The More You Grow

As usual, major catching up to do!
The kids have started school and as nice as it has been to have full days back to myself, I also feel a bit like a fish out of water. I need to do some time restructuring.... I'm so used to being limited with time that I feel I don't know what to start on my list first now that I have more. It keeps filling in with little things and I haven't had much to show for it.
But I do have THIS to show for it. I have needed dig into the garden and rip out old/dead stuff and prepare for the fall. I kept waiting 'for school to start'.
So, the first week in, I reserved a beautiful morning to get my hands dirty. Plopped in my headphones and went to work. I think the success rate of my first attempt to garden was about 50-60%. The rest was bumpkus. The tomatoes, basil, garlic chives and hot peppers (planted by accident) were all great. But the carrots (they were dwarfed, bitter nasties) and butter squash/zucchini which grew beautifully, all green, lush and huge... didn't work. I never got ONE zucchini from them which I think had to do with a lizard or other pests. Who knows. Ether way, out all that crap came. I decided to prune the tomatoes because the ends have blossomed again so I may get another harvest. We'll see. It was just niiiiice to work hard for a good 1 1/2 hours without being interrupted.
Also, I got to use my compost!!!!
Look at that muck- ain't it purdy? I am telling you, composting is so cool. This was a big old mess and it has broken down to rich, earthy smelling deliciousness for the soil. I can't believe the process yeilds something like that. I mixed that in with the current dirt and now it's ready for seeds. Woot. I encourage anyone thinking about taking this on to go for it (The kids get into it, too). I am a fan of doing this in the bins or cans because there hasn't been any bug or pest problem.
Though... I can't say that for the garden. Apparently I can't grow zucchini very well but I was able to grow a huge, healthy, glossy black widow just fine. Look at what I found when I ripped out the plants? Too bad for you I didn't have a hidden camera filming my reaction. It's huge! So shiznasty. Even the leaves were disgusted. And if you think you're not afraid of spiders, then click on the pic to full size and touch it on your monitor. I double-dog dare you. (Fine, but I am man enough to admit that even a picture of the thing is yucky enough)