Gardening

In the past we have had large gardens when we lived where we had the room to have a garden. When our children were at home and growing up we tried to raise a lot of our vegetables. It was hard work to can and freeze enough food for the coming winter, but it was fun too. It gave you a sense of accomplishment. Now we live on a lot that is 150 feet by 300 feet. Not much room to plant a garden. Plus we have some huge trees in our backyard that we will not do away with until they get to the place that there is  a danger of them falling on the house. They provide a lot of shade for us and our next door neighbor. I don't know how he feels about all our leaves in his backyard each autumn though!
So now, with just the two of us, we just raise a couple of tomato plants, some lettuce in flower pots and some pepper plants in flower pots. We bought two tomato plants last week and put them in flower pots so we can bring them in the garage when there are frost warnings. We will put them in the ground later when all danger of frost is past. We are beginning to put perenial flowers in our flower beds. That will be less work for us in our older years.
I have about 6 lettuce plants and Friday we had a couple of leaves of fresh lettuce on our hamburgers for supper.
My irises are beginning to bloom. Several years ago my husband preached in a gospel meeting near Dickson, TN. A couple visited nearly every night who worked at an iris nursery in that area. I ordered one of their catalogs. A friend and I placed a big order of irises. I got a couple of iris that were so dark purple in color that they are almost black. One is the kind that blooms in early spring and then again in the autumn. The first year after we put them out, it did bloom twice that year. Then we went into a drought cycle and it only bloomed in the spring. It is blooming now, and it is early for my irises to be blooming. None of the rest of them are blooming in my yard. Can I hope for an autumn blooming of that iris this year? I hope so. It  is a small iris. One stalk as 3 buds on it. When that stalk blooms I'll try to get a picture of it and post it on this blog.
My friend planted all her iris tubers that we bought along the edge of her yard near the street. The city same by and dug a ditch for the water line, and dumped all the dirt on her irises. They never came through all that dirt. But irises are sturdy, so they may come through later.