I know, I know. It’s not even autumn yet, so what am I doing ripping up my garden already? I figure I’d better do it now while I have time, or just like last year it’ll sit there through winter looking ragged and ratty, which means getting ready for spring plantings will be an overwhelming proposition.

Besides, we’re all getting sick of cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots.

I’m not sure what possessed me last Spring to plant an overabundance of vegetables when I’m pretty much the only one in the family who’ll eat them without a gun pointed at my head. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Maybe it was the mere desire to see things grow. Maybe I wanted to justify all the money I spent last Autumn on landscape lighting.

Either way, my freezer and cupboards are now overflowing with canned goods, and I just can’t talk myself into spending one more weekend putting away yet more stuff I know my husband and son won’t ever eat.

So after spending a few hours in my garden this morning happily ripping cucumber and tomato vines out of the ground, I decided to get a jump start on improving the soil for next spring. I added some manure and compost, a little bone and blood meal, then worked it all in and turned over the soil before smoothing it and laying down a fresh layer of mulch.

My neighbor (not the crazy one) saw what I was doing from her deck and hurried over.

“Your in-laws are gone already?” she asked.

I glanced down at the nice, freshly tilled plot of soil I’d just finished working broke into uncontrollable laughter.

Between you and me, I’d tell her what was so funny but I’m not sure she’d get the joke.

Monday, September 17th, 2007, 12:07 pm   |   My Venomous Life  |  RSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.