Happy Saturday!

Well, the storm came and went. The ramnant of Tropical Storm Rachel brought almost 4 whole days of rain, which was a lot of rain considering the dry climate I live in. There were over 2 inches of rain that fell in my area according to reports.

On Wednesday afternoon – the day after the rain stopped – I went to check on my rain barrels after work and found the rain barrel was still leaking even after I replaced a spigot with a plug. That night, I turned to AI to find a solution and immediately ordered the parts. Last night, I removed the new part and went to work on fixing the leak. It will be 48 hours before I can test, so hopefully, this will be the fix.

The garden seemed much greener after the rain, though something’s still overgrown. There are so much to do in the garden that I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed and frustrated that I have to do this all by myself. My mom and aunt just take from the garden and never help. When they harvest my greens, I have to go in and remove the stems. How many times have I told them, “remove the stems from the plant when you remove the leaves.” Removing the stems will help the plant grow, thinking it’s been pruned.

There are so much to do in the garden right now that every moment I’m sitting makes me feel like it’s another moment wasted. I have sweet potatoes to harvest. I have Roma tomatoes to pick. I have plants to chop down and compost. Oh, I have pepper plants to pot up and overwinter. So much to do. So little time. After all, first frost is coming, very soon.

Here’s a look at some of the plants still thriving in the front garden. Brussel sprouts are coming along. This is the first time I’m growing brussel sprouts and I heard they do better when they are grown in the fall through the winter. Less pests, I think, though I still have no shortage of aphids. I decided to grow brussel sprouts after eating it at a party and quite enjoyed it. I also grew French Breakfast radishes this year because of the same reason but when I tasted mine, it was so spicy. Maybe I let it go for too long.

The Romas, I think the plants in the front garden got a bit stunted by the wind in the summer and the heat, despite the shade cloth. Also, with me being gone for 3 weeks, there was no one here to keep the plant pruned and under control. I think I’ll keep the tomatoes in the back garden next year.

Ah, the strawberry runners! There was a lot of runners from the strawberry plants before I left for my trip to China. So I used these little pots with clips to propogate the strawberries. I don’t think anyone watered these pots while I was gone because I forgot to tell my aunt. So I was surprised to see it had still worked. I might just pot these up and overwinter them in my garage.

Anyway, a big thank you as always to Natalie hosting Weekend Coffee Share and I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.