Almost Obsolete

I left my garden again in the good hands of some friends. I never ask them to do much, just keep it picked. This keeps the fruits out of the greedy hands of the chipmunks and keeps the plants producing. The raspberries especially need picking since they get all mildewy if the fruit is left to rot on the cane.

They did a good job of it. In fact a bit too good. The garden looked as nice as it was when I left. It's sad when you think the garden can grow without you. In the fall here it really seems to be able to. As long as the garden was well weeded during the year, very few weeds sprout so the plants have no competition.

Normally I go out everyday to pick and to see what needs to be done, but recently there is very little. And except for the garlic the last of the fall plants were put in the garden last week. So for now there is a bit of a lull in the gardening. It is still warm enough for the tomatoes to keep producing (barely) and cool enough for the lettuce. So everything grows well . . . without me.

The one thing that keeps me thinking that I'm not obsolete in my garden right now is that it still needs water. We haven't had rain in a week. The garden was bone dry. I stuck my finger in a couple of inches and found it dry as dust. The plants weren't wilting yet since it has been so cool, but they still were a bit thirsty. So I picked the tomatoes to keep them from splitting then watered the garden this evening. At least they need me for something.