I got my first sugar snap pea yesterday. It was the most delicious, crunchy, sweet mouthful of goodness I have tasted in a long time. Of course I am not biased, but I do believe that the one special package of seeds with extra flavor found their way into my garden. MMMMMMMMMM....so fantastic. I am sure that all the LUV and effort that went into those peas has found its way into the pods. Never mind that the peas are leaning at a 45 degree angle to the ground. Never mind that I have to turn upside down to pick them. When that pea pod bursts open in my mouth...I forget all about the toil and sweat.
For all you guys out there, this won't make any sense, but right now, this whole gardening and harvesting thing is feeling a lot like giving birth (god, I am so sappy). We just forget about the hard work, and the pain the minute that little bundle of pulchritude pops into our lives. I might be exaggerating a little bit, but the harvesting of that pea was something else.
I am still waiting to feel at one with the earth. Not happening yet. I still don't like the bugs and the weeds, but maybe........when the food is done growing, and I have a full pantry, I will begin to feel a kinship with nature. Maybe when I have more experience, and the process of planting and sowing is more natural to me, I will have time to actually focus on what is happening in the moment and not worry about the outcome. Hmmmmmm...this sounds suspiciously like some life lesson. OH NO!!!!! Not another growth opportunity!!! I don't know if I can take it.
The hanging basket of tomatoes on the front deck is not doing well since the raccoons have eaten the fruit and are now starting on the flowers. Next year I will decorate the deck with all the flowers that the deer and raccoons don't touch.
The potatoes are doing fantastic. The plants are flowering.. I hope that is good. The straw is still in place and hopefully there will be lots of taters. I have ONE pumpkin plant. It looks big and beautiful and bushy, but only one of the 5 seeds I put in the mound germinated. I hope that I get more than one pumpkin.
The yellow crook neck squash is prolific. I am excited about that because it is my favorite kind of squash. I planted the pumpkin and the crook neck squash in the same size mound and treated them both the same. I have written down what I did...so I can repeat it next year.
The popcorn and bunching onions aren't doing a thing. The yellow onions are thriving. I am wondering if I got a batch of bad bunching onion seeds because of course it wouldn't be because of a mistake I made if it didn't grow.
I have a plan for the fall when it gets too cold to garden. I am going to create a salad garden in the green house. That blanket over the top of the greenhouse seems to keep it warm in the cold, and somewhat cool in the heat, at least the kind of heat we get in the northwest. I am going to plant a variety of lettuce in a huge, round, planter pot. I also plan to try to grow some more green onions, and some radishes and cucumbers. I would love to have fresh lettuce all year. I am a little reluctant to do that because when I taste the produce that is grown in a "hot house" that is in the supermarket, it has no flavor and does not taste good at all. So I don't know how it is grown, and if the hot house is a green house, but I intend to bite the bullet and find out.
Until next time,
Karen
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