Reading your post brought me back to a difficult several years in my life. Everything took a back seat while family illness and death took over. I needed to reshuffle everything I considered important in my life, and gardening just didn't seem that important anymore. I, like you, felt that I was FAILING! What I am trying to say is that it may be your time to reshuffle your priorities. If you have gone back to work and will not have summers off, then maybe you want to give some thought as to how much time you can realistically spend on your garden. That way you can perhaps not feel so overwhelmed. Decide what brings you the greatest joy---having a well tended garden; acquiring new hostas, etc? Also, do you have a young person who can do some weeding for you for a few bucks? That way you could get your weeding done faster and be happier with your garden. I think you are just in the "readjustment" period when you need to prioritize and reshuffle your time due to your going back to work. I believe that you will find and do what is right for you. Good luck.

Sorry to hear you got hail, Jali, but really glad to hear it wasn't "too" bad this time! I remember a few years back when you posted pics of "what was left" of your tomatoes--STEMS! So glad to hear that didn't happen again, especially this late when there wouldn't be time at all for them to recover! Were the tornado warnings out there anywhere near you yesterday? Didn't get anything at all up here on the North End yesterday--could hardly believe it when the severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings started scrolling across the TV screen! Hopin' for some hail-less precip today--or in the next couple days at least! The monsoon has been fairly good to me this year, but I have WAY had it with the humidity! For weeks now the humidity INSIDE my house has been over 50%, unheard of for THAT long, and I am SO tired of feeling cold and clammy all the time! So if it's gonna stay this humid I hope I at least get some more actual precip with it! Hope you stay safe from the hail for the rest of the summer, Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Jali's tomatoes in '09!

I'm trying to remember him. That show was one of those perfect casts like Wings and Taxi everyone "just fit"

I hope you made it in Minne