August 6, 2008

Tomatoes!!


It seems that the rash of blossom end rot was short lived. I do have one tomato plant that looks pretty awful and which I don't expect to make it. Other than that, things seem to be doing ok. Tomatoes of all shapes and colors are coming out of my garden, ripe and healthy, every few days now.

My plot is weedy and messy and every time I walk over to it I feel pangs of guilt (mixed with joy at the great bounty I am getting of course.)

I hate to admit it, but as the season wears on, I find that I get a little tired of the labor part of gardening. I know that I could be planting fall crops now...or soon, but I just feel tired of the battles with bugs and diseases at the moment. And I am not sure I'm up for the daily watering for seeds. I look at the bolted lettuce towers and think " I don't know if I have the energy to start from scratch right now."

I think next year I really need to do a better job of thinking through the things I could do earlier in the season to make August - October easier. Mostly I need to mulch A LOT better and more often in June and July. Other than that I'm not really sure what else I can do. Pace myself? Chill out so I don't run out of steam? Maybe it's just that work is getting busier now (and it usually does in August and September) so I feel more torn.

In fact, I feel almost flooded with ideas for NEXT spring (I think I need to try growing cucumbers UP), but the idea of doing much more than maintenance and clean up in the fall THIS year seems very unlikely.

Either way, I am thrilled to have all the wonderful food even if I feel too lazy to cook anything really amazing with it.