We were getting batty after two hours in the sun!
Working in the garden was refreshing. I mean, who needs a spa day when you have a garden, right?
Since I am going in for a hand operation on Monday, we thought we might as well get busy taking out the summer garden because we want to plant the winter garden soon.
My Trapeziectomy is scheduled on Monday! This is the most common form of surgery and completely removes the trapezium. Some surgeons fill the gap left by the removed bone using a piece of tendon from your wrist. I may given an artificial metal and plastic joint or a silicone rubber spacer to fill the space left.
Recovery from this procedure is slow. Most patients take 4-6 months to return to all their normal activities.
After the operation, I expect I will be in a cast for a total of six weeks. After the first two weeks I will see the doctor to have the stitches taken out and be put into a new cast for the remaining period.
Even though it was 65 degrees outside, it soon became very hot when removing this much greenery!
I worked in my gardening costume to keep cool!
We cut, slice, pull, and toss all the hardworking summer plants onto the concrete walkways between the raised beds, making it easy to sweep up and throw in the trash.
Some of these little plants have roots that make it to China! I guess that’s why they call it “digging to China” instead of “digging to your neighbor’s garden.” And here I thought I needed a passport to visit China! Many tomatoes have roots two to three feet long!
This is about 1/3 of what we have to do!
The plants that grew onto the trellises had to be removed. We got the bottoms but left the tops to the grandkids on Sunday. Too much reaching makes everything sore.
Two hours earlier, this trellis was loaded with Japanese yardlong beans, which we carefully removed and put on the drying racks. It was also full of tiny tomatoes, but not enough to make it worth keeping.
The overheads take time.
While hacking away and clearing out the foliage, we made many discoveries, including hidden grapes, peppers, and eggplants.
We made some discoveries.
The grandkids did not know there were different types of veggies and that gardens had to be replaced yearly (except for grapes, berries, and trees that go dormant in the winter).
The main difference between summer and winter vegetables is the temperature at which they grow best!
Summer vegetables Grow best in warmer temperatures, between 65°F 90°F during the day. They are not frost tolerant and can be damaged by temperatures slightly above freezing. Some examples of summer vegetables include beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, peppers, zucchini, and summer squash.
Winter vegetables: Grow best in cooler temperatures, between 40–70°F during the day. Some winter vegetables can tolerate light frost, and some can even withstand a freeze with little to no damage. Some examples of winter vegetables include radishes, carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, salsify, and parsnips.
Winter vegetables are also more flavorful than summer vegetables because they are harvested in colder weather, which helps them stay fresh longer. In addition, cold-adapted vegetables concentrate sugar in their cells as a survival strategy to resist freezing temperatures.
Meanwhile, we are still removing plants.
We hope this fits into two 100-gallon containers.
By 10:00 am, about 30% of the garden was pulled and awaiting disposal. It looked like the plants were staging a rebellion, but we were determined to restore order. We had to clean up and prepare for Girls’ Night Out at the Elks. It’s incredible how quickly we can switch from garden warriors to party animals!
Vicky joined us today, and we had nine brave souls! We discovered that Saturday was a dance night, so we all bought in and will reconvene here at 5:30 p.m. for a night of cavorting.
We are at Girls Night Out.
On their way out, some of the lodge’s older members were having lunch on the entranceway. The meal looked odd, and one guy lost his head over the selections.
Vicky, Mary, and I opted NOT to join them even though they asked us to be their guests!
The Lodge was decorated for the holidays.
Oh dear! Halloween will soon be upon us.
He apparently did not like his lunch. Note to self: No more experimental recipes for unsuspecting family members.
We went home, got out of our nice duds, and returned to the garden, where we worked for another hour filling the trashcans with the plant remains. Those 100-gallon cans are heavy to move across the lawn, even with their nice big wheels.
We managed to drop in two wheelbarrows worth of trimmings that Mary and I did earlier. By the time we had wrestled these barrels to the front yard and street, we were pooped out.
We were full from lunch, so we opted to watch TV. I took a well-needed shower before joining Mary in the TV room.
We watched two movies, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. Both classics are often seen, and we will still notice things we have yet to notice. Did you know that Lazlo was paid more than Rick for doing the movie?
We crashed at 10:00 pm, and I must be on the road at 7:00 am to get my 50,000-mile checkup on the Silver Fox, the Lexus.
