We had a death in the family last week, which meant my family here in North Carolina traveled to Ohio to be with the extended family and be there for the funeral. When I left home, my geraniums in pots on the porch had robust green leaves and a few bright red flowers, the hanging basket of lantana was still going strong and out in the vegetable garden the peppers were still perky.

We were gone for six days. Not that long in the big scheme of things, but during the time we were gone we experienced our first hard frost here in Elkin. So when I drove back up my driveway I wasn't welcomed by my sunny lantana. Instead,the geraniums had been nipped and the leaves are now yellow, the lantana is brown and crisp and the pepper plants out in the garden are very droopy. Even the jack o’lanterns we had carved that looked so festive were filled with mold and had lost their shapes. 

It was all just a very visible and tangible reminder of the experience we had just lived through. Living things don’t last forever. Whether it’s people, plants or pets, everything eventually makes it to the end of its life cycle and dies. I can’t help but be a little sad when the beauty of the spring and summer fades away. I love the bright colors of fall and the stark beauty of winter, but losing all those blooms that I fostered and loved for so many weeks can be sad in its own way.

The wonderful thing is that blooms will come back. Spring will come again and the bulbs will shoot up, I can buy another Gerber daisy, and the winter pansies will be replaced with something summery again in the porch pots.

Unfortunately I can’t do that with my sister-in-law. My youngest son asked why we couldn’t open her eyes and wake her up, and I marveled at his innocence and trust in life. It would be wonderful if we could just wake up our loved ones like the spring wakes up the flowers every year. But since we can’t, I did what every good gardener does. When we looked through the many nice gifts of flowers and plants after the funeral, I picked out one of the planters to bring home. I already have plans to separate the plants out into a few pots, putting some in our living room and one in my daughter’s room. And after the cut flowers have faded and the tears are mostly gone, we’ll still have something living to remember Angi by. A little living testament to the sweet life that was cut short too soon.

I planted spinach a few days ago. Well, more than a few days ago, since as you can see some things are sprouting. So far the radishes and lettuce are coming up with a vengeance. But it’s the spinach that I really want. I didn’t get much this spring. I think I planted it too late, and it got hot and just didn’t thrive. So I’m trying again in the cool season.

I’m dreaming of spinach salads, flounder Florentine, and maybe even trying my hand at creamed spinach. But in reality, I may only get enough to garnish a sandwich.

I’ve never planted a fall-season vegetable garden before. I’ve never even planted a cover crop. Usually after I pull up my few tomato plants and spent bean bushes, I’m done until spring. But since I started this “better” garden plot, I’ve decided to get a little more serious about the gardening.

So it’s time to see what happens when you plant seeds in the fall. I’m looking forward to the experiment!
 

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!

.