A memory to get me through the winter

“I know the year is dying, Soon the summer will be dead. I can trace it in the flying Of the black crows overhead; I can hear it in the rustle Of the dead leaves as I pass, And the south wind’s plaintive sighing Through the dry and withered grass.

Ah, ’tis then I love to wander, Wander idly and alone, Listening to the solemn music Of sweet nature’s undertone; Wrapt in thoughts I cannot utter, Dreams my tongue cannot express, Dreams that match the autumn’s sadness In their longing tenderness.” -  Mortimer Crane Brown, Autumn Dreams

My garden is a sad, sad place now. I hoped the last of the tomatoes would ripen but they’re doing it so slowly that the slugs are getting more than me. There are still a lot out there and very green but I’ve decided not to hold my breath  waiting on them. A few summer squash are still growing too, and one lone zuchinni. I found last years old seeds about mid July and threw them in my flower bed. From those I will have 2 winter squash (yay!) They are small but better than none. Once I’m feeling better I need to get busy and clean up the mess from this years garden. Oh yeah, and there’s that long overdo (hopefully) last lawn mowing to do. The broccoli plants finally got huge but the broccolis didn’t so I didn’t even pick them.

^Winter Squash plants!^

I almost stepped on this lil guy yesterday. That would have been really really gross. Being that my garden is about finished and the fact that I don’t have the heart to kill him, I just moved him off to where I’m putting the tomatoes already eaten by slugs. I really couldn’t kill any of them, if they crawl into the beer I put out, that’s different. Apparently this one is a teetotaler.

Other things

• I have been cigarette free for 9 days. It’s getting easier.
• I have been going to the Y consistently. I average between an hour and an hour & a half each time.
• I am going into the advanced life skills class (I think that’s what they call it, the next DBT group anyway).
• I wasn’t perfect with my garden but I loved every minute of it and I followed through all summer long caring for it and preserving the food.

Things to do

• Figure out how to be social again.
• Make friends.
• You realize I have no clue how to do that?
• Find someone to haul compost and mulch for my garden.

I have come a long way this summer. I think my blog is great, if for no other reason than here is proof of my progress when I start to doubt myself. And I surely will It doesn’t seem to be appealing to many others and I wish it was but I can understand why it isn’t. For those of you who do read and comment still, I thank you for your kindness, it means a lot to me!

“Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You’re closer to God’s heart in a garden than any place else on earth.” ~ Dorothy Frances Gurney

I can go out there any day and not be sure what gifts I’ll be bringing in that day. They are always yummy though. Today, I found 5 ripe tomatoes, 1 summer squash, enough beans for a couple more freezer bags and yet another precious zucchini. It finally rained, I was watering because so many days it’s been a false alarm. This evening when it slowed to a sprinkle I went out to see what I might discover this time and it was more than I expected. And there is still more to come!

I admit that other than watering I hadn’t looked at it for a week. The garden is clearly on the wane. The corn was a bust, I picked what little there was and we ate that last weekend. My tomatoes on the counter are ripe and are in the canner as I type. I found lots of beans last night! They are taken care of and in the freezer. No more ripe squash and I see no zucchini even growing. Very sad, I have really enjoyed that this summer.

There will be more summer squash in a few days. I think I finally have 3 peppers out there. I do hope they get a little bit bigger. There will be lots more tomatoes and probably beans. I am still hoping to see a winter squash turn up somewhere. And brocolli! I’m glad I didn’t pull those unindentified plants. But I think I figured out that you are meant to pick it before it turns to flowers :p Ah well, I was hoping it was going to get bigger. I still see some hope for more goodies before we are done for the year, and I can’t call it a failure. Thus far only 4 quarts of tomatoes, 8 bags of beans and all that I got to enjoy all summer long.

I have pole beans growing everywhere! For all of that plant, I picked a small amount of beans a few days ago and promptly made potato soup like my mom used to make. Potatoes, fresh green beans, onions, milk, butter, salt and pepper. I love that soup and it’s a good thing because I just ate it for four days! Today I picked a few more and decided it was an adequate amount to freeze for just me. Probably enough for another batch of soup.

In the hopes of salvaging my tomatoes from all their afflictions (fungi and slugs) I am now bringing them in not quite ripe. They only seem to get bad at the very end so these look great. I did can two quarts of them last night but I had to cut a lot of bad off the tomatoes.

