Two hours of hard work this morning has removed most of the overgrown summer annuals. Underneath all of this thick overgrowth were these six watermelons and quite a few handfuls of okra which Dave is itching to fry. We are hoping that at least one of the watermelons is or will be ripe enough to eat. We finally got the enormous okra pulled, it was taller than me. The tag on that plant said "Red Dwarf". It didn't look like a dwarf to me. After weeding out the center bed I realized that the soil there is very rich and healthy. I've been adding Max's rich fertilizer and I've mulched there the most. The soil there is really loose and dark and happy. I also had added some composted material as a top dressing around many of my perennials and I think that combined with the ground cover left me a lot of beautiful things. Of course, now that there is empty space I want to head over to the garden center SO BAD! I'm working out a better planting scheme for the center bed and trying to figure out how to get some fruit trees planted this fall. We would love to have a peach or plum tree, maybe a pear or apple. I also have *(of course) big plans. I want a grapevine, a new trellis, a water catchment system, more vegetables like cabbage, onions, winter squash and garlic. I would love to try to have a fall and winter crop since it seems to be harder to tend the garden in the fall, and of course I love a challenge. How will I do this and go full time to school, you ask?? I will do it 15 minutes at a time. I have determined that my garden needs 15 minutes of love a day and it will flourish into the beautiful sanctuary it is in my dreams. Well, you can't say I'm not resilient. Everything has just died every year, but this year I have 6 watermelons, green beans and okra. I did harvest cucumbers earlier this summer. So, if nothing else I'm improving and learning.
