Last weekend, I went to the farm to work on Saturday. It had rained Friday night and early Saturday morning but was clear by the time we arrived at the farm. However, it was really humid and that made it feel hotter than it was. I was able to get a lot of things planted on Saturday. We put the beautyberry by one of the pawpaw trees. I planted many other small plants and seeds around the pawpaw. There was already some borage and dill growing by the pawpaw trees. The borage seems to be particularly attractive to the baby grasshoppers and bees. I saw a few butterflies on Saturday, a hackberry emperor and a common blue butterfly. I also saw a variety of other insects and fungi due to the extra moisture. I saw a daddy long legs and a yellow ladybug. The bleeding heart is coming up by the hydrangeas. The blackberries weren’t ready to eat yet. I did get more herbs and my first pea harvest of about 20 pods. It was a delicious half of a bowl of peas. I also grabbed more lettuce and kale for salad. The tomatoes and tomatillos are starting to make fruit since it hasn’t been as hot as usual. They were not quite ripe yet. The peppers aren’t doing as well as the tomatoes and tomatillos. My radishes and carrots have mostly been ridiculously small and I don’t know why that is. My onions also didn’t make large bulbs. My chamomile plant has aphids that I need to take care of. The clover is still completely out of control but didn’t have time to handle it. I have bought 3 more plants to take to the farm next time. I got a small hidcote blue lavender for 3 dollars to replace the lavender we lost last winter. I think we will plant it in a different location this time with more sun and better drainage. I also got a small alice oak leaf hydrangea and a hardy fiber banana. The banana will go by the other pawpaw that we didn’t plant the beautyberry next to to give it some shade. I am not sure if we will put the hydrangea with our other hydrangea or in a different spot. I have been trying out salad dressing recipes since I have had some greens from the garden recently. I made some blue cheese dressing this week using the recipe from chef Billy Parisi. It was excellent and I thought it tasted as good as the store bought dressing. I would definitely make it again. I learned about a couple of new vegetables: orach and radish pods. I will pickle the radish pods. I don’t think I will be going to the farm this week but I am planning on starting some fall seeds in pots. However, I planted most of my herbs and flowers last Saturday so my remaining selection is limited. I will start milkweed, blanketflower, and black eyed Susans, and a few more. I will also move the hydrangea and lavender into larger containers so they don’t get root bound. I will fertilize the garden the next time we go there. I think that there may be even more rain coming next week. This will be great for my newly planted seeds. I have had a few seedlings of cumin and California poppy that didn’t do well when hardening off. I will try to replace these as soon as possible.
Lisa Ledbetter 