Thoughts from the garden

I am unusually quiet in the garden today, not that I am ever particularly noisy. Perhaps, I am only noticing that I am present.

I pull the lettuce plants that are going to seed and plant spinach seeds. The soil is warm and fluffy, much different than the first spring planting in April.
I pull the pea plants and replant them as well, wondering if there will be enough time for them to come to harvest before the first frost. I plant only one row and space them further apart than the last time, as they had become unruly. While my wood poles and string worked as support in years past, it was not enough this year. I notice the seed packet says to plant them near a hefty fence to support the vigorous vines.

I weed around the cilantro and the Swiss Chard and find it surprisingly easy. I don’t remember doing much weeding in years past once the plants were established. I enjoy gazing at the bed from under the plants and find that the weeds come out easily. I wonder whether I have become a better gardener or whether the soil has just been much improved over time. There is little difference between the two perspectives.

We’re starting to save the daily picking of cucumbers to make another batch of pickles. Perhaps by week’s end, there will be enough for the 16-cup recipe.

I harvest the first of, hopefully, many eggplants.

A chest freezer will arrive next week and I am excited. I have wanted one for some 25 years.

I work among the hum of the bees. I imagine how we work in concert: they make the fruit, I pick it. I am harvesting green beans when the timer indicates it’s time to go. I go into the house, put away the harvest and resume with the rest of my Tuesday work.