Not really sick of gardening or tired of it even. In NY no problem to keep a garden running all summer and producing also! Here in NC we go through what I call summer mode. Pretty much everything will die off, stop growing or be eaten faster than I can realistically deal with the bugs. Yes, even the best organic cures will not deal with all issues. I work this into the summer gardening routine. When the July/August heat and dry spell hit I let nature do its thing. Most everything is finished with at lest its first crop by then anyway! Besides as others mentioned it is brutally hot/humid and just standing in the shade looking at the garden can make you lose 2 pounds per hour. By that time of year I can make do with two cherry tomato plants, one regular and one or two of whatever else is still producing something. Pick the best and healthiest ones and I will let them go with water, once or twice a week and little else. Yes, I am cruel and mean to my plants. In July you get one or two days where it is only in the 80Âs so I use them and till the whole mess. Looks pretty barren with one or two plants poking up in a large plot! About now it is cooling down again. I did a fast shallow till to get the little weeds and am planning to plan the fall garden. Two gardening seasons is one way to look at it. First year in NC I did try to keep everything growing all summer, not a pretty sight and a ton of work hand watering. I am trying to work with the cycles we have and besides, who wouldnÂt like to do spring planting twice in a year!

Mine don't seem to realize winter is here either this year. It has got to freezing a few times this year so I made something I call my "ghetto greenhouse". I got a 10'x14'x8' screen tent and secured the side poles with heavy steel posts and put stronger tie-downs on it. I put all the tropicals that are still in pots in there. It has two flap windows at the top that air can get through as well as the screen sides. It doesn't really keep it real warm but is excellent to keep the frost off the tops of the plants, perfect for areas like mine in zone 9. If it gets below say freezing I go out and add a layer of lightwieght flannel sheets over the tops of the plants in the 'screenhouse'. All the plants look really good and have continued to grow this winter.

Lucy, a screen house is like a screened in room. It's a free standing structure with a tent like covering and zippered screen sides. We have a horrible mosquito problem up here in New England and you can't sit outdoors during the evening or early morning with out protection. I have a small pond and don't spray the garden with insecticides in order to not harm bees, wasps, butterflys, or other beneficial insects. So with out the screen house we couldn't enjoy the garden or outdoors during peak mosquito hours. It also provides some shade protection for some of my house plants that summer outdoors. I'm seriously thinking of converting to natural gas for heating but it's a huge investment. I don't have the room for a wood or pellet stove but our neighbors saves over $1,000. last winter using one. I've cut back on the AC this summer in anticipation of winter heat bills.

Sylvia, I just ordered two Marcoun Apple trees, I'm not sure if they will fruit here in my zone but those apples are well worth a try. They said it will be 2 to 3 years before they will fruit. I searched everywhere for larger Marcoun Apple trees but these trees were the only ones I could find online. I might have to overwinter them in a refrigerated Plexiglas dome to set fruit. LOL I keep looking at my original northern apple trees I planted here a few years ago and they are staying dormant from all the cold this year. I removed the leaves on them last November's first frost so they would go dormant early. This spring I will hand pollinate the flowers as the bees here are very scarce. I also planted two crab apple trees which are very good apple pollinators. Lou