Neglected Garden

Begrudgingly I planted a garden this year, and mostly because I knew our house would be for sale and having a gigantic weed patch in the back yard doesn't look too hot for potential buyers.

I wasn't keen on weeding and nurturing plants all summer and I have had feelings of being overwhelmed with the entire gardening process.  Bah-garden-hum-bug.  We even made our garden smaller this year by bordering it with large shrubs so you would think I wouldn't complain as much. (Ok…confession.  We really planted the shrubs because our backyard neighbors made it clear how they felt about us at the last HOA meeting and since we don't want to put in a fence, shrubs that will make a privacy barrier in a few short years seemed like the next best thing.  I found the shrubs on clearance this spring for $8 a piece.  They usually go for around $30 or $40 each.  Score! Fences and large shrubbery make good neighbors.)

So back to the garden and my complaining...

I planted low maintenance vegetables and was doing the minimal amount of work to keep them alive.  The garden was small and "surviving" until a few weeks ago when the RAIN came.

The large amount of water was exactly what my garden needed because

 Shazam!

This is what my little neglected garden looks like today.

It went insane!

Saylor and Grady helped me water today for the first time in weeks.

4 inches of rain is good for a garden!

Grady stared posing for pictures and this is his new favorite look.

Hilarious.

It's been a really good year for my fruit trees too.

My pears are HUGE and almost ready to pick.  I'm going to give them one more week before we ripen them up and enjoy.

My poor apple tree looks like its about to break in half its so loaded with fruit.  I thinned the apples on the tree more than once, and the tree is still overflowing.   When the first freeze hits we are going to be swimming in apples.

We have a few pumpkins and squash starting to grow and my kids have already called dibs on which pumpkin will be theirs to carve come Halloween.

The random sunflower seeds I dropped on the edge of our property went absolutely nuts with the rain too.

(Sunflowers make good neighbor barriers too- just saying)

I love the pumpkin vine crawling through everything.  It's taken over my potatoes and is moving onto the shrubs and corn.  I've had to move multiple vines off our neighbors property and snake them back into our garden.  

Finally, this is how our yard looks as of today.  The tent trailer and car were finally both gone so I snagged the chance take a picture without vehicles.