I watered again and I think I had let it all get too dry. My mom said you didn’t need to water later on like this but I’m thinking I should have been right along. I have new blossoms on my squash now so I’ll be more diligent about the watering. It’s been quite a dry summer except for very early on. I’m not liking to do the watering. My water bill was $20 higher last month and I clearly didn’t water enough.

My poor corn, I thought it was looking ripe but they are so small so today I checked one. It’s a beauty isn’t it? The cob is exactly 3 1/2 inches long. They are all like that and the stalks never got tall. So I am supposing that is also a lack of water. I’m just going to pick them and enjoy what little there is. When my kids come this weekend maybe I’ll serve them corn on the cob like they’ve never seen before

I believe I might have found a winter squash plant, but I see no squash on it. It is a vine one and has run across and through the pole beans with no poles and into the tomatoes and beyond. I hope it grows some squash!

This garden hasn’t been a huge success produce wise so far but it has done wonders for me. I’m totally attached to it, it’s my baby It’s gotten me outside, given me a great project and really helped my mental health.

I’ve been doing some reading and I know what I’m going to do next year. No till gardening. It sounds so healthy for the soil, you don’t have to dig the garden up, controls weeds, adds lots of yummy nutrients to the soil. I’m not sure I have enough waste to make a good compost pile but there seems to be a place in town I can get that and mulch for free. I’m already looking forward to next year. I’m sure my garden will be tons better than this one was. Then I visited a friends blog with a new post about saving seeds. That hadn’t even crossed my mind so  I’m going to give that a go. She did promise an article on saving seeds for tomatoes, squash, cukes and peppers, all of which I have in my garden. I’m stoked about the idea of saving my own seeds, and hey, even more money saved if it works!

I feel like practically an expert by now. Last year I planted a few plants in very bad clay soil. This year I had a real garden spot and it’s the first time in my life that I have planted a real garden. So here is what I’ve learned.

• There are such things as pole beans.
• If you plant pole beans, you should have a pole.
• You probably only need one kind of summer squash.
• Tomatoes would be good with a support too so they don’t all grow on the ground.
• Slugs love tomatoes.
• Beer kills slugs.
• Tomatoes can get several different kinds of fungi, esp. if you water them with a sprinkler and they are growing on the ground.
• You should water the ground with a hose, not a sprinkler.
• Corn can fall over really easily, consider support for that.
• Keep your seed packets so you’ll remember what you planted.
• If you find a random radish that you didn’t plant, enjoy!
• Sunflowers can surprisingly end up growing in your garden.
• 7 foot tall sunflower plants can fall down in a heavy rain (unless of course it really was a big animal).
• Corn can fall down in a heavy rain (see above).
• Beans are really hard to find when the pole bean plants without the poles are wrapped around themselves and every surrounding plant they can reach.
• Sunflowers make excellent poles for pole beans (until they fall down).
• Tomatoes are really hard to find when they are overgrown with pole beans.
• Don’t plant asparagus in your garden that you will be digging up every year.
• Plant things farther apart, even with poles.

I’m sure I have more education coming but that’s all I can think of for the moment. Look how much I learned in one year! My disappointments this year, the cauliflower, winter squash and catnip never grew at all. Nor the asparagus but that’s okay.

How’s that for a title? Today is my birthday. I am now old

In celebration I had a beautiful fresh tomato from my garden with cottage cheese.

We had a really nasty storm last night. I went to bed early because I pulled one of my 30 hours awake things again. The thunder was scary. When I got up this morning my computer was offline. Yes, I left it on, thank the gods it wasn’t fried! So I found that the cicuit breaker blew that the modem was on, then it was all good. Until I went out to go to group. The first thing I saw was that my corn was completely flattened. Then my garage door wouldn’t open. Back to the circuit breakers, yep, that one blew too.

After I got home I tried straightening the corn up with limited success. I think I’m going to need to pack dirt around every one of them but I didn’t finish. I worked until I got that whole hypoglycemia thing going that I always seem to get when I try to do anything. Really annoying. I hope they survive. It also toppled 2 sunflowers that are inexplicably in the middle of my garden. I don’t see any other wind or storm damage anywhere, it’s very strange. I would have thought a large animal ran through there.

On a positive note, yesterday I got 6 birthday cards. I think that’s a record. Okay, one was from my insurance carrier and I’m sure they’re happy I’m still alive

I did get a birthday card from one of my kids. My baby seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I guess I’ll have to call her to tell her she can now wish me happy birthday :p