Gardens Need Tending…

“Don’t water your weeds”                                                              – Harvey Mackay

It’s been three years this fall that we have been in our most recent home with a small backyard that had a lovely orange and lemon tree.  After Mr. Greenjeans (my husband) began planting, it has produced beets, string beans, artichokes, peppers, tomatoes and strawberries.  He has taken what available space there was and we have enjoyed fresh produce all summer long from our backyard farmers market.  One section that he cleared was entirely planted and cared for by our daughter and this year, her beets out produced his; and she likes to make sure he remembers this.  This year he was able to plant, grow and harvest Italian green beans for the first time.  He had tried before in our Ohio garden but for whatever reason, they didn’t grow.  This time we had several pounds of them so we had enough to freeze a couple of batches.

Last night’s sauce for our spaghetti dinner was from the last batch of frozen tomatoes I had from this year’s harvest.  Everybody loves spaghetti in our house but we were all sad thinking we will have to wait a whole year for fresh tomatoes.  My husband is thinking how and where he can plant more tomatoes and I know if he succeeds I will need a freezer.  After the comments going around about how good the tomatoes were this year, it was time for us to clean up the kitchen.  I paused for a moment to look out the window to the backyard, to smile and say thank you.