It's not an empty garden, it's a blank canvas

The 2024 gardening season is over, at least for me. The garden is cleared of all but a few annual flowers and the strawberry patch. 

Now I get to design a new canvas for 2025. I'm looking forward to a space that may not be a typical summer garden but will please me. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

 

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle

What a mess, and I'll be the one to clean it up

The well drillers are finally here and they're making a huge mess for me to clean up. It can't be helped, though. I just pray I have good, clear, clean water when they're done. 

I posted an entry over at Between the Keys with more details. 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2024/09/watching-men-work.html

Perfect weather!

Suffice it to say that August got away from me. I accomplished very little. Looking back through my day calendar to see what I did do was depressing. Yes, Tropical Depression Debby was a hindrance, but I can't blame it all on the rain. I think my ass grew into my recliner, which I do not like. It can't be allowed to become a habit. 

In my defense, August was stinkin' hot. Hazy, hot, and humid hot. Not the sort of weather anyone not accustomed to it needs to be doing yard work in. I busied myself with several canning projects. Broth, three different soups, and a lot of applesauce made it onto the pantry shelves. I'm not finished yet. I still want to process some beef stew, pork stew, and jardiniere (pickled veggies). 

But today was for something different. Today was my kind of weather with sunshine, almost no breeze, and the mercury in the mid-seventies. I got busy and cleaned up several months worth of downed sticks and had a little 'campfire'. 

I don't know what we did before we got the John Deere 1023. Having a compact tractor makes life a lot easier. I filled six buckets full of debris and burned it one bucket at a time. I took my time and took breaks sitting on the tractor to watch the fire, too. I kept it small and it worked out great! 

It feels good to get that much done. At least now when someone comes to visit, the lane and approaches are tidy. I call that a good day's work.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, country lifestyle, John Deere 1023, campfire, burning brush, yard work, a writer's life, outside chores, good weather, autumn

Why do I feel guilty?

Guilt is a strange thing. It sneaks into your life with the little things, things like rearranging the furniture.

The Lord of the Manor needed a wheelchair. Chemotherapy saved his life back in 2006, but it left his bones weak and his spine slowly collapsing on itself. It was the hand he was dealt and we made accommodations as his condition deteriorated. 

Sharing a home with a housemate is never easy. He wants the sofa on the east wall. You want the sofa on the north wall. You want a 37" TV and he wants a 50" TV. You win some, you lose some, and the price of a big screen makes the decision for you. 

Since Ron's passing, I've been in a nesting mode. When we got together, he moved into my house. We spent thirty years together and we made a lot of compromises. Now I seem to be reclaiming my spaces and reflecting this new, single woman in my choices. It's nothing over the top, but it's "me" without having to allow for another's taste. 

So why do I feel guilty? For over a decade, the furniture was arranged against the walls so he could maneuver through the house. We didn't have any rugs down so he wouldn't get stuck on the edges. Now I have large area rugs down and the dog loves it. He was afraid of the hard floors because his paws would slide, but Ron's needs came first, as they should have and they did.

Now the furniture has been arranged to my liking. It defines the spaces in the great room and I like it. I like it a lot. And I feel guilty because I like it so much. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, guilt, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, loss of spouse, home decor, area rugs, defining spaces, Labrador Retriever, widowhood 

Here and gone - Tropical Depression Debby

Hurricane Debby was a tropical storm by the time it reached us. The radar map looked scary, but while the sprawling storm brought a lot of rain, at my location there was very little wind. For that I am grateful.

The weather broadcasts I watched frightened me. This was the first major round of dangerous weather since Ron passed back in March. My head knew that even if he were still with us, damage control would fall on me. Knowing that didn't ease my mind any. I prepared for the worst and got the generator ready.

The rains came, slow and steady. Over Wednesday night and all day Thursday, I waited for the sump pump to begin to cycle. It didn't. I knew the ground was dry and the slow, soaking rain was just what we needed to replenish the earth. It was daybreak on Friday before the sump pump cycled, and then it was only for a couple of hours. The power grid coughed up one tiny flicker but stayed on. Deuce, Loki, and I made it through. I'm grateful for the lack of strong winds because there is very little clean-up to do in the woods. 

I weathered the storm in more ways than one. I missed having Ron to talk to and to counsel me, that is to say remind me, to check the basement and use the binoculars to keep an eye on the lane. My friends had more faith than I - only one called to check on me. I'll remember her in my prayers, for sure. 

It's now Saturday and the sky is blue and the sun is shining. It's a steamy August day, and it's easy to forget my worries during the week just past. 

That's what we need to do. Forget and forge ahead. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Hurricane Debby, dangerous weather, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, survival, generator, fear, worry, forge ahead, rain gauge

Bye, bye to tomato row

 Blossom end rot: a disorder caused by a lack of calcium in the soil or by the plant's inability to absorb enough calcium through watering in which the bottom of the fruit breaks down and rots. 

Earlier today I made the decision to pull the plug on the 2024 tomatoes. Due to a number of factors including the June heat wave, the plants simply weren't producing usable/eatable fruit. 

The first thing that happened was that the tomatoes reached the size of golf balls and just fell off the vines while green. Then the fruits, still the size of golf balls, developed blossom end rot. Each and every fruit has fallen victim to the malady. There's no use to continue to water the plants. It's time for them to go. 

Every gardener faces the possibility of crop failure, but it's certainly annoying when it happens to you. I understand why it happened this year. Following my husband's death, I had to replant seeds too late in the year, and then the heat wave hit. I forged ahead hoping for only enough fruit to enjoy on the table, not to home can. Nope.

