Garden

Enough aloe, and the sunburn will soak in, turn to tan, and won't peel!





I thought I would have three days in a row off this week.  Since late May, I had been hoping to go visit Mom this week.  But somehow I ended up scheduled to work Wednesday afternoon.  As Murphy's Law would dictate, business was slow, and I stood around bored for most of the afternoon.  What a bummer!

But Maggie has been motivated to overcome the weeds.  The garden got SO out-of-control during June's vacation and symposium, and then with July's heat and our reluctance to go do garden work and give ourselves heat stroke.   :-)  So for the past week, we have been working together to make a dent in the jungle. 

The patch by the grapes and blueberries has been thoroughly weeded, mulch laid down, and a few small strips planted.  Cilantro, beets, lettuce -- because it will be cooling down pretty soon  -- right?

The strawberry patch and the asparagus patch have been thoroughly weeded.  Part of it is mulched.  We need to move a few straggler berry plants back into the proper rows, and then finish mulching.

The tomato patch (where live the cucumber, zucchini, basil, and peppers) is weeded and has mulch in all the places I want it.  We still need to till under the cilantro patch and plant something that will grow before snow & frost.

The blackberries are partly weeded.  And the raspberries need lots of attention: pruning and weeding and mulch.  

The patches that have been weeded are drying out so fast!  I know the weeds hog the nutrients and moisture, supposedly harming my plants.  But the weeds also provide ground cover so that the ground stays moist there.  I'm not entirely convinced at this point that we haven't done harm in this drought to have yanked the weeds.



Not enough blackberries to make a pie or a batch of jam.  But there are enough to graze for some treats.  The raspberries were even thinner than that.  The grapes, however, are looking nice.  The tomatoes are beginning to come in and taste oh-so-wonderful!  There are only a few pumpkins, but that will be okay.  I loved the romaine we grew in spring; I hope the heat now won't be too much for a fall crop.

The heat and lack of rain seems to have forestalled the pest damage from Japanese beetles.  It also seems to have significantly delayed the fungus problems everybody around here faces.  So I think most of the tomato crop may ripen before the plants succumb this year.  Woo hoo!