Looking out the window this week at all the mud and mess in the garden, I fell into a bit of a funk. But a little something came in the mail today:
And now I’m feeling a little brighter.
Are you planning your fall garden? Planting your fall garden? What will you be growing?
I’m trying a technique often used in the vegetable garden in my landscape: cover cropping. I’m sowing buckwheat in bare areas in my landscape in hopes of suppressing weeds in the areas I’ve cleared. I just recently learned that buckwheat is not a grass, but is related to sorrel, which I grow and love. I’m hopeful that its long taproots will help break up my thick clay and bring some nutrients up from the subsoil. I have no idea if I’ll be able to harvest any buckwheat seed or not–that will be a little adventure to look forward to as the weather cools.
My vegetable seed-saving is in full swing. It’s a great way to make use of those Principe Borghese tomatoes whose skins split wide open before I can harvest and process them. I’ve also got a fine batch saved from my ‘Contender’ bush beans, and I know I’ll have more ‘Cossack Pineapple’ ground cherries than I’ll know what to do with. I’m donating packets to the Digging Durham Seed Library. I’m still refining my pickle recipe, and hoping to score a second-hand boiling water bath canner from my in-laws’ house so I can take my food processing adventures even further.
My landscape looks tired, but the promises of fall are already visible. The berries on my ‘Issei’ callicarpa are beginning to turn, and buds are forming on the chrysanthemums I cut back in June. My crinums started blooming today–such elegant things. Crinums are supposed to be wonderful passalong plants, but I have to wonder how that passing gets accomplished. From all I’ve read, they, like the amaryllis to which they are related, like to pull their bulbs down into the soil for a few years before they bloom, and don’t care to be moved after that. And we know that the bulbs grow to be the size of basketballs. Who could share one without use of a backhoe?
I’m thinking about building another raised bed before the fall, where I can grow some veg that will be harvested through the winter. I’m planning to order shallots and garlic–I missed the shallots last fall–and I’ve got a long list of spring-blooming bulbs that will need to be ordered soon. The gardening to-do list never ends! What a shame it would be if it did.
Best,
Amy
How on earth can it be August? The summer is flying by, and I must start thinking about my fall garden. Already I am somewhat behind (what else is new?).
This past week I planted baby bush lima beans and pulled out the ‘Contender’ bush beans. The flea beetles abused the ‘Contenders’ horribly; next year I’ll do a better job of protecting them at the outset. I have two small eggplant growing, but something’s making eyelet out of the leaves. I do hate to spray but it may be time to pull out the neem oil. Oh, how it smells!
Flea beetle damage on ‘Contender’ bush beans
The tomatoes, however, are performing well. We’ve had cooler weather lately, in the mid-80s, which means the plants have a better chance of setting fruit. While the fruits do taste better when they ripen hot, I have to wonder, how hot is hot? What’s the optimal temperature for good-tasting tomatoes? The other challenging factor is that we’ve had lots of rain. I have to really keep an eye out and harvest the ripened fruits before they split.
I got my first fig on Wednesday! It was, I tell you, the best fig I have ever eaten. Do you grow figs? I intend to plant another one this fall because I have heard that they set better when there is another fig close by. And I also have ambitions to grow some more blueberries. Well, I have lots of ambitions.
One of my lingonberries died during a heat wave but the other is chugging along nicely. I’m starting kale this weekend and some lettuce as well. I should make room for carrots, garlic, and shallots. I’m fortunate to be able to harvest food year-round here, if I get organized in late summer and through the fall. How long is your harvest season?
Hope the weather is treating you well and the late blight stays at bay.
Best,
Amy
Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th of each month.
High summer means high heat and humidity. Water evaporates from the ground quickly, and mulch would be helpful but it’s too hot to move. Early mornings and short trips outside provide the means for a successful garden at this time of year.
Tough plants, too, are required. Crocosmia flowers better when there’s abundant water, but short thunderstorms suits it just fine.
The jewel of my July garden must be blackberry lilies, formerly Belamcanda chinensis, now Iris domestica. Looking like an iris only in its foliage, these orchid-like flowers provide delight in the hottest weather.
Blackberry lily, formerly Belamcanda chinensis, now Iris domestica.
I don’t know about you, but my garden at midsummer looks more than a bit tattered.
It’s fine if you don’t look too closely. But if you give the beans a second look, you’ll see the flea beetles’ handiwork.
They’re still producing beans, but they look as sapped as I feel. Somehow we both keep managing to plug along. My second sowing got its leaves eaten off while I was out of town one weekend. Third time lucky?
The tomatoes, however, cheer me up no end. ‘Sophie’s Choice’ is outdoing herself. For a short-season variety, she’s giving me a lot. I only have two of ‘Sophie’s Choice’ but I’d guess we’ve gotten 3 or 4 pounds of tomatoes just this week. Dinner has tasted and smelled fantastic. Is anything better than a fresh, home-grown tomato?
Maybe a home-grown tomato in the dead of winter? Well, they won’t be fresh, but perhaps they’ll taste like it. My ‘Principe Borghese’ tomatoes keep yielding, and I dried a large batch the other day. My winter sauces shall taste like summer, I am determined.
How’s the picking where you are?
Amy
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