I woke up this morning to a deliciously cool morning, breezy, sunny, birds singing, perfect garden weather. So I took myself out into the garden for a little early morning weeding and puttering around in the dirt.
This has been a horrible year for vegetable gardening for me. I confess I'm a wimp. If it's raining or over 90 degrees I don't like to be out there. We didn't get rain but we certainly had more than our fair share of extraordinarily hot days. And we had a drought. The end result of which is that we got peas, beans, tomatoes and hot peppers. But the zucchini didn't grow (I had always thought it was impossible to NOT grow zucchini — shows what an expert I am), the broccoli and sweet peppers were stunted and bitter, and many of my herbs grew so poorly that I was unable to harvest anything. I'm afraid to try to dig the potatoes, I don't think anything is there.
This morning however I was thrilled to see some things survived and are actually doing well. Here in East Texas our Fall weather is mild enough that many folks refer to it as a second spring. We are fortunate enough to have an extended mild season that allows us to grow another set of crops. Given the hope that follows the soaking rain we had a week ago I'm recharged and ready to get back into the garden.
 |
| the cabbage is starting to recover |
 |
| a baseball sized lemon – the only one on the tree |
 |
| our eggplants are starting to fruit |
 |
| the harrdier herbs survived: oregano, sage, chives, pepper basil, a curry plant and yarrow |
 |
| our fig tree is producing a bumper second crop |
Being outside made me realize how much I have been shut inside during the heat of our summer. Yes, I went for walks and bike rides, but to just spend extended amounts of time outdoors enjoying the yard and my surroundings — didn't happen. I'm grateful for the cooler weather, the opportunity to be back outside and the resiliency of mother nature.
