Gardening Diary: When Gardening Has a Mind of Its Own

Don't expect Tolstoy. One of the purposes of this blawg is to enjoy writing it. That means I don't write it when I don't want to. Sorry about that, because I love gardening,nature, the forest, and the outdoors in general.

I do write to inform, sometimes, but most likely you know as much or more about gardening as I do. So maybe you can help me figure out how my gardening got away from me this year. This year, I think the failures outnumbered the successes. I blame the vast amount of work I've had to do. But there were some positives, too.

On the plus side, the tomatoes are looking good, tasting even better. The Heirloom varieties have an interesting pink color. There are plenty of them, as usual, and I let the worms have some because I've been too lazy to use the organic spray I bought.

On the negative side, I once again planted too many squash/zucchini and they dominated the garden. I became disgusted there were so many, with leaves so large they blotted out the sun. I tore them out early on, in late spring. A madman's behavior, I know.

Positive: Arugula was magnificent, so easy to grow, and so peppy when you add it to the other greens.

Negative: We did well with the leaf lettuces but I didn't plant enough of it. I replanted just recently: Romaine Lettuce, butternut, and some escarole. The latter two will do well but the Romaine, planted earlier, is getting a little leggy because of the persistent hot weather. It's looking alright, though, and should yield modestly in spite of the long legs.

Speaking of long legs, the daddy spiders are awfully busy, spinning webs everywhere. That's a sign of things to come, you know. When the spiders get busy, the seasons will soon change.

I forgot the Concord Grapes. Finally, we've had an abundant yield as the vines matured and I did a bit better on pruning. They're magnificent. I should take a picture.