Garden Update

We've lived in South Carolina for two and a half years. Time has just flown by. It really doesn't seem like that long ago that we got here, but so much has happened that it has to be true. Genevieve will be three at the end of the summer and she was only four months old when we moved. Aaron turns one in just a bit over a month. This last year especially has just flown. It was like each day was slow but then suddenly weeks and months had just disappeared.

We haven't done that much traveling since we moved here. I site grad school income limitations for that travesty as both Bill and I love to travel, but that's as it is. Let's just say I've gotten very settled in and very used to the weather as it happens to be around here. And let me tell you, that weather is glorious. The winters aren't that cold. The summers aren't that hot, at least not compared to other places. It's humid as can be in the summers, but calms down late fall through early spring. I find I actually like the way the humidity makes me feel and I've been here long enough that the fact that I'm always about ten seconds from breaking out in a sweat regardless of my body temperature has just become normal. That probably sounds awful to everyone out west but you'd be surprised how fast that becomes normal and okay. It happens to everyone, so we're all in the same boat. People are more understanding of it.

Anyway, the beautiful weather means we have maximum opportunity for awesome gardening. I'm a total novice in that area, but it's hard not to grow things here. They just flourish. My garden is out of control at the moment. I saw a picture of my SIL's container garden today, and she is a rather skilled and knowledgeable gardener, and all the plants are just a few inches tall. The difference in weather makes such a huge difference. Her garden will be incredible in a few months too, but mine just got a two-month start already. My tomatoes are literally three to four feet tall and so heavy with tomatoes I'm having to prop them up beyond the cages they're in. I had to tie them all together so the end one stopped falling over from the weight. The strawberries that I expected to not grow that many berries this year are doing surprisingly well. We have a critter of some kind swiping the ripe berries unfortunately, but hopefully soon we'll get a few for us. Today I discovered one of our pickling cucumbers looks to be ready to pick. There are gobs of tiny ones on the plants too, but this one is fully grown.

 I did make a few mistakes with my garden. I initially planted the cucs in the same box as the strawberries and sugar snap peas. That was just way too much in there. I ended up moving them and they're much happier now. Next year I'll build more boxes and let the strawberries have their box to themselves. I planted the carrots and onions and lettuce in the shadow of the tomato plants. It didn't occur to me when I put them in that the tomatoes would get so huge and block the sun. So those will probably not do so well. They're still alive but virtually not growing. We'll see what happens throughout the summer. Apparently I also planted some cooler weather plants that won't do well when it gets hot, but it's already hot and they're okay, so the mistake isn't too bad for now.

But regardless, we are going to have more tomatoes than we know what to do with, and tons of them are going to be ripe when I am in Utah, so I need to figure out what Bill can use them for and the best ways to process them. The cucumbers show tons of promise. The sugar snap peas are already prolific. Hopefully we'll be eating off those all summer.

Spencer dumped a whole pile of onion seeds in one spot by accident when we were planting, so we have a little forest of onions and he and Genevieve snack on them when we go water the garden. That may be my favorite part of my garden this year. Spencer, my poor little stressed out food son, is snacking on onions and mint leaves and talking about when the tomatoes get ripe and contemplating whether he'll try the peas. They're just little steps here and there, but for me, who has struggled through with him since he was 18 months old with the food troubles, these are huge forward steps. Things are getting easier for him with food in the most incremental way. I don't know how many times I've wished for a magic button to just make it all work for him, but the small steps feel good.