August Garden Journal: Dead is the New Beautiful

My once verdant, lush garden oasis is now mostly dead. I trimmed away all of the dead leaves and was left with such a pathetic sight that I ripped everything out. Sadly, this didn't improve the view much, but it did leave me with some garlic, lots of green onions, and a heartrending collection of giant green tomatoes. I was a little sad- sad enough that I really wanted to crawl back into bed at nine in the morning. I settled for a second cup of coffee instead. 

On the bright side, all the horrible molding overgrown monster plants had to go. It was for their own good, and they're in a better place now. I discovered some surprise beets, and the yellow tomatoes in the picture above were perfectly ripe. I can reach all three living plants to water them now, and some tiny little sunflowers that never got enough water to thrive have bloomed, even if they are only a quarter of their natural height. 

I still had enough tomatoes left over to make the salad below. So beautiful! Tomatoes are worth it. I was almost ready to give up on tomatoes. 

I also cut back the gross stuff in the green house, but I left the roots and I'm feeding and watering them just in case they decide to make a comeback. It's still possible that they're only mostly dead. Maybe next month I'll be singing about rising up from the ashes and other optimistic, inspiring topics. 

And finally, the picture below is proof that I have hope at least. Where there are seeds, water and light, a garden may once again flourish if I don't manage to kill it first. 

Here's a quote from my sister-in-law, and it was encouraging enough that I thought I would share it here in case you too are suffering from depression-inducing garden setbacks. 

"I planted cat nip and lavender.  If you can find one or both at an herb festival, buy them. They never die. You don't even have to do anything. They survive no water, too much water, drought, floods...name it. They make you feel like a pro. So when little black bugs eat your eggplant, you just look over at the cat nip and be like, "yep, nailed that one!"