Avoiding the Fall

Every year,just about this time, when the flowers are doing their best show and thriving, it starts to sink in. Soon, the cold nights will creep into the daytime hours, and gradually - or as quick as a blink - it will send the plants into their final days. Fall has never been my favorite season, although the colors are a treat for the eyes, long bored with the steady green of trees and grass. And I do enjoy the cooler breezes, and my coffee is better when the air is chilly. It's just the feeling of impending death - of all that I have worked hard for. So far, I have harvested zucchini (about 9 so far) cucumbers, crookneck squash, tomatoes (oh, just heaven in a red globe!) and even one beautiful yellow pepper, which made its way into our "conglomarkation" (potatoes, onion, pepper, egg and cheese) for breakfast on Sunday. Erica's seeds from pre-k, cosmos and lettuce, have both done great, and we have two, TWO! watermelons on the vine - both are about 8" across, and I'll bet they will taste just great! Beyond that, the flowers are blooming so great, and my Sedum, which I learned from cousin Edna in Iowa will turn pink, are turning pink! Nothing is more depressing than watching beautiful things die. I wish I could bring them all inside and keep them safe from the sad fate of winter. I did that last year with a pepper plant, which has produced peppers since February (while still indoors - talk about cool!) and in years past I've held on to geraniums that also were blooming in the window while the snow fell outside. That sure does help me get through the dreariness of winter. But for now, I'm spending every minute outside, tending the veggies, coaxing a few more blooms from the star flowers and daisies. And waiting for just one more tomato to turn red.

The Best Part of Summer

I was sitting on the patio last night, on the phone to a friend, and I noticed the most wonderful thing! Over in the corner, under the shade of the green leaves, was a beautiful RED tomato! Red, as in ripe and ready to pick! Red as the 4th of July! I couldn't hold my excitement - I interrupted whatever conversation we were having, and did a great "Whoo Hoo"! For me, this is the best part of summer - the taste of a really great tomato, one that hasn't been picked while still green and hard, and left to ripen on the truck from a thousand miles away. It also is a symbol of my effort, while fairly small (after all, the plant was started by someone else - all I did was place it, water it, and wait) but rewarding.

My family jokes that I am the only one who shares my father's love of gardening. My thumb was green from the start. I remember in our backyard, the HUGE vegetable garden, with rows of corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, squash, peas, zucchini, and who knows what else. Dad liked to experiment, and since he had the space it was easy to put in a few seeds and see what grew. Harvesting the corn was the most fun - Dad would tell mom to get the water boiling, and he would get to picking. My job was to husk it was fast as I could, getting it to the pot before the corn's milk dried up. Some nights, that was all we had for dinner!

Dad would come home after work, and head right out to the garden. There, he could see his progress in real, living things, and notice the barely taller plants. He would put his hands in the earth, pull a weed here and there, and generally relax. I know just how he felt. The dirt, plants, smells, colors, all create a special calmness for me. They don't require conversation, and your mind can wander as you tend to each plant. Ah, peaceful! One of my favorite things is the watering. I love the sound of the water through the sprinkler, the smell of wet dirt, the coolness, and of course, I have to get my feet wet!

I only have a small area to plant - 25 ft by 18 inches, and this year I put in zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and a watermelon. The tomatoes are in barrels in the sunniest part of the yard, and do so well, it's almost no work at all. But the results are terrific!