So here we are at another weekend and I know a busy few days await. Next week is a 40 hour week at work and I won't have time for anything else til next weekend. As usual Dh and I have a list as long as our arm to finish this week. Probably more ambitious that we should attempt, but, we try on. Anyway, Dh left the house a few minutes ago to go get our youngest son from work. I thought to myself I would go out and check on a garden as well as spend a few minutes at work in said garden before the sun sets. Ummm...yea...I have my work cut out for me tomorrow. The combination of good rain and sun has served my garden well. The tomato plants are exploding and desperate to be tied to stakes (which I purchased today with a coupon for $10 a $50 order that I got in the mail), whatever vining squash I have growing as volunteers are beginning to crawl across the garden, and there are beans to pick. In fact I picked a good size handful tonight from a volunteer plant growing in between rows and mostly under plastic. I just shake my head in amazement. I checked out a few beds of other beans and , yes, they are ready for picking as well. This could very well signal a time to take out ye ole pressure canner. Anyway, Here are my tasks for tomorrow. Think of me as you bask in sunlight, on vaca, reading a book, or going out on the town. Anyway, here goes:
****this list has been updated since last night with what I completed****
1) Stake and tie up the rest of the tomato plants (64 of them)- this includes pulling off suckers and wayward branches. (DONE)
2) Fill in bare areas of my bean bed, or at least one of them, and replant the extra space with..., yes, more beans.
3) Move newly grown corn into full rows and replant the newly emptied area with, yes, more corn.
4) Purchase more pepper plants- I have a $5 coupon off any order at our local Ace. This will pay for the pepper plants as well as a box of hooks for coffee cups (another story)
5) Pick beans and possibly can some. (DONE only got enough to have for dinner so no canning)
6) Harvest more Mint. The gift that keeps on giving. (DID SOME, BUT NEEDS MORE)
7) Pot up yet more tomato volunteers for another friend at work (as well as my first friend cause that was a miss from last week. (DONE)
8) Weed some more (Oh Joy)(DONE for now but this job is never really done)
9) and I wanted to wash the car
10) and I wanted to steam clean the carpet in our bedroom.
11) and I need to get at least some of my grocery list.(DONE AND PUT AWAY!)
12) Dh has a plan to change the oil in the car and help our handsome sons to cut the grass. (DONE)
See what I mean? There comes a point in every growing season where you go from looking more than working to working more than looking. At this point your motto goes from "I want my garden to be pretty"to just functional. In other words, you look the other way when weeds are creeping along because all you have time for is picking and canning. That means house work goes by the wayside as well. That means numbers 9-11 are back burners. By August though I will be to the point where I am telling my plants "its okay to go towards the light. I can make it without you" or "you know you can just die!"
Naw, seriously, I am grateful for every fruit and veggie that comes from the garden. It is God's provision for us and I am blessed to receive it. God does take the whole "pressed down shaken together running over" thing a bit seriously. Hey, He doesn't do small blessings.
So forgive me over the next few months if I seem a bit dazed. I have visions of plum tomatoes dancing in my head as well as every other thing coming in. Come Sept and things slow down, I will collapse and stare at the wall till Thanksgiving. Until then I press on.
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