Well, I started this post on Memorial Day but it’s been a minute. Back then I had just planted four eggplants, four hills of cucumbers, four red bell peppers, and a small fabric pot of basil to augment the two pots of basil I already had going. Because really, who minds more basil? I surely do not.
I was talking about the cool black plastic materials trays that I’d just gotten. My friend Cindy brought me four of these from a surplus she discovered at an unnamed source. My plan is to drill holes in the bottom and make a tall frame for them. I’ll for sure screen them because, if you’ve forgotten, I have deer, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, woodchucks, the neighbor’s cat, birds, etc. It’s a big racket that these creatures run on me.
Let’s leap to last weekend. It was 87 degrees at 9:30 Saturday night and it was a wall of sticky grossness that about knocked me over taking the cat litter outside. Yuck. That morning, though, I got up at 7 am and got busy. I am highly enjoying being Gainfully Employed again, but it’s really cutting into my yard time. Unfortunately, garden imps do not service the Not So Seekrit Lair, so I have to do these tasks as I have time.
I started by deeply watering everything, since it’s going to be in the 90s the next several days. I did some transplanting of leftover seedlings in the standing bed. I pulled radishes and in their place went more peppers and some random extra tomato seedlings – two San Marzano, three Vintage Wine, and an Indigo Apple. I have three kinds of lettuce going buck wild in that raised bed too, so I’ll be picking it soon and starting a new pot of lettuce that I can put in the shade.
I decided I’d “start on” weeding the asparagus/strawberry bed. It was a hayfield of grass and weeds, and once I got started, well, I finished that job. Two other beds aren’t planted this year because I plan to put the Costco greenhouse in that space. One has been covered in cardboard and the other one is now covered with the four previously mentioned black plastic material bins. That left the third bed, which is empty this year. I eyed it and thought nah, I’ll do it tomorrow, then I thought it’s gonna be hot tomorrow too, so I went to it. It took about 20 minutes to clear it and I’m glad I did.
I had photos of my plans on Memorial Day, but in the ensuing month they got bigger, so out they go. Here’s more recent pictures of what’s going on at the Not So Seekrit Lair.
Happy eggplants, and you can just see the yellow flower of a stupid cucumber that doesn’t know when to quit. They were all acting like they were dead so I pulled them out and put eggplants in.
Here are some of the cucumbers I bought to replace the “dead” ones. I’ll have plenty of cukes.
Tomatoes galore! I have three plants in there, all heirloom vintage slicers. I cannot wait to get into those, and I have my netting ready once they set fruit.
Here’s my weathercaster rose. It can be beautiful weather for weeks, but I know that as soon as this sets buds it’s about to be the hottest, most miserable week of the summer. It hasn’t failed me yet with its predictive powers.
I’ve been mowing around the small stand of these for a year or so and I am being richly rewarded! They spread like wildfire this year and you see the patch behind them by the tree. It makes me so happy!
I had a little bee friend join me while I was weeding around the comfrey in the front bed. They do love it, and I have a lot of it. It’s gorgeous, makes pollinators happy, and has medicinal properties.
This is the comfrey plant in the herb bed. It thrives on neglect.
I walked away from my lavender last fall disappointed with the paltry amount of growth I had. Well. Apparently it heard me muttering and decided to show me a thing or two.
Please enjoy this little gallery of garlic goodness Obviously I did not get it all last fall when I dug it up, so I’ll be enjoying more garlic this fall. Because you can never have enough garlic.
I have left my raspberries alone the past few years to spread as they wish. You see that this strategy paid off, and that I will soon have lots of yummy little raspberries. I have a LOT of them, so I can share with the birds and still enjoy some in a fresh salad.
I have oregano for days. This is another pernicious weed that will run rampant, and I’m here for it! Pizza is on the menu when the heat breaks, I will make them on pita bread and enjoy allllll of the oregano goodness. My lemon balm, anise hyssop, and mint are equally rampant.
I had to thin my Brussels sprouts and because I can’t ever just throw the thinnings away, I planted them here. They seem to like it, and they’re shaded from the broiling sun in there.
I have a few more things to pot up, so I dragged the appropriate pots and all my leftover potting soil to the front porch, and I’ll do that after work this week when the heat breaks.
That’s about all for now – It’s 9:00 pm and the real feel temperature outside right this minute is 95 degrees. I’m not pleased. It’s supposed to storm the rest of the week, so I’m grateful for that. Between the rain and the lightning effect on my garden, it will be a welcome relief. Plus, you all know I’m a storm junkie, so there’s an upside!
How are you all holding up in the heat? Is your garden hanging in there?
The Amy Experience 