The beginning of the end of garden season…

The mellow light of some lost Yesterday.

Arthur Upson

Lo! a ripe sheaf of many golden days

Gleaned by the year in autumn's harvest ways, With here and there, blood-tinted as an ember, Some crimson poppy of a late delight.

LM Montgomery

On a warm, but not hot mid-September day, my oldest son and I fertilized the gardens at each of our homes; it was the last for this year. It’s always a bittersweet experience. As my son said, “I’m tired of watering and fertilizing. It was fun having the garden, but I’m ready for the end of the season.”  I feel similarly.  I’ve loved watching my flowers, vegetable plants, and trees and other green plants grow. I’ve delighted in the bright colors of flowers and relished the cool, green, shady foliage of other plants and trees. I’m now very much enjoying the harvest, but I’m also ready to not have to water so frequently, weed a lot, and tend to the plants almost daily.

A bonus is that I also harvested a bumper crop of my favorite tomatoes. Since there are still some on the vine, which have time to grow and consumer this fall, I will freeze my delicious crop from today specifically for using for my homemade Christmas lasagna sauce! I don’t know exactly why, but this action enchants me to no end! Perhaps it’s the simple process of reserving the fruits of summer joy for a winter feast to share with family.

Where I live, we will likely have another month or so to enjoy our gardens and continue harvesting, but the plants grow slower now and take less care as the days shorten as we move into autumn. It’s a mellow time of savoring the last of garden season as autumn begins its colorful transition.