I missed last month's Garden Journal Challenge by a mile, and I was determined not to miss this month's. Not to brag or anything, here is my "entry" to @riverflow's Garden Journal Brag Fest for June, and I might just be the first!
Even though I have done very little work, the past two weeks in my 8 ft by 12 ft veggie patch have been downright dramatic.
All my seedlings were in the ground. I'd harvested a few generous servings of swiss chard, more salad greens than I even wanted to eat, several cucumbers, and a few sprigs of peppermint for evening cocktails. Then DISASTER LOOMED.
@goldenoakfarm had made it very clear to me that tomatoes and "sprawly things" don't care for temperatures below 50 degrees. Three solid days of low temperatures, that would barely crack highs of 50 degrees, were predicted in my zip code. I was worried.
What to do though? Dig everything up? Cover the 8 by 12 area with sheets? As usual, I didn't look a dang thing up, and tried to let the garden tell me what it needed me to do, if anything.
I placed stones and bricks close to the crowns of the vulnerable plants, hoping the stones would heat up during the day and release their heat during the cold nights. I let grass and other "weeds" grow tall around the perimeter of my patch, thinking they might provide some protection from cold winds. And I spoke lovingly to my itty bitty veggie patch, pep-talking its residents into being stalwart and confident over the next few days.
Then I took those few days off, and let nature do her thing.
Now that we've gone back to normal early June temperatures, it all looks great! Everything is still visibly growing, all blossoms remain and seem to be progressing toward fruit, and I see no evidence of any kind of disease.
For those of you who don't grow veggies because it seems to take too much time, I have some advice - keep it tiny!!! Once the garden was all in, I never had more than one hour of work to do a day, and many days I had little to none - I went for walks instead! This tiny garden thing fits nicely into my life, it is great exercise, and it provides me not only with excellent food, but also with infinite opportunities to connect with all creation. That does not suck.
Simple tasks that I do regularly include:
- Remove lower branches of tomato plants that touch the ground, and any yellowing leaves.
- Tease the cucumbers onto their westward trellises. Note for next year: cucumbers like to grow up trellises that are to their north!
- Pull plants that threaten my food source, and process any of those that provide medicinal benefits I need. I leave some of these "weeds" to flower, thinking that these can do no harm, and will attract pollinators. I threw in some geraniums for extra color.
- Water the plants. I do this by hand, watering the base of each plant out to the drip line very deeply. In a patch as tiny as mine, this is a very pleasant task, and I do not waste a drop of water.
One short story about self-healing abilities
Two days after I planted out all my seedlings, from their too-cozy cold frame into the ground, I saw an infestation of what I am calling gnats. I freaked out a little bit before noticing that the leaves that had these gnats on them had turned themselves over. While I was considering what to do about these little beings (go online and ask? spray them with diluted clove oil? rush into town to get some neem oil?) I had a beautiful thought: what if the plant's turning over the leaves meant the plant was trying to rid itself of these pesky beings, by exposing them to predators? I decided to leave them be, and see what happened.
The next day there were fewer gnats, and fewer overturned leaves. By day two, the "pests" were gone and there were no overturned leaves. I had done nothing at all.
I wonder what those creatures were there for?
And now for the big reveal, the whole shebang on June 2, 2021!
For comparison, here's the whole shebang a mere two weeks earlier!
I've also been busy producing posts on Hive about my garden, my garden tools, and foraging for edible and medicinal plants. Below are links to my previous posts.
Tiny Veggie Garden Posts
Previous years, and early spring 2021
Equipment Posts
Foraging Posts