This raised bed is thriving. I can get huge tomato plants, huge cucumber plants, huge okra plants, huge basil, mint, parsley plants. In the other raised bed is a huge zucchini plant. Pumpkin plant is going along, so in the corn and watermelon. The weeping willow tree is vibrant green and growing. The malabar spinach is spouting up (in a week it will probably grow up to 4 inches every 24 hours). The compost in the compost tumbler is active, moist, radiating heat. The worms in the worm bin seem to be living through this warm time (vibration and light disturb them, so I don’t interrupt them often other than to check the temperature in the bin).
I researched things to help produce well in the garden. I brew compost tea weekly and I use a garlic based natural herbicide to put off the moles/gophers, keep the ants away. I filter the water to drastically reduce the chlorine I put on the garden. I’m beginning already to track the highs and lows of the hobby greenhouse. I will start the next plants indoors from seeds with a seed starter. I aim to keep the composting worm alive and fed. I’m learning about soil and how to bring it back to life. I walk around and check on things, always on the lookout for how to improve and make it better.
The garden started late this season. Next season will be better. In a few weeks, canning for the winter, putting up garden grown produce, detailed planning for the greenhouse, and during this time the goal is mainly to get through the heat.
Because it is so hot, I have more time to blog and write more than one or two sentences. Not only is the garden getting daily attention, so are other parts of life. Life may be like a box of chocolates, but it is also like a pie. Right now, the garden has a bigger slice of pie, in the spring the thru-hikers have a bigger piece, in the winter knitting and genealogy will have a bigger piece.
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