This Year's Gardens, Part 7

 When you're on a roll for overdoing it, why not finish strong? Right?

The Hej garden was too wet yet to till, as I predicted in my last post. But I had plants to get into the ground. The zucchini sprouts, which I had up-potted back in early May, were getting a little tired of hanging around inside:

The zucchini plants looking for wide open spaces many days ago

I knew at some point they were going to go on strike and I'd be back at square one. 

Warren and I talked Sunday (which was also full for both of us, in mostly separate spheres, and on which I also overdid it, albeit not gardening). "You know," I ventured, "the soil in the Hej garden is good enough that I think I am just going to plant it by hand. We'll till it in the fall after adding compost. What do you think?"

Warren didn't hesitate. "Yes."

So Monday morning I trundled a wheelbarrow full of the zucchini trays, the cabbages, and the cauliflower plants, along with a trowel and other assorted items, down to the garden, and started in.

First the cauliflower, after I laid the bricks back in place to delineate the garden: 

Then the cabbages:

Leaving a wide swath between those rows and the zucchini bed, I spaced out the cups to see how the layout worked: 

I planted 20 of the 21; one of the stems snapped in two as I untangled it from another. Why 20 zucchini for a household of two? There are others out there who I am planting for. And I owe some good friends and colleagues some homemade zucchini bread as a heartfelt "thank you." Trust me, it will not go to waste. 

Done!

I had one last gardening task I wanted to complete before cleaning up my tools and boots and putting things to rights: 

Caged! 

By the time I cleaned up all the mess, including getting the mud off the tools and my boots, it was late morning. But it was done. 

Gardening is a summer-long affair, but the hardest part of it for me is over. I already watered both gardens this morning; one zucchini looks a bit nibbled on, but that's par for the course. I still have basil to sow; that's an easy task. I have a lot of muddy (now dried) boot prints to clean off the deck and patio; that will take a bit more effort and may wait until tomorrow. Or not. It is Concert Week, after all.

The garden is in. Let's see how it grows.