On Wednesday morning I was up at 5AM and got the photos edited and the post written and up. Next I got the kitchen cleaned up and then I folded the laundry.
My #2 intern arrived at 7:15AM and I had already set up to work in the New Herb garden. This time I was going to tie up plants laying in the walkways. If I didn’t they would get walked on and die. So I hit Row 2 first, and got the borage done. Next was the boneset and it was so huge it took both of us to get it up.
In Row 3, the Echinacea purpurea already had supports, so I just tightened them up. Next was the spearmint. That was about 30” high once it was tied up. All around it the tiny ashwagandhas I had planted back in mid June had really grown! They were about 6’ in diameter and all over the place.
My #2 intern had finished Row 6 and the deadheading of the calendula and moved onto weeding and deadheading in Row 5. She’s doing the sorrel here. She has a pile of Tulsi basil next to her that she’s pruned away off the sorrel.
I spent about 1 – 1½ hours tying things up. Once finished, I started the hard deadheading of the bee balm and then the Echinacea paradoxa. By the time I got the paradoxa done, I was finished.
The mulch hay guy had called and showed up at 8:30AM with the first load. He went back for a second load of only 20 bales because when we guesstimated that’s what we thought we could fit in. We could have gotten 5 or 10 more in I think, but this is all we are going to do for now. The open space is for the pallets that are still at the house. He has about 100 more bales in his barn and I will take them when we start cleaning out gardens.
In between his visits, another BuyNothing person came out for butterflyweed pods.
In Row 4, next to the peppermint, the pennyroyal has done the best ever. I can’t remember it ever having flowers before.
While I went in for a shower, my #2 intern cleaned up outside. Then we went and did errands. When we got back we had lunch and I decanted the sauerkraut. Because it had been just a little under the weight, we had used a full double batch measure of salt and seasonings. It’s a bit salty.
I just watched movies all afternoon after my intern left. Another BuyNothing person came out for butterflyweed pods mid afternoon and she has a son who might want to move the stone. He will call if he does.
I baked up one of the kabocha squashes, scraped it out, and covered it with ricotta cheese and then heated it up until the cheese had melted. I mixed it all up with lots of basil pesto, and with a few slices of ham, that was supper.
The sunset
When my husband came home on hospice before Christmas 2020, we turned the light on in the bathroom as it didn’t bother him as much as light in the room. It was on 24 hours a day for as long as he lived, and I’ve never turned it off. It only has a small 40 watt bulb but it is a beacon of remembrance during the night and day.
On Thursday, we decided my intern would come early as it was to be hot, at 6:30AM. We would finish the New Herb garden if it killed us. I hoped we would have time to do the shelf in the garden shed, and maybe even get some of the pea fences put away.
My helper friend would be here all afternoon on Thursday and he would be washing out the squash boxes, making sauerkraut, and maybe doing some weeding in the Big garden.