Arriving home from Charleston in the middle of the afternoon gave me a chance to check out my garden. It is the first thing I do after dragging in my suitcase. The neighbor boy watered for me so I knew everything would still be alive. (Those zinnias take a lot of water!) While in Charleston, I watered and spent some time in Abe’s gardens. Learning to garden in different climates takes a lot of work. When Abe lived in Phoenix, gardening was so different with the heat, and now in Charleston there is heat and humidity. The temperature was in the high 90’s every day, which is too hot for this Indiana girl. The kids were fine though. They came home from school, had a snack and then went out to play!
Arriving home to blue skies, cool temperatures were amazing. I left my windows open, so my house was full of fresh air. I even added an extra quilt on the bed last night! In the cool of the morning, I had a chance to really visit my garden. I will be honest here. I start out so excited and plant everything. I don’t know what exactly happens between June 1st and the end of August, but lots of things are not how they were intended.
I planted a vegetable garden…like always. I called it my Victory Garden. Of course, I had no idea that my own lettuce and raspberries would be more valuable than gold, but here we are. I planted everything in that Victory Garden. However (yes, there is a however), the pumpkins, which I did not plant, decided to take over completely. It was out of my control. Seriously. I guess the seeds sprouted from tossing last year’s pumpkins into the garden. I do tend to toss all vegetation matter into that garden at the end of the season. It is great for composting, and that soil is very rich. All my garden soil is rich by just using my Mother’s Day compost from Aaron. I do not use any other fertilizer and nothing for weed control which is obvious.
I thought I had the garden under control, but I was wrong. Where is everything I planted? Underneath all the pumpkins? Will they come up next year? Will I forever have pumpkins? Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkins. Years ago, when I had a garden space in the community gardens by Circle Hill Cemetery, I planted pumpkins for Jonah and Graham. It was so prolific that Kathy and I sat out there one night by candlelight waiting for the great pumpkin. An officer came by with his torch (flashlight) and said someone called in about the light in the gardens. As soon as he got closer to us, he said, “Is that you, Lou Ann?” Of course, I answered, “Oh, yes.” He asked me what we were doing. I thought it looked obvious! I replied, “Waiting for the great pumpkin to rise.” With that he nodded, turned and walked away.
One year, however, the deer ate all the pumpkins so what was I do to? Easy. I went to the farmers market and filled Lola with pumpkins. Kathy and I drove them up to my pumpkin patch and rolled them out. That night Jonah and Graham came up to get their Halloween pumpkins. I thought it was such a smart idea until Aaron found one with a price written in marker. “Nice try, Mom.” Hey, I thought it was clever.
I do not know exactly how many pumpkins I have under all of those leaves, but something fun is brewing underneath with all those vines sprawling all over my yard.
In all reality, I love a runaway garden. I love it when my morning glories come up in places I did not plant them or those lovely lilies that just pop up wherever they please.
Take a stroll outside this week. The weather is just lovely, and there might be surprises in your yard as are in mine. August was perfectly lovely this year. I didn’t even use my air conditioner, my windows are open, my gardens are green even if they are a bit in disarray. Sit out under the August skies and watch Orion journey toward the winter Solstice, and, above all, be grateful.
“Only a few more days of August were to run, and September seemed already to have claimed the gardens, the fields, and the skies.” Jeannie Gwynne Bettany Kernahan, 1906.
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