I’m so sad that its time to trim down the stems, rake up the wilted flowers and pull up the stakes to store again until next Spring. The Summers can never be long enough to satisfy my love of flowers in the backyard but, I must admit, its a nice feeling to have worked so hard in Spring & rewarded our family with such delicious farm to table goodies all Summer long. Now the garden is bare and we’re enjoying the crunch of leaves underfoot, anticipating the first snowfall that could come visit us any day now.
My garden was a pure joy for me this year. It was my first vegetable garden and I loved every minute of it. It was so exciting to see what grew well, what failed and how much I learned in the course of just a few months. It was my haven, my sanctuary and my place to get out of the house and think while I surrounded myself with the scents of fresh tomatoes on the vine, rich sweet peas growing up the trellises and watched my pumpkins ramble about the corn and grow in every which way.
I would sit amongst the zinnias and watch as bumblebees hopped from one stem to another and would be amazed at how gorgeous they were..
I planted 4 long rows of potatoes (I plan on growing even more next year – we sure love our potatoes) and I can still remember the day I reached in to that dirt and grabbed out my first new potato! I was so excited, I ran to find Adam just to show him!! We feasted on the best tasting potatoes all summer long and, thankfully, we’ll do so well in to the winter now that they are freshly harvested and ready to go!
I learned that next year I want to try brussel sprouts for sure and I think I’ll wave goodbye to the Swiss Chard, which we really never ate (flea beetles attacked it early on and it just never seemed appealing after that!) But I will continue to grow tomatoes (cherry tomatoes and a few beefsteaks for sure, no more romas..they took way to long to ripen and weren’t that sweet!), definitely green and yellow beans again..they were so creamy and delicious!
Next year I will try my hand again at popcorn & sweet corn but when I plant it, I’ll make sure it goes in earlier and gets way more water than it did this year. Being I had a temporary garden, we made due with a couple of sprinklers that did their best but my garden could’ve used a lot more water with the size it was!!
And next year I am definitely growing pumpkins again, although I think I might grow them separate from the rest of my patch as they took over my tomato cages and even some potatoe plants!! I’ll research pumpkins more this winter to see how to get ginormous ones for carving as, although mine turned out sweet & cute..they’re more for baking up delicious pies than spooking the neighbors 😉
If you planted a garden this Summer I hoped you reveled in every moment in it. I hope you took the time to sit back, relax and actually enjoy the fruits of your labor as well. I’m thinking a nice sturdy old rocking chair on the back porch is a requirement of any gardener 😉 Gardening is such a rewarding hobby to have and I can honestly say I’m already planning and dreaming up my garden for next year!! So if you’re interested, I’ve got a pot of cranberry cider simmering on the stove and some new seed catalogues to pour over. Come on over and help yourself!!
dawn - Hi Dawn, this is such a great post. I can feel the love for your garden in your words. This was fun for me this year too in the garden. My hubby is the main gardner but I like looking and taking pictures of it all. This is the last of our garden too. Makes me sad when it’s time to see it go and get till it down for the spring.
I’m very impressed with your veggie garden and how good everything came out. BE PROUD AND BRAG!!! Great job on the pumpkins, lots of good ones you have. They do tend to take over the garden don’t they, lol
Enjoy your harvest thru the winter and spring will be here before you know it.
penny - You should be SO proud of yourself and your garden. I wondered if you would be overwhelmed by the work that goes into harvesting all those wonderful growing things ….you seem to revel in all of it
The Romas are great for making tomato sause based dishes, thats why I grow so many. I spoke with an older lady that recommended Oxhart tomatoes. Will look for them next year.
Your garden was a work of art…as is you photography!