It's working! Also, a start for next season.

 Today was kind of bass ackwards, we decided to go to Denny's for breakfast so got out of the house early. I came back and because Rocky was still napping I went out to the garden to check on things. Zucchini is still looking good and had to prop up the tomato plant a bit more.

Question was, should I pick it now or tomorrow? I decided to wait until tomorrow.  Crumpled flower on the right is the next one that I pollinated yesterday. I picked the big open flower thinking to save the pollen but then just chucked it on the compost pile. Since I watered yesterday everything was looking good still. So having brought my gloves with me I decided it was time to move the aloe and abandoned planter. I just might commandeer the planter to put on the front porch to grow seedlings.

After moving them I decided to pull the aloe (that sucker was heavy!) on the other side of the log pile at the end. Gave me a little more room to move so I could dig the rest of the dirt.

I didn't take any pictures because I wore myself out digging. The dirt there likely hasn't been dug at all. Shovel only went in maybe two or three inches depending on where I put it. The darker part of the wall is likely dirt splash stains. I did discover a larger root, slightly smaller than the diameter of a pencil that was not part of the tomato or the aloe (which did have some tiny roots connecting to the dirt). So got the shovel and dug around a bit. Going to have to wet that all down and really do some digging when the other two plants are done if I want to utilize the whole bed. Or at least put a trelles there for peas.

As for the other bed, depending on how long the zucchini hold out, given the increase in mildew and the smaller one declining, still deciding what to do over there. Other than that, it is MUCH cooler today, I had to actually put pants on to go to breakfast! I have gained a bit of weight sadly so that means I need to do some more exercise. Walking around the block every day when I can. Right now my left foot is recovering from a violent encounter with the bed post three days ago. Walking not so steady right now and trying to use the shovel with my right foot was not good either.

Gardening is good exercise if you do something strenuous for an extended time. Like digging, raking, hoeing and all that. Just watch your back, literally in the sense of watch your posture, use your legs when lifting or shifting something and if you know you're going to be doing a lot of stretching and bending and lifting, believe it or not, stretch your muscles before hand. I never do because I don't do that much but right now I can feel the muscles in my lower back feeling used. Not painful but my legs are also feeling the same way. Not bad, it's in a good way so didn't hurt anything.

I've been trying to notice gardens, trees, plants whenever I go out because it is a change of seasons now and some trees are either putting out seeds or fruit or flowers. One branch on one of the liquidambar trees was starting to change color. One smaller branch. Of all the trees that's the only one. Those trees are so weird. They are the only tree we have that gives us 'fall color' like other places have. 

Where I grew up we never saw anything that looked like fall. You know the decorations classrooms get, the orange and yellow leaves.. I never understood why. It was just what you did in the fall. It's utterly stupid really that a southern California school that has no maple trees or even, at the time, liquidambar trees that change color would have that. We had to draw a 'fall leaf' all the time. Thought it was just a symbol or something. 

When I got older and learned that there are trees elsewhere in the country that did change color in the fall it finally connected but still didn't make any sense. It wasn't until I was able to go to Massachusets in October to see my first grandson that I saw fall color in person. Pumpkins and an old wagon in someone's front yard with a sign 'pumpkins and gourds for sale', a huge dairy farm in the distance and honest to dirt maple trees turning color. It finally clicked for me and realized that all the symbology of fall is a carry over from people who lived back east and brought that with them west. Or south. 

Our weather, soil and temperatures are not conducive for a lot of plants that are native or thrive in colder climates.  When I worked at the nursery and we got Japanese maples in we would have to school people on how to take care of them so they would have leaves all the way through to fall. You see, they hate our alkaline water and that was all we had to water them with so, as a result, by October the leaves would be turning brown from the tips and by November be dry and dirt brown, falling off. We would tell them that they need to have more acidic soil, feed them cottonseed meal and all the ways to get the most out of them. 9 out of 10 would come back in six months (we would get them in the spring/winter) and ask why they weren't looking good, leaves were burning yada yada. 

So anyway, it's starting to feel like Fall finally. Love it!