My gardens are suffering a bit, friends. They aren’t quite dead or beyond hope; but they are less vibrant and magical than they were just a couple of weeks ago. Maybe these charming summer months have spoiled me into what I thought was benign neglect but instead has been shameful laziness.
Or maybe August in Oklahoma is just always gonna be August in Oklahoma, no matter how charming the previous months and weeks have been.
The zucchini have largely surrendered to squash bugs, which exposes too much of the adjacent eggplants to the hot sun. The tomatoes can fight off only so many grasshoppers (and llamas) per day. The Three Sisters’ plot is crispy (totally my fault). The herb garden is at least one third stickers now. And my cantaloupes are half not quite ripe and half overripe, rotten. (She says scratching her head.) I’ve started new little areas of green beans, cucumbers, leafy things, and basil, and those sprouts are growing, but they need some TLC from Yours Truly, whereas their early season counterparts did not. And one of our three fruit trees has me concerned. I keep getting flashbacks of the Great Depression (even though I wasn’t alive then) when I see its sparse and curling leaves.
I have to mention the stickers twice, the goat-heads, because they are just so vicious. I literally hate them with my entire heart and say swear words when I have to pull them. Last night I pulled a wheelbarrow full from all around the farm, but mostly from my gardens, and a wand of the nasty kernels attached themselves to my sundress. They were so stout, so terrible, that they pinned the cotton fabric tightly against my stomach, like I was some kind of a garden bulletin board. I was so mad! I mean seriously! I had to take several deep breaths and count to three then bravely rip the stickers out of my dress, so that it could become unpinned from my tummy; and still a barb remained in my skin there. It pierced a tiny little drop of blood for no good reason at all. This kind of stuff makes me a bit crazy. I feel like my personal space has been invaded.
So what to do this week? What are the garden tasks at hand?
Reduce I have started by doing some massive cleaning. Pulling weeds, pruning overgrown shrubs and criss-crossed limbs, and trimming leggy vines all the way from jasmine and morning glory to the darling tomatoes. I am reducing those by at least a third, maybe more. And scraping off brown leaves, too. I’ve always believed this allows the plant to spend its energy more wisely.
Water Deeply This may sound like a no-brainer, but keep in mind that all summer I have had to actively water our edible plantings maybe three times total. The rain has been so soft and steady, so luxurious. This week we are hot and dry, and I am not wasting my time with light sprinkling, nor will I compromise the plants roots like that. Deep moisture is the ticket.
Feed & Mulch I have a five-gallon jug of organic fertilizer gifted to me by our landscaping friend Scott, and I plan to dilute that in several ways and feed the holy heck out of everything I see. Then add mulch to the gardens in thick layers. Then probably water some more and light a few candles and send a tweet to P. Allen Smith asking him to light a candle for me, too.
Hover I just need to spend more time in the garden. More time doing things, besides taking photos. Pinching leaves, tucking soil neatly, watering, singing Beatles songs, removing bugs, etcetera. So much can be avoided and accomplished in the garden just by being present.
So my garden will look smaller for a while, overall, but healthier. That’s the idea at least. And of course the biggest idea is that in a few weeks it will bounce back with new vigor and continue producing delicious food.
How is your garden looking? Are you still collecting food? Are you battling squash bugs and goat-head stickers like me? Can you still appreciate the beauty in your Eden, despite the brutality of mid-August? What’s your plan of action?
Tell me everything. I could talk about gardens all day long.
Until it’s time to go for a run. Or read a new book.
The best fertilizer if the gardener’s shadow.
~proverb, unknown origin
XOXOXOXO