July 26, 2018
I rigged up my shade cloth yesterday because it was 99ð out. I got a lot of weeding done under it. It was actually fun for the first three quarters of it because the slightest movement of air would hit my sweaty body and cool me off. Then I just got tired but didn't want to quit because it looked so good being done. I chuckled when I finished and saw that the bare earth exactly boardered the shade lines. My body knew where to stay even if my mind was not conscious of it..
I'm not planning to plant the nice 4'x8' space anytime soon so I thought I should cover it to prevent weeds from growing. The bare earth looks like burlap and made me think that burlap would be a good looking ground cover. I remembered seeing a rolled up rug somewhere so I went searching. I found it in the living room where my wife had yoga class. Guess I better visit a carpet store and see what their remnants look like..
July 27, 2018
A pattern has developed in the garden when I sit in the cool morning shade. First the bumblebees get noticed because they make the flowers dance as they visit them. I seem to enjoy bumblebees more as I get older, perhaps because I tend to bumble now too. Next the dragonflies dart across the landscape and always land on the stalks of the red hot pokers. It's fun to get three of the same color there at the same time. The hummingbirds zip in to check the hollyhock flowers for necter. I don't think there is any for them, but they keep coming back, so maybe l'm wrong..
The gray chested sparrows hop along the pathway pecking at seeds or bugs and then leave abruptly, just when I think they are getting a good meal. The tiny yellow birds that eat my Swiss chard in the spring time show up now to eat the aphid on the Brussels sprouts. Alas we are now allies. Pill bugs lumber through the mulch like bulldozers. The little armadillos are garden benificials now too. Eating waste products instead of plants..
July 28, 2018
Last chance to get a corn patch in this year. You'll be picking ears in early October if the weather is amicable. You can also direct seed cabbage now for a fall harvest. The place I just finished weeding, that I wanted to cover with burlap, became my cabbage patch. I weeded it with no intention of planting it, but then remembered it was time for fall cabbage planting. Lots of my gardening tends to follow this pattern. I clean up an area and a few days later realize I want to plant something there..
It's as if my subconscious chugs ahead without informing me of it's intentions and just pops parts of the whole deal into my consciousness at will. I find myself wondering why I'm doing a particular chore only to find out a few days later that it was a good idea. I can , at times, complete a small task and feel fulfilled and finished. The best parts of my garden are the places that evolve, over time, without my having a master plan. I do one small part at a time and the whole becomes greater than it's parts..
