The September Garden

As I rightly feared, this year the garden suffered from a string of distractions and a lag of enthusiasm. I threw myself into a design project that overtook what was left of my life (after work, kids, church, being a wife) and used up a great deal of creative energy. We split a CSA share from Turnip Rock Farm, which is always a dream, but it gave me little reason to rely on my own growing space to feed our family throughout the summer. My neighbor and I started a corn patch in back which was poorly planned and poorly tended, and ultimately yielded next to nothing after squirrels and rot took their respective toll. I threw a bunch of plants down where bare earth appeared, without much thought to how they would detract from the overall garden vision - or how they would contribute to the creeping charlie nightmare. Finally, a I think a suburban laziness overtook me. Using the rain barrel seemed an exceedingly tedious task. And not once did I resist the urge to ooze in front of my computer, watching bad TV and scrolling through Facebook (yes, I am on Facebook now; yes, it's everything I thought it would be, and I want to die).

if you look very closely you may see a revolting supper club of beetles, wasps, and flies.

let's hope it grows back 

Needless to say, my first year vigor gave way to a sophomore slump, though a few good deeds were still accomplished. For example, I grew my first decent-sized beets (almost by mistake) in my pine mulch blueberry bed. I had my first successful brussels sprouts, and I had green beans to feed a neighborhood. I put them into excellent use as pickles. I also managed to expand my native perennial border (still without being ticketed by the city!) and experiment with perennials in the kitchen garden.

a few thoughts:

Watch out for that anise hyssop. It spreads like a pernicious weed.

Start your broccoli out in march if possible, and eat real heads, not stringy flowers,

Grow more cabbage and eat, eat, eat sauerkraut.

Finally, don't get too cocky about those tomatoes you saved from seed. They won't be quite what you hoped for.