Giving Up

skeeter9

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You guys are so right about not giving up. What was that line that King Arthur shoutred in "First Knight" when he was about to get slaughtered? I believe it was "Never surrender! Never Surrender!" Yep, I think we gardeners are kindred spirits to those Knights of olde!

I can thankfully say that it's a good thing I didn't give up when we were having the coldest, nastiest spring ever. We have now had a total of 1 week of warm weather without anything freaky happening and my garden has taken off like it's possessed! A far cry from what it was such a short time ago with wind, hail, and frost damage and no growth at all.

Give up? No way!!!! :plbb
 

wifezilla

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"Never give up! Never surrender!"

Of course that was said in Galaxy Quest and dealt with alien invaders, but bugs count as alien invaders, right?

:D
 

Southern Gardener

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I like this post! :D We are having severe heat here right now. 101 today 102 tomorrow - the temp doesn't get to 80 until around 6am!

My okra is going great, but I've planted the rows too close together and made the mistake of diving in there with shorts and no sleeves - big mistake, I itched for hours! Now I don long pants, long sleeves, my floppy garden hat (just purchased and LOVE it) and gloves in 90 degrees - still at this temp at 7pm. I finally drag my panting, sweating and near heat exhausted self out of the garden asking myself "Why do I keep doing this again?"
 

hangin'witthepeeps

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Ya'll keep throwing out the nasty things about gardening, and I keep remembering the sweet taste of that cherry tomato yesterday. Oh my goodness, my mouth is watering. :drool :coolsun :tools
 

Southern Gardener

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Or that smothered okra and tomatoes I had the other night - and the best stinkin' tomato I had for lunch!!! Not that waxed crud you get at the grocery!
 

digitS'

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Aren't garden-fresh veggies good??!

It is estimated that there were no more than 100 million people alive at any one time during pre-agriculture days. By the dawn of the Industrial Revolution there may have been about 1.7 billion of us. That's 17 times more than could exist using only hunting and gathering to feed people!

As humans, obviously, we know how to grow food. It is just a matter of being willing to do it! (But, I'm also planning on supplementing my diet with a few tasty weeds. Wouldn't want to be limited in my skill-set ;)!)

Steve
 

skeeter9

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I like this post, too, Southern Gardener! It's nice to have people to talk to who understand how elemental gardening is for some of us.

The other day I was having lunch with my parents and my mom was trying to convince me that we need to give up our place in the country and live where there isn't any yard to take care of, etc. I tried to explain to her how important it is to me to be able to get outside and work physically with my hands in the dirt and with my animals, etc. She is right when she says I work too many hours to keep up with everything, but I have resigned myself to the fact that I will make progress on my yard and garden while I am off for the summer then it will be neglected during the school year. I refuse to feel bad about that, even though it's not ideal!

Hangin', I'm just imagining the taste of a fresh tomato from our garden!!! Maybe in another month. . . . .:happy_flower
 

journey11

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Steve, I'd like to have some of your pretty rocks to line my flowerbeds! :D

Seems nearly every one of us, regardless of our locale, has experienced challenging weather this year. I count myself lucky to live in an area of the country that experiences four distinct seasons, although this year added a fifth--monsoon season! :p

When I think about what I'd like to put up in my larder this year, there's a few crops I can't imagine going without...onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes. Those have to come through since they're the fundamentals. If the peaches should fail, there's always blackberries and strawberries to fall back on for pies and our morning oatmeal. I'm a bit bummed out that my apple trees didn't set this year (despite my busy bees), but the late blooming apple tree on my dad's farm is completely loaded and I'll be putting up as many of those as I can get my hands on. I always have the grocery store to fall back on...but imagine how nerve-wracking it was when people lived solely on what they grew? I'm trying to work toward more food independence for my family, but knowing you had nothing to fall back on...wouldn't that sharpen the learning curve!

Crop diversity and repetitive plantings have been the key to getting by this year. The new raised beds we put in will give me more options next year if the rain keeps me out of the big garden. And I'll probably never change my tag line on here, because it constantly reminds me to avail myself of every available opportunity to get out there and plant something, regardless if the weather is preferable or not. When the weather forecast is dotted with rain clouds, I have a hard time some days trying to choose between working the bees, working in the garden, or cleaning the house. I despise having to go anywhere when something here needs attended to. It seems just plain wrong to waste a sunny day! I usually have to begin with the one thing that is most imperative. Guess which chore gets neglected most often? ;)
 
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