The Mid-Summer Gardener Laments

What innocently started as this…


…a few tomatoes, some onions, garlic, beans, etc. has now taken over my life.



It is that time again when I become disgusted with gardening.  It is hot {like 100-degrees}, I manually squish at least six bugs a day {yuk!}, I’ve seen a snake {non-poisonous}, it’s really hot, the soil dries five seconds after I put water on it…

And, I wonder why on earth I ever planted a vegetable garden.  Because, when you plant a garden, you get a harvest {hopefully}. And that means work. 

Every day, I stare down the tomatoes on my counter and think, “You will not get the best of me; I will find something for you to do.” 

I’ve mixed them in yogurt and passed them off as a snack to my grandson’s.  I’ve peeled, chopped and canned so many tomatoes I’ve run out of jars. 

If you’re eating a meal at Chez Leslie, you’re getting some tomatoes.



Then, there is the eggplant.  These guys don’t store so well and there are at least six huge ones outside.  We haven’t even finished the leftovers from the last eggplant meal.

The okra, while we love it, if I don’t pick it every day, it gets huge; like mutant huge.  And tough, like dull-you-knife tough.  It needs to be either pickled, frozen, or eaten daily.  And, tomorrow, there will be another dozen.

Don’t get me started on the figs.  I read somewhere that if you plant a fig tree, the birds and insects will hang out there and leave the veggies alone.  Well, this is true, but if you have 300 figs on a tree, the bird/butterfly to fig ratio is slightly out of proportion.  Hence, we will be eating fig preserves very soon.  Expect a recipe, soon.

The black-eyed peas and bush beans are starting to flower and I know what is about to happen there.
 
In a few weeks it will be time to start putting my fall garden into the ground.

What was I thinking.