Redecorating and Harvest Monday!

I was so amazed when the man with the bobcat did not even graze my boxes in the other corner yard when he came to dig out for the pool. However, I knew that the far left 3x3 box was just going to be too close for comfort. The man put down some railroad ties to edge the pool with this weekend and whereas it did not overlap the box, they sure did come close. Even without the ties, I still found myself walking up through the boxes to get to the other side of the pool. This wasn't going to work either way. The box had to go. The other corner yard is an odd duck. It gets relatively good sun in June and July, but not sun at all in the late fall through early spring. It's also so far away from the real corner yard that I need to use a different hose to water it. This year I used it for my herbs which worked out nicely, but that one left box was actually empty right now so removing it wasn't a problem.

I was so happy and surprised when the man picked up the box and said, "Where do you want it?" I thought for sure that I'd have to give it up since I've basically used all of the other remaining space and the man needed what was left to run his lawnmower through. I was so excited to get that box to the other yard to soak up some more sun. We wound up putting it between the two boxes I put in last year.

From this vantage point, it's a bit crooked, isn't it? Anyway, it will do very well here. The deck that's going to be built around the pool may cover the last foot or so of the long box on the right. I could slide it forward a bit, but that would mean emptying the dirt, and that's a big box, so I may just leave well enough alone and let the deck cover a foot or so.

The boy wants this to be his box. We'll go through the seed box this morning to see what we can find for him to plant.

I harvested my first two long beans today! Now I don't know what to do with them. Erin said stir fry, but I don't know for how long to cook them or do I need to boil them first? I'm so helpless. I have decided that the only cherry tomato I'll plant next year is the yellow pear. The chocolate cherries are beautiful, but the skin is very tough. I'm overrun with them right now. The bag on the chopping board is also filled with cherry tomatoes. The kids want to do a veggie stand with them and the cucumbers, but the last few cucumbers I've gotten were so bitter that I'm scared to put these out there for people to take home and get the shock of their lives. There's nothing worse than a bitter cucumber.

Yesterday I made and froze some more pesto. I accidentally left out the garlic, so I wrote it on the bags to remind myself I needed to add it when used. I was able to also make my second batch of salsa using only my own tomatoes - mostly brandywine and cherokee purple. This had me very, very excited as I usually have to use store tomatoes, but the price of store tomatoes hasn't gone down this year. The difference in taste in this salsa and the one from last year is amazing. It's deeper and richer. I'm very excited about it. Now my salsa shelf is stuffed full with 14 jars. It's very exciting.

I'm off to see what the boy wants to plant - other than corn. We'll really have to look at putting in some corn early next year.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.