It’s certainly been a muggy roaster here lately which has really damped my enjoyment of my yarden. The last couple days, though, have been a delight which prompted me to go out and take stock of things. Here’s an update!
The herb bed is going bonkers. The garlic chives I started in a pot this year are getting stronger and I have hopes that they’ll become a dependable stand like the regular chives I keep in a tub in my raised beds closer to the house. Those chives have been with me since the late 90s. Yes, really. I also have mint for days, as well as crazy amounts of anise hyssop, oregano, and lemon balm. The porch pots are giving me dill, green onions, parsley, borage, the last of this batch of cilantro, and an avalanche of basils, both Thai and Genovese. I see a pizza glow up in my future with the oregano and the basil, and I plan to dry many of the others for tea this winter.
The perennial bed I started two years ago isn’t moving quickly enough for me, but I need to be patient. These things take time. I do have gorgeous flowers on my Rose of Sharons this year, and the peach foxglove is gorgeous. Look for the pollen covered bumblebee butt in the Rose of Sharon blosso
The Dana Nessell Tomato Jungle is going great guns. You can go back to the last post and see how it’s grown in the last month. It’s at least half again as tall! I have put net over the plants which has been a mixed blessing – it’s kept the birds and the deer at bay, but I have to be vigilant that the plants don’t get too tangled up in the netting. I love that now it’s leaping out of the bed along the bottom. The smell of tomato leaves is a favorite of mine, so I get a nice burst of that every time I go in or out the kitchen door.
I’m starting to get tomatoes! Midnight Snack cherry tomatoes are ripening quickly and I’ve pulled a good number of Arkansas Travelers from the Tomato Jungle. Aren’t they pretty? Midnight Snack is a deep indigo blue, almost black, and when they’re ripe they get the red blush shown below. They’re delicious! Arkansas Traveler is a little smaller than a tennis ball and has a nice rich tomato flavor.
I have also harvested bell peppers and 8 ball zuchinni and eggplant. The lettuce trug planter has been very generous this summer as well, I cut greens and in a couple weeks they come on back. I love the cut and come again tendency of lettuces and I’ve had some remarkable salads. I visited the local farmer’s market last weekend inwardly chortled over the price of organic lettuces and the crowds of folks buying them at that price. I’ve said it a hundred times on this blog – LETTUCE IS A WEED.
The melon experiment is kind of a bust. I don’t think I’ll get any watermelon or canteloupe, but that’s OK. Next year I just won’t do them, and I’ll buy them at the market or from roadside stands. I say that now, but if you know me, you know I love watermelon and Tajin and watermelon, basil, and feta salad. I’ll cave in when I see those plants at Schuring Greenhouses, I’m pretty certain.
In this month’s Animal Antics episode, you’ll see that the deer continue to have no shame. There is a new crop of fawns, I saw two new ones early this month, but they have been pretty scarcely sighted since that time. This jerk, though – she stood outside and munched and she made enough noise to get me to look and this is the look I got. It’s like she wanted me to bring her some hot sauce for those weeds.
Fall is in the air, I think. I’m planning where I want to put kale, more lettuce, spinach, radishes, and other chill friendly crops. Now that I have that bed right outside the back door and the standing bed by the house, I think I’ll be more inclined to tend those plants more often. I plan to augment my raised bed soil in the next month or so and let that break down over the winter. Nothing bad ever came of making the soil better. I did like growing things in pots this year, and I may do that again next year, too. We will see.
What’s up in your yardens?
The Amy Experience 