More Maintenance

Not much has changed in the garden this past week. I’m still doing plenty of weeding: all the seeds blown in from the shelter belt trees (I’m looking at you, Chinese elm) are sprouting with wild abandon due to the rains. Those seeds nestled up against what I planted, so weeding involves a lot of crawling along the rows on hands and knees, pulling each tree wannabe individually. I keep reminding myself that this activity helps with my flexibility. Once in a while my brain protests that this is bunk: this activity is ruining my joints.

I will say that the up close and personal weeding has let me see that my carrots are finally growing. There is a lot of volunteer dill in the same area, and those sprouts are also feathery. They masquerade as carrots for a while, but now the dill is 6-12” tall, while the carrots are a puny 3”.

I had two rows of corn that didn’t do well at all. In fact, there were no sprouts at all in one row, and only about five in the other. I found I still had a packet of corn seed, so I filled in the five-sprout row. I put new bedding plants of squash in the other. The greenhouse had a sale on veggies, so I added those squash as well as some cucumbers, and two more tomatoes (varieties that I’d missed – brandy wine and lemon boy).

There’s also a sale on flowering plants now, so I’ve filled some more large planters. Don’t ask me why – I really didn’t need more. But once I get the deck power-washed and those planters added to that space, they’re going to be beautiful. All I have left to plant now are a couple of herbs. I think I’ll try putting them in smaller pots that can come inside this fall to extend their season. Maybe that will happen - and maybe my procrastinating skills are still too sharp.

The powerful winds are still blowing down tree limbs, twigs, and branches for me to pick up before each session of mowing. Dennis can’t believe I still have trees at all. Their tops are getting thinned too much. And the poor birds! Their nests and some fledglings have also been blown down. I’ve picked up lots of tiny twigs that I know were mourning dove nests. The dead fledglings were going to be robins. I think we’d all appreciate less wind. I still need to spray for dandelions. Summers are busy.

Between the rains, strong winds, a family celebration of life, and the Opheim all-school reunion, I’ve let the asparagus get away from me. It likes the wet and the cooler temps we just had. But if you don’t get it cut every other day, it shoots up, gets tough, and starts flowering. I said last week I usually miss their flowers, but I’m seeing them now. They’re tiny and yellow-ish. So I’m done with that row, except for weeding out the tree sprouts and other weeds.

I’m still enjoying rhubarb, though. I just finished off another pitcher of the Polish honey-rhubarb drink I like as well as another crusty rhubarb pie. Dennis won’t try either one. I’ve also given away bags of rhubarb to several friends. Perhaps I should dice and freeze some? But that probably won’t happen. I know myself too well.