I’m a pretty big fan of the Beatles, but “Hello Goodbye” was never one of my favorite songs until this year. It seems like I’ve been singing it in my head a lot lately.

It all started when my 3-year-old son wanted to do something and I said no. He replied, “I say yes.” So I said, “I said no.” That went on for a few rounds until I started laughing, because I realized we were the lyrics of “Hello Goodbye” come to life, so on the way to preschool I introduced him to the Beatles.

Now I’m singing it again, as I say goodbye to my summer garden.

I haven’t posted a blog in a few weeks, and to be perfectly honest, I haven’t been in the garden in a few weeks. The two pictures above tell why. School started back, and we got a new puppy. Thankfully the puppy was already six months old when she came to our house, so we don’t have a lot of the normal puppy issues. But still, there’s been a lot of taking care of dogs (now we have two) and making sure homework gets done and the piano gets practiced. Not to mention packing lunches and getting kids ready for school on time.

I’ve been planning to plant a new crop of fall vegetables in my garden, probably mostly spinach and lettuce, but I realized I better hurry up or I’ll be too late. And before I do that I have to pull up the rest of the summer vegetables and the big crop of grass that decided to take over the vacant spots that had once been beans, cucumbers and squash.

But before I get to that, I have one more birthday party to get through (both of my kids have September birthdays) and a few more chores around the house. Then I’ll finally have time to get back into the garden again.Luckily by then the weather will be cooler and I’ll be looking for a good excuse to go outside.

So far this summer I’ve been lucky enough to integrate a small-ish vegetable garden into my busy family life. The past few weeks, life seems to have gotten in the way of the garden. Thank goodness the flowers continue to bloom, the tomatoes continue to ripen and the marigolds continue to greet me with their sunny goldness even when I don’t have a minute to spare to go out and coddle them. They know their time will come again. And that's the joy of gardening for me, it's there whenever, with no pressure and no deadlines. Except maybe the upcoming frost!

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