Everything in the garden is put away. Most of the leaves had been taken care of. Now I just putter about pulling weeds and smoothing soil and try to imagine what it is I've forgotten to do like storing away the wheelbarrows.
I am working on my summary blog of this year's successes and failures and making plans for next year. The past two seasons since my retirement, I went whole hog with the garden. I tackled somethings I normally wouldn't try or bother with, like cabbages, sweet potatoes, cantaloupes and parsnips, and pretty much wore myself out. This was a dry year and involved a lot of watering, but the real overload was the success. It was all of the food! I was fooded out. I just couldn't eat it all and I have stored more than we need.
My knee jerk reaction was to say I was going to cover the entire vegetable garden next year and skip it entirely. My husband didn't like that idea. He said he can't imagine me not having a garden. So instead I've decided to cut it in half. I will keep the south side in cover crops and just grow half of what I have been growing. One bed of peas. One bed of sweet corn. Pole beans but not bush beans. I will buy cauliflower plants rather than start seeding in March, that sort of thing. And that will be more than enough. I spent many years happily gardening in half of this space. And naturally, I've ordered more dahlia tubers and saved about a billion marigold seeds so I won't run out of things to do.
My compost area has been all tidied up. I have bins of soil stored and I've hoarded as many shredded leaves as I can hold down without them blowing away.
This entire compost tube is packed full of leaves. I watered them well and topped it off with the remaining bag from last year's supply. If I leave a garbage bag of leaves lying about, every critter that likes to raid garbage bags will try to have a look inside. In the spring I will use up my pile of ready compost, dump these out, and turn them all summer to use next fall.
It's been two years since your retirement? Good grief, but time does (continue to) fly by! I, too, have made the decision to grow only half as much of certain crops next season . . . carrots, beets, cabbages, Swiss chard, lettuce, radishes and probably potatoes. Are we making a mistake? Nah, just a good decision to make less work for ourselves. Like you and your husband, it's only the two of us eating here most of the time so why grow a lot more than we need? Having enough to share is okay, but sometimes I can't give it away. You have a real talent when it comes to flowers so fill your extra beds with glorious blooms. That will still be "work" to some extent, but less harvesting and processing. Won't it? ;o)
ReplyDeleteIt would be less work especially if I direct sow. Zinnias would be nice wouldn't they.
DeleteHa! We are growing less next year too. Gary has planted 1000 garlic cloves, but turning the rest of the north garden into grass. He built 3 new raised beds and we will plant fewer of the same veggies. We give away a lot to family and friends. We still have leeks in the ground, but that's it.
ReplyDeleteI think all of us gardeners went into overdrive during Covid. Now I find we eat less and more simple anyway. And while it has been fun over the years to learn to grow and preserve all sorts of things I find knowing how and actually doing it are two different things.
DeleteYou mentioned Zinnias. I also have at least on raised bed planted. But to have more than one could be glorious. They are so little work but so pretty.
ReplyDelete