My eggplants continue to amaze and astound. They are still producing. Lots. So are my tomatoes and my red peppers. Only four plants of each, and yet I am picking so much! In Rhode Island! In October!
Isn’t that a lovely pepper? My mother-in-law paid me what I guess she thought was the ultimate complement when she told me they looked “just like the ones in the supermarket.” (I think mine are prettier, and they’re not covered with pesticides.)
Anyway, because I feel comfortable with you, my readers, and have faith that you will understand, here’s my confession: I am getting sick of picking all this produce.
It seems inconceivable that only about three months ago, I was so excited, waiting impatiently to pick my first vegetables. How could I have become so jaded so quickly? I should be thrilled to bits that I am still harvesting in October. Part of me is, but the other side of me wants it all to be over already, so I don’t have to give up a weekend morning to make marinara sauce, or dig up a new red pepper recipe. Am I alone in feeling this way? Do I have a problem or is this normal?
The irony of this story is that not too long from now, when winter sets in, I will fondly remember my productive little friends and long for just a taste of a fresh, homegrown vegetable.
This doesn’t mean I will callously toss my vegetable plants aside just because I have “garden fatigue.” I will continue to dutifully harvest until I can pick no longer. And I will be really, really grateful for such a fantastic growing season.
Digging RI 
Ahhh yes!!!!!….growing your vegetables is the beginning – NOW, look at what you have to work with in the kitchen… REAL homegrown, clean produce. Enjoy the banner year. Savor the flavors!
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I will. The “clean” part is huge.
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Wow, quite the bumper crop you’ve got there! There’s nothing wrong with how you’re feeling. It’s perfectly normal to get a little tired of a garden that just won’t quit. We need a break from it so it doesn’t start to feel like a real chore. As much as I don’t like winter, I do welcome the break from the garden; to rest and re-energize. Then, come spring, I’m excited all over again about the garden.
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Thanks, Dr. Martha. I feel better already!
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You know what they say, dn: “Too much of a good thing.” Of course, once winter sets in and you start looking forward to spring, another cliche will click in: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” You’ll really appreciate that home made marinara in February. 🙂
I know what you mean, though. No matter how good gardening is for the soul, it’s still work!
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I can say with a straight face that picking vegetables is hard work in my small garden. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I have gone from eager anticipation to blasé and it all happened so fast.
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It’s that day that we look out the window and think the whole garden can just go to rot. I’ve had it!! I’m almost there, except for the fall flower plantings. After that…my knees and back are taking a good long break.
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Seems there are two kinds of food growers: those who can – and those who can’t, the latter category being the one I’m in. As for the over-abundance, some people share with friends, who soon grow tired of too much produce gifts and close their curtains, pretending they’re not home.
Here’s a solution: You could pick and then immediately toss into the compost pile, where your next year’s crop will sprout right on time.
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I still feel obligated to eat them, and I have given many away to neighbors and friends. And I have also made loads of that marinara sauce, which we will definitely appreciate this winter, so no produce is going directly from plant to compost yet.
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Hey DN, your vegs look amazing.
Let me know if you want me to help you harvest one day and then I’ll drop off vegs at JonnyCake or Welcome House.
Happy for you that your gardens did so well. Actually envy you but, then again, I planted nothing this year! And, yes, it’s a lot of work.
Take care, P
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Thanks, P. At this point I don’t have nearly enough to donate to anyone except family and friends, and I have frozen some of the eggplants and turned the paste tomatoes into yummy sauce. The season just seems to be so loooooong…..
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