“The RoseBouquet”

There’s lots to do all week, but I guess the more fun things to describe to you are what I do on Saturdays. I had another very productive Saturday this last weekend. The weather was gorgeous. A perfect Indian Summer day! I would love to see another two months like that.

I dug up my potatoes, harvested the squash and zucchini (found a couple of biggies I hadn’t noticed before) and chopped up all that greenery to dry up for compost. I tossed the potatoes to the grassy side of the yard and let them dry off in the sun the way Dad would have. Later in the afternoon I put on his thick rubber gloves and sat on an over turned pail to dust the potatoes off and put them into pails. The 10 gallon pail was not quite full. I’m afraid I’ll have eaten in just a few weeks.

The pail of stabbed or injured potatoes I gave away to my neighbours. (Joe had been hunting and gave me some fresh venison, which I shared with my brother Tom, in a Sunday supper I took to his place).

I also dug up my dahlia roots to save for next spring. Fortunately they have multiplied nicely, which means I’ll have more plants next summer. I only got two flowers from this year’s growth. I brought them inside to put in a bowl for my dining table.

Just now I had a call from someone who helps his relatives farm out in the country. They are waiting for a week of dry weather so they can finish harvesting about 10 more quarter sections of crops. This makes me realize that I did well to get my whole harvest done in one day.

This next Saturday I hope to see how much of the garden soil I can turn over with a spade to work the compost and peat moss into it. Where the potatoes grew the soil is much softer and looser than the rest of the garden, so growing potatoes was s good move. But it will take more effort, probably over several years, to get the kind of rich garden soil and flower beds that we had in Hague.