No More Peas this Season...

Any time Paul has a new interest I try to invest in it as much as financially possible.  I also try to stay out of his way as much as possible.  I figure the more he has to rely on himself, the more he will use the different areas of his brain.  This improves plasticity in most.  In those with Alzheimer's the impact is questionable - but I figure why not give it a try!

Paul has always loved gardening.  He used to find rare flowers and plants interesting.  For many years when the kids were little, we grew most of our own vegetables and even froze or canned lots of food. I think he missed this a lot when we moved to Central Oregon.  The harsh climate - hot summers and cold, long winters - made it hard to grow most flowers and vegetables without a green house.

So, when I found a rental home back in Salem with a garden area, I suggested he give gardening another try.  He got a bit excited.  He wanted to start plants from seeds.  He did not really get that it was April when we moved.  You really can't plant seeds in April around here.

Money is tight so we could not just afford to let him plant whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. We bought inexpensive seed packets and I found a fairly inexpensive seed warmer.  Did you know they even make such things?  It is a warm bed - for seeds.  An electric blanket on which you can sit your little seed containers.  He treated his little seed containers like babies.  He talked to them every day and they grew.  Alzheimer's did not take away his green thumb.  They grew fast and soon they were ready to go outside.  At some point in early May, the weather began cooperating and Paul decided to plant his garden.

This is when the funny starts.

Remember I said I try to stay out of his way...

I did not help him plant or watch him plant.  I just glanced out the window every once in awhile to make sure he was still in the yard.  My bad.

Here is are pictures of the garden currently:

We got about 20 pea pods from that poor little pea plant in the lower left hand corner of that bed in the left picture before the monster squash plant took over.  Then the corn popped up tall.  That poor pea plant can't get any more sun or any more nutrients!

In the right picture, you see that he must have planted the tomatoes right next to each other.  I am not sure how they are getting enough nutrients packed so close together.  I think he took every single little plant he grew from seed and packed all of them into two 4' x 6' planters.  Poor little plants.  I don't think we are getting any more peas this year!