to keep me chugging along, slowly but surely.

Right now it’s the middle of winter, but I know spring is just around the corner!