24. A Beautiful Day From Start to Finish

There were beautiful moments sprinkled throughout my day today.  And while most of these moments occurred with the kids (is there anything better than seeing the smiling faces on two little kids when you stop mid-bike ride for chocolate croissants at our favourite bakery?), I did also get to spend some time in the garden, where there were quite a few moments of beauty (the aforementioned bike ride exhausted the kids sufficiently that they needed some rest, affording me some much needed time in the garden).

I started off with the intention of cleaning up the “jungle” that had become my tomato plants.  I find this section of the garden so fascinating, mostly because I purchased these tomato plants for about $0.50 each.  I bought them on a whim, mostly to see if I could revive them, even just a little bit, and because I thought the kids would enjoy picking cherry tomatoes.  Well, turns out, these plants have thrived!!  While I did thin them out a bit, for the most part, these plants are producing, and so, I left them as is.

I also wanted to clean up the melon plants . . . but again, as I started in on them, I realized that there were far more fruits on these plants than I had originally though.  I’m amazed watching how the skin on the cantaloupes are turning from a smooth green, to the rough, beige skin we know them to have.  And, is there anything cuter than a tiny baby watermelon????  If the raccoons/groundhog get to these, it will be war . . . And of course, the sugar pumpkins are starting to grow now too!

And then there are my roses.  As I weeded around my rose plants, and tied back some of them to the fences to train them, I decided I must really enjoy torturing myself – even the thorns on new rose growth are seriously prickly!  But is there anything more stunningly beautiful than a rose???  And when those roses are tucked in amongst the melons???

As the summer draws to a  close, I’m starting to make notes on what worked this summer, and what didn’t.  What I want more of next year, what I want less of, and what I don’t want at all.  Over the course of this week, I’ll be taking pictures to remind myself in the spring what the garden grows into, which will help me as I plan what plants to purchase as next year’s gardening season gets underway.  And of course, I’m working out what bulbs to plant this fall!!