Time in the garden daily would be bliss, but you know…life. Even if you do get time, it never seems to be enough to get it all done (at least here). This year I planted 12 seed trays of vegetables, perennials, and annuals. It was a lot to plant and maintain what I already had going.

Fast forward 2 months – we went from freezing night temps to over 100˚F in a little over two weeks time. I don’t garden in triple digits, so when I walked around the vegetable garden the other day things were a bit out of control. Miraculously, there were almost NO weeds! There were, however, plants that were ready for harvest, some had gone to seed, others were attacked by aphids.

Here is the garden as it stands in it’s messy glory.

The peas had gone way too long unharvested, but now they are perfect as seed for planting in a few weeks!

The parsnips were intentionally left to go to seed. Parsnip seeds are really only good for a year or so and I wanted to experiment with collecting the seeds (another post). It was interesting and easier than I expected. These seeds will be perfect to go in the ground in a week or so for the fall garden and be ready to harvest after first frost. Now that I’ve collected the seeds I need, the greens will go to the rabbits!

This spring I planted carrots in a newer, more shallow garden bed and was worried about our dense clay soil below, so I planted a variety called ‘Short n Sweet’ and some were HUGE!

Lettuce becomes very bitter if it bolts in the heat. It may be too bitter for people, but the rabbits love any greens they get! Waste not, want not!

Although I didn’t get to harvest some spring crops for us, they did go to providing seed for later crops and feed for the rabbits.

Instead of looking at I may have missed out on, it helped ease the disappointment by focusing on how it helped in other ways.

May you love the best of your garden and let the rest go.

Happy gardening!