June 20, 2018
My cilantro is ready to start picking, but we are a long way from Salsaville yet. I haven't even gotten a ripe tomato yet, and the peppers look like my dog's been peeing on them. They are short, squat and yellowish and have a Dick Cheny snear to them. They don't like my garden and want to be back in Bolivia where the nights are warm and the days are scorching. I was going to dry some of the leaves and stems to be used when we're ready, but I read that freezing them will retain more flavor. My first planting of peas are turning yellow, not because the soil has dried out, but because they're done..
They will ripen the peas on the vine but produce no new flowers. My second planting of peas are still dark green and loaded with peas. There are no new blossoms on them either so pea season is over. The vines will make good mulch because they are so uniform that you can spread them over existing mulch and make it look more homogenous..
June 21, 2018
This heat is making the peas ripen extraordinarily fast. I usually pick them every other day, but now I'm picking a whole bowl full every day. They are easy to freeze, with no blanching required, so I'm shelling them all and bagging them in quart size zip lock bags. The zucchini is rapidly filling our fridge too. It may be time to start sharing with the neighbors. The heat seems to have bolted the perpetual spinach in the greenhouse. It's shot up a foot tall, produced seeds, and fallen over..
No summer spinach for me. I planted it in hopes of overwintering it but now I don't know what to do. The heat seems to have expanded the hummingbird population exponentially, and they are so busy zooming around the red hot pokers stalks that I had to move my chair away. They were coming too close to my face and I wasn't sure if they make miscalculations or not. Luckily I have a shady alcove on the other side of the garden from which I can watch their antics..
June 22, 2018
Now that the planting is all done we get to watch stuff grow, make observations and learn new things. I noticed that a group of three melon mounds might be too close together because their vines are already intermingled. There was so much empty space between them not so long ago, now they look crowded. I continue to discover new insects. You would think that at my age I would have seen them all but I'm continually surprised. I found squash bug eggs on the underside of a zucchini leaf, so they've been up to no good. Trying to grab the little beasts is like trying to learn martial arts..
You gotta be quick, decisive and purposeful. I found out they can fly. Every time I pass by the plants I go into stalk mode. I slow down, crouch a little and tip toe past with intense concentration and laser like focus. The wicked quick enemy seems to have an advantage. They need only drop to the ground and scurry out of sight to live yet another day..
