Thank you, gardening friends!

I have just had the VERY happy experience of returning to our garden this weekend to something quite nice.  I had really fretted and worried about leaving for almost three weeks in mid-summer!  

pocket meadow

It was not a good time to leave, although I'd "battened down" the garden by pruning, harvesting all ripening veggies, and adding some water-absorbent crystals to the soil.

I was just hopeful that all of the plants would survive, much less flourish.

But, Asheville has had plenty of rain, thank goodness, an unexpected change from the hot and dry conditions in July.  So the entire garden is lovely and green, after almost three weeks away. 

vegetable garden in front

And thanks to our neighbors and other gardening friends, somehow they collectively managed to diligently harvest beans, eggplant, tomatoes, and squash while I was gone (a daily routine for me), so I didn't return to a mess of overgrown veggies (aside from a few errant squash and beans). Bliss. Just a beautiful array of beans and a few tomatoes to harvest -- how wonderful is that?

Not sure who were the main harvesters yet (I sent out "please help yourself" notices to at least 7 folks), but I am so glad that they (whomever the mix) were able to enjoy the vegetables! 

And the plants still all look great. I had been steeling myself for something dire!