But - no! The storms start to fall apart, and after the Red Sox game, a good night's sleep borne of the relief of no violent rain or hail or big wind gusts to make a mess out of everything.....
....Or was it a clean escape? This morning's trip down the driveway to collect the paper was depressing following the realization that though we received no benefit of rain, some distant storm-producing gusts of wind turned a few rows of my driveway garden into random stackings of green fruit-laden tomato plants. What a mess!
So instead of my planned Saturday - leisurely breakfast with Sue and the newspaper followed by an early hour of soaking all of the gardens - it was a full morning - 3.5 hour marathon of untangling the tipped plants, figuring out a way to get things at least stable enough to water, and concern of what I would find as I picked those plants up. This does eventually happen every year - I bite off too much, find myself overwhelmed and start ignoring - or at least delaying - some tasks that are really critical to keeping order in the driveway - tying when needed, topping and pruning to avoid plants that become too top heavy and kite-like in the winds.
But all will be well - it always is, even if harvesting tomatoes is complicated by a sort of wiring diagram - following stems to the ripe fruit to ensure I know what varieties I am picking! And of course, I am just one windy gust away from having to do it - or something similar, because no two pick up stick events are alike - all over again!
Well, it is nearly dinner time - and I don't think there is any escaping the need to top up the tomato plants with water this evening - it's another scorcher out there. And, yes, after a shopping errand, I already noticed that section of the driveway array that held on last night decided to tip this afternoon.....but that may have to wait until morning to be untangled!
See what I share with you - not only the successes, but the challenges, failures and frustrations! Why? Because I want you to know what gardening is really like - not some romanticized story of everything being wonderful all the time! And to let you know that even experienced gardeners feel like pulling their hair out often throughout any given season!