Zapi's Garden after Hurricane Nicolas

[Zapi791, BSN, LVN, RN]

I have been watching this group for a few days and I apologize if I am posting in the wrong place because I never posted a topic before.

I am recently starting to work 12 hour shifts for a few months of training, and had some concerns about my garden dying.  I will be working 730a to 8p.  I water my small backyard garden with a water hose. I thought about buying a few bags of mulch to prevent the water from evaporating so fast.

Unfortunately before I could buy mulch Hurricane Nicolas came thru over night and toppled over several potted plants and broke plant limbs.

I have both in ground and potted vegetable plants: peppers, eggplant, okra, tomato, and squash (to name a few).  The squash never did very well.

My question is how do you keep your motivation for gardening throughout the 12 hour shifts?  Do you use mulch, shading, special equipment... etc.  I intend on planting fall crops during my days off and I still have a passion for gardening but would like to be more successful.  I live in south Texas.  

IMG_gardenhurricanenicolas.pdf

[Zapi791, BSN, LVN, RN]

update:

After working two 12 hour shifts I found my garden was thirsty, but for the most part seemed revivable after the 2 day drought.  I think the drought is mild since Fall has arrived and the temperatures are slowly dropping.  I have decided my studying and training over the next few months is more important than gardening so I accept that I may have some more casualties in the garden later.

On the positive side I am enjoying watching the birds at the feeder while studying, so birdwatching in the garden may become my new hobby.  While making my coffee this morning I enjoyed watching the house sparrows foraging through the plants from the kitchen window.  I have seen cardinals, sparrows, blue jays, mourning doves, chickadees, and a new bird called scaly-breasted munia at my bird feeder this week.  I also suspect they are nesting in my overgrown bushes in the back yard since I heard baby birds calling from them several days ago.  It is so cute to see the baby birds discover the feeders and bird baths for the first time.

Normally I only keep one bird feeder full at a time, but I will start filling the second feeder with alternative seed to see if I can increase the variety of wild bird visitors through out the day. ???️

[Zapi791, BSN, LVN, RN]

Update 2

My grey zucchini plant produced one beautiful fruit.  I will water it today and see if the plant comes back from drought. My first fairytale (shooting star) eggplant tasted amazing cooked with ginger garlic sauce and my bell peppers.  The winds are getting stronger and the pepper plants are producing beautiful fruits of various colors.  Fall is in the air. ? 

 

[Zapi791, BSN, LVN, RN]

Update 3

I made another harvest this morning after working two 12 hour shifts.  Now I understand the traditional meanings behind Thanksgiving and the last fall harvesting.  
 

I will add a pick of a quick easy tuna dish I made with bell peppers, long sweet peppers, and degutted red jalapeños.  It was quick, easy, and delicious. ? 

Tip: Whatever grows well in your region, keep growing it.  ???