in the garden

I haven't been in the vegetable garden since I returned home, too scared actually. After my son said that the snails had been rampant while I was away, I was just too down hearted to even venture near it until this morning. It wasn't as bad as I had expected. Oh, yes the snails had feasted on my bean plants, leaving only sticks where I had left lush bonaparte bean plants & they had a little nibble of nearly every zucchini. But my pumpkin is flourishing & my potatoes are nearly ready to dig up. AND I have lots & lots of tomatoes. So I pulled the beans, zucchinis & the capsicum which didn't do alot this year, tied the tomatoes up and generally gave the whole vegie garden a tidy up. Then (and I have no idea what possessed me) I decided to move my compost heap from one corner to another. 'Joe' I said 'would you mind just giving me hand for a min?' explaining to him what I wanted to do - move some tin and hammer in the star pickets 'it won't take long' I said. hmmm - wrong. but then I realized that to move the compost bin I would also have to move the wire leaf bin that I have for my autumn leaves and while we were at it, we may as well move the spring mattress base that I use to grow my climbing beans on. Two hours later it was done & all I had to do was put the leaves back into my leaf compost bin and fix the carpet that I have on my paths(I use this to keep weeds down) . It is looking quite wonderful, all ready for autumn planting. but just one thing - what is it with the growth spurt that happens in a garden while the owner is away on holidays? Not just weeds, but trees & plants as well. Do the plants sit there waiting til you drive out the gate & yell 'she's gone* quick! drink down this organic growth fertilizer, we feel growth spurt coming on' - is that what happens? I can just see it ! !