My very favorite things about September all come from the garden. Granted, my garden's size and quality has been diminishing bit by bit over the past few years since the kids all left the nest and I started working full time. The time and effort necessary to keep the very invasive lawn grass away and the soil nourished and the other weeds and snails and birds and cats and even racoons from taking more than their share just isn't available to me any longer. But I still try every year. I love the spring and digging in the dirt, the battle against the odds, even the hot summer sun and dry weather of our state. So I'll keep on trying for as long as I can, planting and harvesting what I can. It has been especially nice these past weeks to enjoy tomato sandwiches with my lunch since I am now working from home indefinitely. There is the added bonus of being able to take a few minutes during my lunch break some days to water the flowers or pull a few weeds or pick the lunch time tomato straight from the vine. The first planting of beans is starting to taper off, and the second planting isn't quite ready yet (yes I am slower and slower with planting every year as I fight back the forever encroaching very invasive variety of grass that surrounds the garden area.) but we still had enough green beans and our very first zuchinni of the year for our dinner tonight. The squash was exactly perfectly sized and fresh and tasty! As were the green beans. And of course, what is the end of summer without sunflowers and zinnias to brighten the shortening days?
