Confessions - Vegetable Garden -2011

Vegetable garden - Last year in October
Confession time. I failed at keeping the vegetable garden in prime condition this summer. It has become a tangled mass of rampant, wild, twisted weeds. This slide into depravity happened gradually and almost imperceptibly and toward the end of the summer. I blame Irene. Irene arrived with a fury at the end of August. She whipped the tomatoes into mush. She tangled the squash vines and saturated the ground. She sapped the energy of the gardener and stole the power for over a week.

Vegetable garden this year in October

For days, the EM, the dogs and I were at the mercy of the length of the days. After the first four days with no power, water or night lights we left for the wilds of Maine where 'off the grid' living is the norm. A generator runs the shower and lights. The outhouse handles the daily essentials. There is a hot shower on demand. The comforts of a porcelain toilet and a hot shower should not be taken for granted. Irene did make me a bit more grateful in some respects. I digress, mostly because of the embarrassment of letting the gardens slide back to nature. In August I did plant a late crop of carrots. I found them this week. I also planted butter lettuce and swiss chard. Unfazed by the weeds, they appeared after the weeding. I had a few fingerling potatoes left in the garden. Bounty! It felt like a prize when I uncovered them while pulling and tugging and neatening up the beds. There is more to do but now, with the fragrance of soil in my nostrils and the clean beds begging for a bit of compost, I am filled with the anticipation of next year's perfection in the vegtable garden. It will be productive and beautiful. Of course it will. Did you manage to keep all gardens neat and tidy this year? I vow to do so next year.