The End

Well, let's see, compared to other years' gardens, this one was quite a success. The rains came, so the plot wasn't dependent on my random watering patterns. And we got some very nice tomatoes. Our [unfortunately] hybrid cherry tomato plant was especially a favorite with Precious and Bubby. But, for a couple of weeks there, we were pulling in enough tomatoes to have a nice batch of homemade spaghetti sauce each week.

The corn got tall, and we saw the starts of some ears. But, then, it got brown. This happened at a point that most of the farmers market corn had already passed. I'm thinking I got the seed in the ground too late. Any other thoughts? Um, maybe I should have weeded the bed? I'm sure the corn wasn't too happy about having to compete with 3-foot-tall centipede grass.

The four okra plants that survived went on to produce very woody okra. Truthfully, I had no idea they were even producing, until I spotted a huge pod coming out of the stalk. By that time, they were just a little too fibrous for teeth. So, I bought two huge batches of okra from the local farmers market, chopped it, and froze it. Checkmark for okra.

My herbs started out well enough. That was, until my lavender was mistaken for a weed and eaten by a weedeater. And the local rabbits devoured my mint, and then was eaten by the weedeater. It's actually coming back! Then, my basil was sacrificed for pesto, and never revived. So, I went out and bought some rosemary and more basil. They are now sitting happily on my deck, soaking in the fall rains. Precious loves to chew on fresh rosemary, and we love it on baked salmon. I'm still thinking of a nice, rocky spot for a hardy perennial.

And that was the summer garden for this year. I'm still contemplating kale for the winter... or not. We'll see.