Friday, August 21, 2015

Garden update

I thought a garden update was long over due. Remember this lovely picture of our raised beds??.....
 Well, lets just say months of bed-rest have done their damage and the toll is high.. Sigh.. Since this was taken I've snuck out and managed to tame it somewhat despite doctors orders, but my late master gardener mother would not approve. Of course she would also be out there weeding and threatening me within an inch of my life to get back into bed if  I knew what was good for me.. ;)
On a plus side we have SEVEN cantaloupes ripening in our tiny patch. Any day now we will be able to harvest these yummy garden gems.
Four of our five acorn squashes made it. I was going to rip out the vines, but I saw that one still had blossoms on it so I left it with fingers crossed we might get a few more squashes before the frost comes.
I had to ask for help, but Panda, Bear and I harvested a little over 3 lbs of sweet snap peas that I froze for this winter. 
And then there are the tomatoes.... Such a sad tale of woe and misery.  
My seedlings all rotted so my sister gave me some of the seedlings she was experimenting with this year (check her small pace container garden out. Its amazing!!). The seeds were not strong and both her and my tomatoes blighted this year. Oh well. Next year is a new year. I will return to my faithful Roma tomatoes and my sister will return to her prolific bumblebee tomatoes. We had several salads from our lettuce bed, but I think next year I will plant a smaller batch of lettuce. We harvested countless strawberries this year, and three of our 17 apples are making it to maturity.  Not a lot, but there are only three of us right now, so it might be just right. As the tree matures it will be able to handle more apples. 
Oh! Basil, how could I forget my basil bed?! I'm having Bear harvest my basil in small batches right now for processing. I plan on turning it all into pesto. Next year I will attempt to can our pesto, but this year I'm sticking with my tried and true freezer method. We will have at least 10 cups of pesto by my guesstimation when I am done to enjoy through the long dark winter months ahead.
As for me.... Still on bed-rest but finally have some answers and might be getting better soon. I might have to stay on bed-rest because my hips keep sublexing (popping in and out of their sockets due to my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). The replacement castor came for my wheelchair finally so I might have a chance to get out and enjoy the end of the season a tiny bit if my health improves. Fingers crossed. There are still a lot of unknowns, but we are nearing the end and I can finally see the light at the end of this journey. Till next week. Shine on.

8 comments:

  1. I love your pretty garden! The basil is amazing, and I love that you got cantaloupe!!!

    We needed to scale back on how much lettuce we grew as well though. One 2'x3' bin can go to seed faster than we can keep up!

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    1. Yep.. You saw the disaster of our 3'x6' beds. Oye! And because our faucet was broken for most of the summer they didn't get enough water and bolted... Atleast bolted lettuce still has uses or it would have been a complete waste.. Ah well, next year.... For the both of us :)

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  2. So good to hear an update--on the garden (awesome!) but mostly on you. So sorry it's been such a hard season for you. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes better. When are you due?

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    1. Thank you Mia, our EDD is October 19th. Not long now :)

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  3. Hello there my friend! Still so much bounty from your garden, even though you couldn't be out there as much as you would have liked to be.

    It is getting close now. I hope the last little bit of your pregnancy goes well. Sending love and hugs, Kim. xo

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    1. Thanks Kim, we just got news that my "answer" turned out to be another dead end. So we are back to square one and have no clue what's going on. Sigh... I hope everything goes well despite these constant set backs. :(

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  4. Hello my dear... I think your gardens fared wonderfully considering everything that was thrown at you this summer. I'm jealous of those cantaloupes for sure.

    I'm sorry to hear that you are again finding yourself at square one with your issues. I'm thinking of you always and am sending as much healing energy I can. Hang in there, he's almost here!

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  5. Thank you. I'm jealous of our cantaloupes as well... Mmmm, they are taking forever to ripen. I can't wait! And yes, very soon. This one is coming early. I can feel it.

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