We've had some great weather lately, especially for October. You're welcome, by the way. I put all my summer clothes away at the end of September. I take full credit for the extended summer we've been experiencing. Granted, the nights have been brisk, which is what prompted me to set aside a chunk of time to work on tearing out the rest of the garden once and for all.
I think the beans were the first to go about a month ago, but they had gone above and beyond this year. Next, I believe, was the regular tomatoes, they never really did pan out anyway. Then it was time for the cucumbers to vacate the premises. Also kind of disappointing but we got a few quarts of pickles.
Next out of the picture were the cherry tomatoes. That's about the same time the chipmunks disappeared. They really did seem to enjoy themselves with the cherry crop— little strips of dried up cherry skins everywhere.
All we had left is bell peppers, medium hots and jalapenos, and they were loaded with peppers and flowers. We covered them religiously from the frost and picked three more times. We've definitely been blessed. But I was done. I'm tired of wrestling tablecloths over uncooperative, sometimes downright combative, plants.
Pulling 20 pepper plants proved to be the easiest part of dismantling the garden. Pull the plant, knock the dirt off the end and throw it in the pine trees. Of course, this is after removing the twist ties that held them to the stakes. Those never die. We've been using the same ones for years. The stakes, fence pieces and cages all get put up for next year, too.
The one thing we don't save from year to year is the black canvas we put down to keep the weeds out. That stuff was a nightmare from the get-go this year. My fault entirely, from beginning to end. I forgot to put it down in three out of four garden beds.
It's a beautiful thing if you do it right and have the right equipment. Roll it out, cut it to size and hold it in place with the green plastic nails made just for it. Cut an X and stick in a plant. Easy peasy.
Putting in the black stuff as an afterthought around plants already in the ground is anything but easy. Plus, I didn't have any of those plastic nails. What I had was a box of 10-penny nails, a whole slew of 4-inch garden staples and a big hammer. Whoever's job it was to watch me that day is so fired.
I spent the entire day on Sunday tearing that out, pliers in one hand, nail puller in the other— cold refreshing beverage always at hand. It wasn't all bad. I lit a fire in the little fire pit in the patio area and had my beloved Steelers on the car radio. Couldn't get it on TV, so I figured the garden work would give me something to do while I listened to the game.
Yeah well, a three-hour football game came and went and the work endured. It took me another six hours to get everything accomplished.
Update on the sweet potatoes: That experiment was a total bust. Nary a thing grew in those buckets other than the initial vine we planted. No matter, the garden boxes look great, as do the patio and back porch.
I can't raise my arms above my waist and haven't been worth a plug nickel for the past few days. But I'm OK, I planned my stupid. My appointment with the chiropractor is in a few days.