Heat and Haze
The garden looks parched on most days, and the sun a bit ominous in the haze of another immense fire season. Calendula and marigolds mirror the shades of the summer blazes.
August 3rd
I collected the dill seed today. We have harvested zucchini, patty pan and chard. The Napa Cabbage is forming tight heads, and the potatoes are beginning to flower. I am hoping the vine growing up the trellis is a mouse melon.
The marigolds are in bloom and are actually quite beautiful, which I was not expecting. They are a plant from my childhood, like geraniums and agapanthus, which I have never really cared for. I am glad to view them with a different opinion at this age.
The Dragon Tongue beans are producing and the tomatoes are beginning to ripen along with the jalapenos and aleppo peppers.
I sprayed the tomatoes with a homemade flea beetle remedy – rubbing alcohol, water and dish soap, and they seem to have disappeared, leaving the holey leaves with their scars. The fruit does not appear injured.
The strawberry spinach is so unique, but the leaves are rather bitter. I do not think I want to grow them again.
The okra is forming buds. Two cucumber plants have succumbed; to what, I do not know – they are dry and withered and very dead.
August 8th
The poor air quality and heat seems to be affecting some of the plants in the garden. The Zucchini leaves are turning brown and dying, like the tomatoes. Some of the tomato fruits are split or have blossom end rot, I fear due to inconsistent watering.
The beans keep coming up.
The lawn is looking brown and miserable.
August 28th
Today I removed the Love Lies Bleeding and Milkweed from the back side yard, and collected seeds from Calendula, Celosia-Chief Red Flame, Flamingo and Milkweed and Love Lies Bleeding.
The Patty Pan Squash have been prolific but the tomatoes have not thrived this year.