Moving on, it's time to pull the plants and tidy the garden. Next year, and the gardener always looks forward to next year, I'm planting only determinate varieties of tomatoes, and if the variety name has the word "bush" in it, all the better. Perhaps that will help since the plants themselves don't keep growing and growing. We'll see. I'm not giving up.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, blossom end rot, gardening, garden failure, country lifestyle, rural living, a writer's life, determinate varieties, tomatoes

Garden failure 2024

Live and learn.

That's an old saying, but a true one. The 2024 gardening year is mostly a bust. I shot a little video this past weekend to talk about it. 

The link, if you want to see it, is at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFmKP4zaIes

I began the year with high hopes. Little did I know what a turn of events would transpire. The Lord of the Manor and I had a simple plan for some veggies for our table, and then it all went off the rails. 

He passed at the end of March. The garden didn't get planted at the appropriate time. A heat wave hit at the end of June. It's not been fun. Never before have I seen tomatoes get to the size of a golf ball and just fall off the vines. 

The spaghetti squash looks good, and I'll have enough jalapeno peppers for a batch of cowboy candy. There are two cabbage to harvest, too. Beyond that, I don't have much hope. 

It's amazing how quickly we'll get to the planning stage for 2025. It's time to adjust my thinking and act accordingly.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, garden planning, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, spaghetti squash, failure

It's going to be disappointing

Spaghetti squash blooms

January and February of this year seem such a long time ago. Ron was ill, but we still talked about the garden we hoped to have. He listened as I rambled on about seeds and soil, offering a few suggestions of what he'd like to see planted. We had no idea just how sick he truly was. 

All the garden planning wasn't wasted. I did manage to start JetStar tomatoes, cabbage, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, spaghetti squash, basil, dill, cucumbers, gourds, and some annual flowers. I wish he'd have lived long enough to sit in the garden and enjoy being among the growing things.

The brutal heat wave we experienced mid-June wreaked havoc on my garden. I've been told tomatoes won't flower if the temps get above 90F, and it looks like that may be somewhat true. The plants should have a lot more flowers than they do, and some of what was blooming have dried up.

The dill is over. It bolted in the heat so I pulled all of it and dried what I could for the spice rack. The cabbage is doing wonderful, tucked safely beneath a mesh cover to keep the moths away. Yes, I know the cabbage are planted very close together. They are annual plants, good for one year only. This works just fine. Next year I'm putting the cabbage in buckets so I can plant something new in the raised bed. The jalapeno peppers are finally flowering, but not profusely. I hope I get enough of a harvest to make a batch of cowboy candy. If not, I'll have to purchase enough to round out the recipe. 

Every year is really a different growing season. One year the peppers may be too plentiful and the tomatoes crap out. The next year, just the opposite can happen. We plant and we hope, and we accept what we're given. 

My garden will look very different next year as I'm learning to do everything - cook, do laundry, shop, and garden, for one person. Except for the begonias in the planters, that is. I've mentioned several times that my grandmother loved red wax plants and I grow them every year in her honor. 

It's never too early to plan, and I'm making notes of what I think will work next year. The damn squirrels got to the lettuce and spinach, so I think I'm going to invest in a raised planter with a cover. There are a variety of them available. I need to invest in some better tomato cages, too. 

My life is like the garden, always growing and always changing in unexpected ways. This year, 2024, has brought many disappointments, with probably more to come. But like the garden, I'm resilient. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, life changes, disappointments, heat wave, planning ahead, 

Finally! Blueberries

This morning I picked a handful of blueberries off my little bush. It may not be much, but it's exactly what I wanted. I'll be able to pick another handful on Tuesday. It's just enough for breakfast whether I have cereal, yogurt, or cottage cheese. 

Sweet, juicy, and worth the wait! 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

A day of rest?

Several years ago, when I retired, the Lord of the Manor and I decided we'd try to practice a true day of rest. Now that I'm here alone, I'm finding it difficult to achieve. Deuce is great company but he's not a conversationalist. Lounging on the patio is much easier with someone to talk with. 

In theory, our day of rest included only the most necessary of "work." Someone had to prepare meals and feed the dog. I watered the garden and gathered anything that needed to be harvested, but I didn't pull weeds or apply fertilizers. We tried to make Sunday our day to take a drive, watch a movie, or just hang out together. 

I'm still adjusting to being without Ron's physical presence. My day of rest is plagued by boredom. That's BOREDOM in capital letters. I've watched some television (not my fave thing to do), did some reading out in the garden, played Frisbee with Deuce, and now I'm blogging. I wanted to take Deuce for a long walk but I did not like the looks of the radar map and sure enough, we've had a couple of rain showers. 

This is something I need to work out for myself. Boredom at this level is not very restful. It's restlessness in an extreme. I should try to write. I've been doing better with that this week, but writing is a type of work. I do get paid for the completed book. Do I want to be that strict with myself? Probably not. 

I think my day of rest, and now solitude, needs to be reimagined. What is restful to me? Walking the dog - most certainly. Playing in my garden - very much so. What about visiting one of the cousins each week? That's a possibility as long as I don't intrude on their time with grandkids. 

Hopefully, I'll come up with a few good options before next Sunday and my next "day of rest" makes me feel a touch crazy.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, day of rest, country lifestyle, rural living, black Labrador Retriever, fighting boredom, a writer's life, gardening, reading, loss of spouse, restlessness