me and my garden

There are some things I wish I would do well all the time. It is the echo of my mother's talent that motivates me every year to plant a garden and to walk in the garden in the cool of the day. There are very few memories as clear as my mother and her gardens. She was amazingly good. So is my Dad and Elfrieda...they are amazingly good at not only preparing the soil, planting but harvesting as well. You would think that harvesting would be a given with gardening, that is the whole reason why you garden in the first place...well, you would think so except in my case. To the left is a beautiful picture of a artichoke which was grown in my garden but as you can see, it was not harvested. It has quite a beautiful crown of purple which I did not even know artichokes grew...but needless to say I think you are supposed to pick it before this happens.
This year I have so many tomatoes coming that I am sure we could participate in a tomato throwing contest and I still would have left overs for BLT's for the rest of the year. I have tomatoes growing where I did not even plant. The mystery of their growing in the other garden still makes me pause. I also grew HUGE sunflower in the same garden that I also did not plant. This gardening thing is becoming a bit of a conundrum.
The sad thing is that I start off with such good intentions. I was going to water...this I did not do too well last year. Our weather took care of most of that this year, though I think I could have helped more. Harvest...that was a fail...but the weeding that wasn't too bad.
Dad and Elfrieda tell me every time I talk to them and I have seen with my very own eyes...they could feed their whole neighborhood with the veges from their garden. I can have a tomato fight...that's about it. Sad...BUT maybe next year...hope springs eternal.