Dog Days
August was well on its way to setting a Longmont record for the most amount of days over 90 degrees since 2020. I watered nearly every day this month, and sometimes found even that was not enough to stave of the wilts in some of the more delicate plants.
August 2nd
I harvested the remaining kale in the garden and spent the day making white bean and kale soup for the freezer.
I cleaned up the pea bed and planted 12 Napa Cabbage and about 16 Swiss Chard seeds. In the tidied kale container I planted baby chard greens. I finally pulled the remaining Bok Choy from the garden.
I collected cosmos seeds from the front yard.
One of the Choc-O-Lat sunflowers has opened and is gorgeous with yellow and brown tones.
The Bells of Ireland flowers are exquisite.
August 4th
Next year I want to plant more chilies. Like jalapenos.
August 7th
Yesterday I noticed the Napa Cabbage and baby Chard sprouting. One of the Russian Mammoth sunflowers is blooming. Three huge zucchini were harvested.
August 10th
Some of the Cosmos are going to seed, and I am collecting them to try and cut down on the reseeding. After a three-day road trip through Nebraska and South Dakota, the sunflower fields we witnessed in their full, golden glory seem to have inspired the garden in Longmont, and now more sunflowers are starting to bloom. Our first lemon cucumber was harvested and it was perfectly ripe and refreshing. One of the white cosmos with dark pink is blooming in a container. It is stunning. The blackberries are starting to form.
August 12th
I weeded the front yard today.
In the back, I tied back the yarrow with twine, and planted Dragon Tongue Beans, a Sugar Bush Watermelon and Cilantro for a fall crop.
One of the Dahlia containers is getting waterlogged and wilting.
I started logging the seed packets for next year’s plantings.
August 15th
I pulled the first big tomato this afternoon – a Red Siberian. The Dwarf Teddy Bear Sunflowers are blooming and are delightful. The cucumbers, tomatillos, gooseberries, and peppers are prolific. The dahlias are rather disappointing this year – small and sparse. Two of the containers stopped draining and became waterlogged this week. S and I drilled new holes in the bottoms and even though the soil is draining now the plants remain wilted and sad. The hydrangeas are glorious.
August 17th
The first Dragon Tongue Bean sprout has appeared, along with a Cilantro sprout. A monster zucchini appeared under one of the plants outside of the bed. The tomatoes are ripening and the Birdhouse gourds are getting huge. The Love Lies Bleeding continues to grow, blocking the sun from the Milkweed plants next to it. The Blackberries have had a growth spurt and are forming berries.
I collected calendula and cosmos seeds from the front yard today.
August 30th
One of the Milkweed plants is forming green pods as the flowers die down. We woke up one morning to find part of the Loves Lies Bleeding toppled over from its weight. I considered stalking it again, but saw a broken stem, so cut it back. It now stands upright with its gorgeous red tendril blooms.
Two of the padron pepper plants also toppled onto the lawn. I harvested the peppers yesterday, blistering the smaller ones before drizzling them with olive oil and coarse salt (many were too spicy to eat), and setting the deep red and larger green peppers on a tray to dry. I plan on making dried red pepper flakes with the rest. I pulled out those two plants. Two remain. Next year, I would like to grow a different variety of peppers, and not so many padrons (I simply do not know what to do with them).
Today I plan on making another batch of salsa verde, this time boiling the tomatillos rather tha roasting them in the hopes that they will turn out less sweet than earlier batches.
I watched some videos on collecting Sunflower seeds (seeds are set when the head of the flower droops and just needs to be dried prior to collection, and Zinnia seeds (which sit delicately at the base of the flower petals).
I have been collecting Calendula and Cosmos seeds, which are seeding madly in the front and back yards. I am pleased to find a greater variety in the Cosmos – the white with dark pink outline (Candy Stripe variety) and all shades of pink to bright white. My hope is that they reseed, along with the Nasturtium, Love in a Mist, Love Lies Bleeding, Sweet Pea and Zinnia in that bed next year. My dream of having a cutting garden has not quite been realized, but I think it is possible.
Two of the Butterfly bushes are blooming out front, and are beautiful. One seems to have died. The flowers in the side yard are doing very well, and I am hoping to see a Columbine bloom before the end of the season, either from the Garden in the Box or from the seeds I planted in early spring.
The tomatoes and cucumbers have been magnificent thus far, and I predict many more evenings of gazpacho.