Autumn closes in on my garden

"A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust."
Gertrude Jekyll 

AUBURN — You can't eat flowers, and that explains why I don't focus on planting roses or tulips.

But I went ahead and planted sun flowers, anyway.

This season, which got off to a rough start with 20 days of rain in June,  I tried growing sun flowers by seed. Two poked through the soil and survived to grow 10 feet.

The twin Russian giants tower over my garden as cars slow down and their occupants give me a thumbs up when they see sun flowers, putting smile on this proud Green Thumb's face.

Still, I concentrate on vegetable gardening simply because I enjoy consuming organic rabbit food, which is not tainted by deadly pesticides and fertilizers. I must confess that I use one pesticide, Garden 8, sparingly to ward off aphids and cucumber beetles. 

I enjoy toiling in the soil and watching thing grow.

I have rigged myself for silent running — just like a submarine does when it goes deep or is creeping up on an enemy. I shut off the damn TV, dream of taking a hammer to my annoying phone and pull the plug on your computer for 48 hours. I have discovered that there are plenty of hours in the day to get my hands dirty.

I save money, lose weight, and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I have built my own Shangri-la and enjoy getting down and dirty with nature and all its mystery.

Trust me on this.

Sure, I have been frustrated by the weather, bugs and other varmints that treat my garden like a buffet. But I am always surprised at the taste of my home-grown tomatoes and remain the envy of my good neighbors who are often on the receiving end of a bag of vegetables.

But the cool winds of September remind me that another garden is on its last leg and another summer is fading away.

Last year, an Auburn police cruiser was riding by the yard. He stopped and complimented me on my garden.

"Officer, you know your need is two fresh, prize-winning summer squash," I said.

"Are you kidding," the officer said.

I walked over and handed him the squash. I told him to dice them up, add olive oil, butter, bread crumbs and bundle the squash up in aluminum foil and throw the vegetables on the grill.

"No kidding," the officer said. "Thanks."

"Hey, it is always good to grease the police," I said.

We both laughed. I discovered that gardening is also a great way to build community relations with local law enforcement, too.