Autumn is here

As if I did not recognize the changes that have been happening, we have officially moved into fall. The tomatoes are slower to ripen even though we have a lot of them on the vine. The beans are growing and loaded with flowers as if they are saying the summer was just too darn hot to grow. The squash,cucumbers, and I are waging a battle with the spotted squash beetles in an effort to get more production. The buttercrunch lettuce is trying to bolt from the heat and the red leaf lettuce seems to be happy. Broccoli will soon be joined by cauliflower as the okra is beginning to wane.

There you have it. The garden is going through tremendous changes as we move toward much cooler and then cold weather. I too am distracted by the coming of Halloween and like Linus (from the Peanuts cartoons), I think I will need a great pumpkin patch next year. I love Halloween and have had an extensive fake graveyard in past years. I am going to try to put it out again this year.

I am also in the planning stages of next year's garden. It definitely needs to be moved to a better location that is not affected by the seasonal changes with respect to sunlight. I have a location picked out if we still have the house next year.

Bill, the dogs (we recently added a new puppy) and I do not need this large house. I need a house on one level and want a fenced yard for the dogs to play in. I will be better off in something without steps. I digress.

Next years garden will involve a modification to the boxes. I want some kind of circulating water throughout the system and that will mean we will have to connect the boxes with pipes and a pump for the water. We are convinced that the water sits still too long and a circulating system will make the boxes less prone to mosquitoes and enable us to keep lime and other stimulants for the plants moving through the water for capture.

One of the things I will add is another organic product called root blast. It is not as if these boxes need any help with that but roots mean healthy plants. If a plant is systemically healthy, it can fight bugs and diseases better and be able to come back.

I only wish that was true with people. On the 22nd,one of my life long friends lost her battle with breast cancer. Randi was one of my childhood playmates who I spent 13 years in school with. She was a special lady that made her cancer a reason to help other people. There are a good many women in the Atlanta area that have had the benefit of the Two Day Breast walk and her new endeavor, Breast Friends. I only wish her fight had been easier and she would still be here in twenty years.

Do what Randi did. Fight the forces that try to put everything down, be it bugs or cancer. Remember we all have a short time here on earth and we have to make an impact.

Fight for what is right, fight for yourself and fight for others who can not do it for themselves.