Harvest Monday

OK, so no blogging for a few weeks, but for good reason. In a very short period of time I have lost my job, had my husband come home from a seven month deployment, lost my my papaw, gone on vacation and sent my husband off to school in virginia for another month.

That said I have also spent a lot of time in the garden mostly reflecting on all of these events, but also really digging in to the beginnings of what will hopefully be an epic fall/winter garden as well as a major renovation of the side garden. It's a funny thing though. I have always known that I had gardening in my blood. My mom's father, grandaddy Bill, used to bring us a watermelon that he had grown every summer or two. The plot he used to garden on was right behind the garage he used to own and run, and you could see the garden from the Mayport Rd overpass. I can remember now sub-conciousley keeping track of it's progress and decline over the years. I can't help now but wonder from my own experience if that one watermelon was all he may have had to show for all of his efforts. Melons are indeed a fussy crop here in north Florida and it may have been one of the few ways he really knew how to show us his love.
My papaw was a far more simpler gardener. He used the grow bag method. He would take a bag of compost and lay it in a sunny spot, drive a tomato tower through it, rip a hole in the top of the bag and bury his transplant in the compost. All spring and summer there would be dozens of plump, ripe, homegrown tomatoes lining the window sill behind the living room sofa at his house. He stopped gardening about ten years ago as his health began to decline, but he never lost his discerning taste for a good tomato. At family dinners he would often find some excuse to go into the kitchen and on his way in and out he would steal a cherry tomato (or two or three) and pop them in his mouth like a jelly bean. About two months ago when he was in the hospital recovering from hip surgery, they brought his dinner to the room. He immediately snatched up the cherry tomato from his salad and popped it into his mouth. He also immediately spit it back out. I guess it wasn't homegrown.

This weeks harvest:

A few large eggplants in my new handmade Beekman 1802 garden hod, and some amazing ginger bulbs. The bulbs are full of an amazing smelling essence. So intoxicating!

Why I LOVE September . . .

Be careful what you wish for . . .

One of the gardeners most dubious tasks is attracting pollinators to the garden. Especially veggie gardeners. We swear we are not going to mess with flowers every season, but our desire to have as many bees and wasps around to help us increase our harvest usually finds us embracing anything they may be attracted to. This year I gave in. We're talking cosmos, susans, bachelor buttons, milk weed, zinnias and dahlias. That said, I was richly rewarded. At one point in the summer I counted more than 15 different types of winged pollinators in the yard. I have created such an amazing oasis in fact that some of them have decided to take up residence . . .

in my grill.





The wasp nest in the back I noticed when it was quite a bit smaller one day when I had to change out the tank. They were kind of doing their own thing going in and out and didn't seem to mind all of the ruckus I was making, so I let them be. Well two nights ago when I was just finishing up grilling, the grill flared up and out from the side of the grill came a brigade of about 8 bees who swarmed around me in disapproval. A closer look yesterday showed that the wasp nest has increased dramatically in size, as well as a small bee hive. So though I managed to make it inside unscathed that night, it's safe to say that my grilling days are over until I figure out what to do. I've had many offers from friends armed with wasp spray to help me take care of them, but I worked so hard to attract them that I fear the karma it might bring next season.

Coming soon . . .

Fall Tomatoes! Sun Gold to be exact. This guy was so prolific during the spring and early summer, it's no wonder it will be the first to bare fruit for the fall.



Pumpkins! This one I'll still believe when I actually have one of these white Casper beauties carved on the front steps for Halloween, but it's fun to watch grow. And though you can't see them in this photo it is already producing male blossoms daily and there are a few tiny females forming as well!

Basil, Basil, Basil.

I have basil running out of my ears. In early spring I planted a few plants in the front garden and they very quickly began to bolt. I left them because of the large amount of pollinators they were attracting. So now they have set seed and the basil is popping up everywhere. So what do you do when life gives you basil? You make pesto!







The final product: one ice tray full for freezing.