I haven't been to the garden in weeks. Since the car crash, it has been unreachable. Editing this episode makes my fingers itch. So, let's enjoy some gardening together. It's almost time to hand over one of the two gardens. I need to prepare for leaving.

My only remaining crop is doing great: the garlic and onions are growing strong. My partner got to check on them a few days ago: everything is overgrown with grass but healthy.

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I have to leave the forest plot soon. Everything I want to take has to be out of there by the end of June. Now that I'm grounded, I'm very glad I started clearing it out early. By now, only a single trip worth of items is left in the garden house, everything else is done and ready. But even a single trip requires transportation--transportation we don't currently have. I will likely miss this beautiful corn salad going to seed. But I did get to see the blossoms.

I am leaving the roof intact for a potential next owner. But chances are, this land will not get adopted. I've managed to do a lot in the two years I've been here. But it's still an overgrown forest plot. It's a tough allotment to find a new steward for. So, I took down the rain gutters. I'll be able to use them again. I'd attached the brackets upside down to make the old roof work. This made it easy to remove them now, though. I'm leaving the roof itself intact. It just won't collect rainwater.

The cherry tree was covered in blossoms. The birds will be happy. If I am really lucky, there will be cherries when I return to the garden. Maybe, the timelines will all work out. From the photos I've seen of the garden, it might all align. I might be there to harvest the seeds, garlic, and fruit.

In my mind, the garden is in two states now, a Schroedinger's garden. Everything is healthy and everything is overgrown, dried out, and dead. But it's okay. The car crash happened. I got lucky, and everyone was unharmed. I'll deal with the rest.

Not growing here this year gives me a chance to see nature take over the area. Look at those dandelions. Everywhere. Despite a neighbor harvesting rabbit food here, there is yellow everywhere.

I carried another load of stuff from the garden house to the car, the old car when it was still intact.

I also dug out the planters that lined what I called the terrace. They aren't pretty but they are functional. Some of these went to a friend who had similar ones stolen from her own garden. Some we'll take along. This was exhausting work, so I spread it out over the afternoon, occasionally returning to drag another load over.

As the grass was taking over everywhere, I decided to spread cardboard underneath the containers.

I won't be able to care for the regrown rhubarb I planted last year, so these, too, went to my friend. I'll get new rhubarb started when I have a garden again. For now, I'm trying to keep the bushes alive.

I reused the cardboard that had been meant to make more beds. It now protects the berries. I don't think any of the berries have died so far, so that's something. I'm happy about any survivors. There's green on all of them. With the cardboard underneath, they won't get crowded out by grass. I'm doing what I can for these.

In a rare case of luck, actual rain came to save the day when my friend wasn't here to check on things. My partner even reported that the kale inside the greenhouse had survived and was growing strong. No watering. No air flow. No care. Nothing. And it's doing well. I should let that one go to seed.

As always, I gave everything a really good watering. Rain was rare. We finally started getting some rain at the end of May. I even got to jump around some puddles. I am so excited to give these a permanent home in the ground somewhere. I can hardly wait.

My partner brought a few garlic heads home as a trial. They were in great shape but had a few more weeks to give. I'm hopeful things will work out, that I'll get to drive there myself to harvest these soon. It'll work out.

The next few weeks blurred past. The lilac blossoms came and went. We got our first rain in months.

I was almost fully recovered, too. The only things left after the operation were a lack of balance, a few more scars, and a lot less pain. So, I went for walks. I practiced my balance on easy balancing opportunities. I got better.

I even attended my first ever protest. On the way home, I crashed the car.

The final stretch of my studies have me in their grasps. I'm stressed out most of the time. Things like a multi-hour trip to drop off the car key at the dealership didn't help. Not being able to escape to the garden made everything worse.

I'll get a chance to recharge soon: a week hiking, and a week just doing nothing. I admit, I need that.

I'll be back soon. So long, and thanks for being here.