Well, UP YOURS, nay-sayers! STICK IT!
There's a freeze coming so I had to (reluctantly) pull all of my peppers and tomatoes from the garden. My heart overflowed with gratitude and pride as I saw how many were on there. You see, there were those who thought I was nuts. You don't start tomatoes and peppers in May. Truth is, I totally know that but time just escaped me in late March/early April. You certainly don't start them outside from seed...in May. Well, I did, so there! And...for crying out loud, you don't use OLD seeds and expect anything. Hey, that's all I had on hand on the day that felt inspired to plant! I poked the little seeds down into the soil and talked to them like the freak I am. I told them it's ok if they didn't feel like coming up but I wanted to give them a chance. I had more tomato seeds than space so I decided to just plant them all rather than save them...I mean, surely some wouldn't come up because that would be defy all odds!
But...those little buggers DID! And, it quickly became apparent that I would need to transplant this mass of tomato plants to other barrels. They came up but they may not survive this transplant since I felt like Baby Huey doing it. I apologized to them and hoped they'd grow strong. They DID.
Ok...now I have a handful of barrels stuffed with plants like the garden version of that hording show...there was no way I could keep all of these so a few of my friends came over and we started re-potting them to give away to others. And, by "we", I don't necessarily mean that I did much because, wine ;) Again, they may not survive the transport/transplant but they were free, organic plants, so what the hell! Take them & love them people! Free love! Uh...I mean through plants.
Over the summer, my tomato plants would get some blooms but didn't produce. I would walk around my barrels and inspect the plants, talk to God, and ask for support for my garden. My poor pepper plants were nowhere to be seen. I guess those seeds were just too old. Since my tomato plants had blooms but I rarely saw bees, I began the bloom to bloom make-out ritual. Don't judge me. They needed "help" in that area and I was like their plant sex therapist so to speak. Not to brag on my skills, but I guess I'm pretty good at that because I started to see some little tomatoes late in the summer! Then several of the plants got very, very bushy (geez, the 70's called and it wants it's bush back!!) and couldn't be held up anymore...they fell down and some split. I just left them because... they were still blooming! Crazy!
Then came September. I saw my pepper plants coming up! IN SEPTEMBER. By this time, I had no idea what the hell kind of peppers they were but I knew they were something! HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS! These seeds sat there...doing whatever the hell they were doing in that soil...for 4 stinking months!! What they hell were they doing down there? Waiting for mom's meatloaf? Welcome to the party, pepper folks! Let's do this thing!
Since then, my tomatoes and peppers have been surprising me daily. Now, because there were not many bees around, I lost a lot of pepper blooms but when I went out to pull the tomatoes to prepare for the freeze tonight, I was in AWE of the bounty that was on those vines. Pure joy, I tell you! Here's a side note...most of the tomatoes in the picture came from 2-3 tomato plants. I had about 6 more that were struggling to stay alive themselves...and hadn't produced anything. About 3 weeks ago (yes, in NOVEMBER), one of the struggling plants had 2 tomatoes on the mostly brown, somewhat dry, vine. It did it. It squeaked out some produce. I damn near cried for this plant and I'm not shitting you.
All joking aside, I am truly thankful. I'm thankful for the produce, yes. But, more importantly, I'm thankful for the lesson. God, I hear you. You speak to me in some very interesting ways.
If you recall, 2015 was basically a disaster for my family and I realized that I had not participated in the things that brought me joy...like my garden. So, the only thing left in the garden was the raggedy rosemary...then the flowers, being inspired by the rosemary, came back. It was symbolic. It renewed my outlook.
2016 has been a lovely, bi-polar bitch. It's had some wonderful things, of course, but it's also had some mighty big challenges for my family again. Yet, here I am...learning my lessons through produce.
God wants me to keep my hope and wonder. To not give up on myself even if the odds are stacked against me. To celebrate my victories even if they're small and late in the game. To say: "What the hell! Why not?!" more often. Yes, I do think God wants me to say that...because he knows I just can't say heck. Or "What the toast!"...is that a thing? Maybe it should be. Use it in a sentence today.
God wants these things for you too. Be the tomato...just keep blooming knowing you will produce. Be the pepper...patiently waiting, knowing your moment is coming. Be the rosemary or the spring flower...pushing through the harshness of life because you will be renewed again. Be all of those things...because you can and you are so very worth every effort!
This is my harvest this morning. I have NEVER, EVER had a tomato harvest so plentiful! Plus, I grow heirlooms so it's even more challenging to keep them alive. My heart is grateful. Now I wait for tomatoes to ripen. I will be using the bell peppers for chili this week and the jalepenos for my favorite night...veggie nacho night!
We can do this, people!!!
Don't forget to use worm castings for all of your plants! Good stuff!
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