A while back I promised to share some photos and details on what we are growing in the greenhouse. I injured my hips/back/spirit around that time and have not been allowed to touch the greenhouse or gardens for a few weeks.
Somehow I've managed to just trust that things will be fine (with me and the garden) and they are fine. I am slowly healing and look a lot healthier than I have in a while. I even tried out acupuncture. I've never spent money on myself for treatments (of any kind) before and the choices for alternative healing are incredibly limited where we live. Did it help? I am honestly not sure but I'll share more on that later.
It turns out I was working myself to complete exhaustion and I'd been hurting for quite a while, just pushing through it like the stubborn mule that I am. This ordeal has taught me a lot and today I am more at peace and working on a plan for prevention because I have learned from this.
I am grateful to have had support from friends (thank you @riverflows) and from my husband who has had to carry things on his own. I am grateful for the hot days mingled with thirst-quenching thundershowers because however wild everything is it is also quite lush and beautiful and no one has had to water the gardens in weeks.
I went out for a quick look at things today. There are insects everywhere. Some good, some bad (cucumber beetles - little teeny monsters) but everything seems to be doing quite fine without me and that has me wondering why I feel the need to control things so much. A hummingbird even stopped by the greenhouse to feast as I stood at the wild jungle before me and holy smokes - the greenhouse is so messy and chaotic and although I would love to spend a few days working in there, I am finding this natural wild growth quite fascinating.
What's Growing in the Greenhouse?
There are tomatoes, peppers, nasturtium, kale, basil, winter savory (perennial)
The tomatoes are just wild. Usually, I'd tend them a lot more because in a few weeks they will double in size and then eventually they'll take up all the space in the greenhouse - things are going to get really wild and interesting at this rate. I wonder if all this crowding will reduce productivity or if I've been working hard at something that needed to just be left alone? I wonder if I can resist taming it?
There are also beans (bush and pole) and sunflowers that we didn't plant.
- We used the greenhouse to dry beans because of an early frost and ...well, now we've got the most amazing massive bushes of beans I've ever seen.
- I don't even know where the sunflower came from but it is massive and I am wondering if it will stop growing before it hits the roof.
- The tomatoes don't seem to mind the beans twined all around them and everything is very dark green so I am wondering if the beans are contributing to this?
- The tomatoes are so crowded by the beans but everything is growing well.
Purslane, lambsquarter, Thistles, and other "wild plants" are also mixed in. I don't usually let them grow in the greenhouse because we've got plenty everywhere else. The straw keeps the weeds a bit under control while helping to hold in moisture but we live in what you might consider a wild and wonderful meadow surrounded by forest and those seeds are amazing travelers.
Blackberries
Some blackberries from the main garden have tunneled their way underground and into the greenhouse. I find this quite amusing and I love blackberries.
My sidekick Molly and the heavily burdened arbor made from sticks and twigs. It sort of looks how I felt a few weeks ago ...broken and bent. This dog has not left my side in weeks and it is quite lovely to have another being watching over you with such love.