Time to Bring in the Tomatoes from my Cottage Garden

It's amazing the difference it makes when your tomato plants like their habitat.  My one plant by the house in my cottage garden produced a bigger crop of tomatoes than all seven sister plants that I grew in the little garden plot across the road.  These tomatoes were huge.  I almost hated to bring them in; I wanted to show them off instead.

I planted it along side the bench arbor and it decided it would be a climber instead of flopping like some of my plants did.  It grew till the tip reached the top of the arbor and then became to heavy and slid down, so I gave in and tied it up.

I had thought that it might not do so well there this year since it was the second year in the same spot, but it liked it there so well last year that I decided to give it a try again, and I'm glad I did.

Last year's preparation involved burying bone meal, ashes and vegetable scraps in a deep hole in the thick bed of pure compost.  This year I had no time for babying my plants but I knew that there would still be nutrients in the soil decomposing from last year.

I think one of the keys to that tomato plant's success was location. It seemed to love the warmth of that west wall.



The photo on the right shows the tomato plant on the arbor in my trailer cottage garden after I had picked the tomatoes off.

I gave most of the tomatoes away.  With my husband in the hospital, there were way too many.

An awkward time in the garden. The liatris (blazing star) is already past its prime, and most of the lilies are done.

The bench arbor is getting shrouded in climbing beans and morning glory vines, but the sky blue flowers have yet to show themselves.

  But the real attention grabbers of August are the veggies. They are coming on so fast that I almost can't keep up. 

What a blessing from Heaven they are!

A Two Year Process

I was asked on a comment on my last post about how long I had been working on my garden.  I couldn't quite remember.  So much had changed that it was hard to remember back to what it was.  I had to go back to my photo files.

 This is the way it looked when we had our first look.  There was lawn under the snow, on both sides of the fence.  The clothes line was the dominant feature of the side yard.

In May of 2009, a little more than two years ago, before we even took possession I was pulling the weeds away from the few daffodils hugging the side of the house.  I remember the former owner asking if I wanted to buy her grass trimmer.  My answer was that I wouldn't need one.  There would be no grass to trim.


As soon as we moved in we got rid of the fence and the tree stump and the tree whose roots were causing damage.  I started digging up the grass, and planting what I could scrounge up.  I also bought a couple of rose bushes on sale.

I knew a field where flat rocks were available and our city has a compost site not far from us.  I used newspapers underneath the raised beds of compost to discourage weeds from coming through.

I was able to get quite a few annuals for next to nothing when the beds were done because the season was half way over.

I also planted a few vegetables like cucumbers in the planter and beans, both as a border and for climbing.  We picked up the bench arbor at an outlet that had it cheap because it was missing a couple of caps.

It wasn't until the second year(last year)  that I painted the deck white.  Last spring I was able to get one of the grape vines that I had started at the last house we had.  I didn't expect it to do much the first year, but it took off.

Even though during the summer of 2010 I was at the hospital with my husband most of the time, the garden continued to mature and bless me when I came home exhausted at night.  And even when I was away for almost a month in Toronto while Bruce had his heart valve replaced, the garden kept up a cheerful front.

I thank the Lord for the outlet of my garden during those trying days.  The beauty of God's creation can really be a healing balm in times of trouble. 

This year I have expended a lot of effort into vegetable gardening in two different plots, but my flower garden continues to bless both my husband and myself, as well as being a way of interacting with my neighbors and their children.

The Best Winter Medicine - wandering through my past Cottage Gardens

When I have winter fever I know where to look for help.  Here are some of the views of my former cottage gardens that act as medicine to my spring-hungry soul.