On the Garden, Thoughts On Next Year

2013 Tomatoes

The final fall clean up of the garden has been done. I pretty much have a clean slate for next year. NEXT YEAR I will have plans and won't cram so much stuff into such a small space. I stand on the balcony and look at the yard, and think about what will go where. I know what I want, but it's maybe more than I have room for. I will have a garden journal. That's important. I need to know what's where. I was frustrated by a particular tomato plant all summer, and almost too late realized those tomatoes were supposed to stay green because they were the Granny Smith tomatoes I had been gifted. Things need to be accessible, because so much of the garden turned into a great big mass of growing things and I sometimes had a hard time finding stuff.

I'd like to preserve things next year, can tomatoes and stuff. If I can get things going well enough, it would be nice to have some to sell, too. There are restaurants around here that buy stuff grown by people locally. I sold some of my sun chokes for $5 a pound to the bakery that does Saturday brunch. THAT made me happy. But mostly, I want to be able to preserve things. I had the very best of intentions at the beginning of the gardening season, but I didn't get the yield I wanted, I lost my motivation, I had bug problems. I meant to freeze all of those herbs, but then things got really hectic with working 12 hours a day for 4 days and when I went to harvest, everything had gone to seed. So, you know, I must plan better, do what I can when I can. Pay more attention to things. 

 Now that there is nothing left growing, I feel anxious for the spring to get here, so I can fill the little pots with dirt and start the seeds. I liked working outside, pulling weeds and growing things and the feeling that I had after being outside all day, working in the dirt, seeing the insects that had taken up residence among my plants. I loved to go outside and pick vegetables and realize that night we would not need anything from the store. That everything I put on the table came from my very own back yard. And the herbal teas, made from raspberry and blackberry leaves and the mints I grew myself, that was lovely. So already, I am looking forward to spring.