A Peek at My Garden
My kitchen garden was a bit of a disaster this year. I haven’t weeded it since June. My honeybees swarmed. The chickens learned to fly over the fence and had a field day, digging up entire pepper plants, scratching out baby greens, and laying eggs under a gigantic bolted basil. And you know what? I’m okay with it. Life happens—sometimes travel opportunities arise, work gets busy, dear friends decide to get married, and the garden suddenly falls to the wayside.
As any passerby could surely tell you, my garden does not look worthy of a magazine spread right now (thankfully, Sunset called last year!). I couldn’t bring myself to take any photos of my beds, but I thought I’d share some shots of the good food that my garden produced without much help from me.
Next year, I’m certain, it will be back to its lovely old self. We will build a taller fence to keep the chickens at bay and I will clip my own wings and stay home for the summer. But I won’t look back on this season as a loss. I still grew some of my own food, shared seeds with friends, learned to can, and invented new recipes. How could I possibly be disappointed with that?
Coriander Seed
Popcorn!
‘Fairy Tale’ Eggplant
My Hens’ Secret Stash of Eggs
A Pair of Ripening Peppers
‘Trombetta’ Summer Squash and Blossoms
Yeah Willi – that’s why there’s always next year! I’d say your 2009 life “crop” was abundant.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pmThank you for answering my request! Gardening is like a big experiment, isn’t it? Even when you do everything right, nature or animals or life has a different plan. Thanks for sharing, Willi!
September 28th, 2009 at 8:09 pmthis is making me feel not so bad for the sorry state of affairs in my garden. Everything either went brown or got mildew while I was in NYC for two weeks. That garden still kicked out the food and I canned red sauce and mad spicy green beans!! It’s not always about looks….I guess! Next year, I promise to eat my squash blossoms!
September 28th, 2009 at 9:18 pmThis post got me thinking – any good tips for “putting your garden to bed” at the end of the season so that you might get started on the right foot (and with less work) in the spring?
September 28th, 2009 at 9:51 pmfunny, I “found you” via the Sunset magazine article. I feel like you wrote this for me. Whether you did or not. Thank you. I need to adopt your attitude toward my garden despite what my chickens did to it : )
September 29th, 2009 at 5:42 amEvery gardening year is different. I’m glad you found some peace with how life balances things out this way. Clearly, from your photos, all was not lost!
September 29th, 2009 at 8:04 amMaybe try bird netting to keep the chickens in. We have strung like a roof above our chicken enclosure and it keeps them in. I suppose it wouldn’t work as well if the chicken enclosure was also the people enclosure…
September 29th, 2009 at 12:06 pmLorene–I agree. And somehow my garden ended up being pretty abundent, too. Despite my benign neglect!
Elizabeth–Gardening is a big experiment. I think that’s why I find it so addicting. Nothing is ever the same twice!
Flower–I just got back from NYC! It’s totally a great garden town, despite the lack of space. And don’t worry if your garden took a turn while you were gone, they always do at this time of year anyways.
Madeline–Totally! That is a great idea. Elizabeth gave me the idea for this post, so I’ll definitely write about putting your garden to bed. Look for a post on that next week!
Denise–I’m so glad you found me via Sunset. It was such a thrill to be featured! And I feel you on the chickens. They are so great, but pesky in the garden.
Gardenmentor. Wise words from a wise lady. I’m excited to see what next year brings.
Amber–Good advice! We actually have a fenced, covered run, but silly us built it too small. So we feel guilty leaving our girls in there all day, and that totally gets us into trouble. My goal is to have a new coop and run for them by next spring. That way they can be comfortable in their space and I won’t have to worry about them messing up mine.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:24 pmMy summer veggie garden wasn’t too happy without me this year either, but Moms and friends and loved ones come first. I think it’s amazing you learned to do all those things this year. Oh, by the way, I’m getting chickens again. I missed their warm eggs in the palm of my hand.~~Dee
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 am