Summer Tasks

One of my neighbors is out of town this summer and she has given us permission to tend her garden while she's gone. So, this weekend, we weeded the garden and turned the soil over. We weeded and mulched the paths. And, in the corner by the entrance to the garden, we planted Ultra Burgundy petunias and Thai basil which has burgundy stems. A fellow gardener had already contributed some tomato plants to the plot, so the south side of the plot has tomatoes in it, most of the plot is bare soil, and the flowers are in the northeast corner.

I'm hoping to put my fall garden in the now bare spot. I planted some seeds for my fall garden today. I was hoping that the garden center would have seedlings for fall, but they didn't. I decided to start the seeds inside, which seems crazy when the weather is so beautiful. But we've experienced challenges with germination outdoors, probably due to the small, furry garden helpers. And it's a little easier to keep seedlings moist indoors.

So I planted white and purple kohlrabi, cauliflower, turnips, Earliana cabbage, and Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage in 2" cow manure pots. I would still love to plant some ornamental kale. We also need to look at which alliums we want to plant this fall. Dan is looking into garlic varieties. I want some onions and shallots.

This evening, I pulled out the peas. They had taken a significant downturn in production and were beginning to turn brown. It was time to go. The best part was that, as I walked up to my garden, I saw a mouse running across the path trying to carry an entire pea pod. He was forced to drop it in favor of running for cover. But you could see how reluctant he was to give it up. I left the pea there so he could come back to it later. I didn't have the heart to take it away from him.