It's the time of the season to wind down the garden around here, and as usual, I'm excited, but not with the typical relief/panic that i usually experience. The setup this year was about 1/4 the normal size and reduced to only wicking tubs. It's been such little work, that it's tempting to migrate everything to that growing method eventually.

To make life even simpler, I opted for a mostly eat-fresh yield. I've lived most of the spring & summer months off of salad, cucumbers, melons, and local beef. I know I'll regret this choice, come February, but its been a much needed break. The last few years have been overwhelming. The closest thing to preservation i need to deal with, is drying some beans & herbs, and curing tobacco.

On that note, second year of tobacco went much smoother than the first. No weird viruses. No bolting. Just a couple plants instead of a dozen... I've never done anything with it, but from loose reading & eyeballing, I think there's enough to roll at least a few small cigars to give out for the holidays.

...and I have 1 pumpkin, perfect for a pie. 😊

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I too prefer to eat them as they ripen, and not have a full time job of canning. And major cool points for growing your own tobacco.

Canning is so exhausting... I feel like, once mastered, I'm ok with shelving that skillset for a rainy day, aside from a few things that are just better, like pickles & bbq sauce.

Tobacco has been interesting. Growing it is part of a broader plan to grow what could be valuable during the dark timesπŸ˜… It didn't make it last year, so this will be my first foray into curing and rolling. Should be fun.

Nothing wrong with taking a needed break.

Other than the future grocery bill, no. I don't regret it at all.

Good. You'll be OK!

Oh yeah... no doubt. I just chose the easy path this year & easy comes at a cost. $1.99/can πŸ˜…

I have just been mostly relying on the perennials this year. It's been a struggle to get things really going due to all the rain and cold weather, the few days I have that weren't raining I have been building things so everything has just turned into a jungle which will be chopped down after a frost. At least I am closer to finishing the small greenhouse for next year.

I love gardening, but it sure does take away from the ability to do anything else. It's been great to cut back & focus on some other things. Doing so unwillingly can feel defeating but at least you can put energy into other things.

Yeah it's a massive yet mostly enjoyable time consumer. The worst part of doing it for a living too is when you know no one is going to see it, that's somewhat soul destroying even if you do get money for it because you could have doing your own garden instead.

Yeah, I don't think I'd ever want to do it as my work. I prefer hard labor to be on my own whims. πŸ˜