Weekly journal of a Midwest gardener, which includes mowing, watering, reading, sowing, and a little bit of harvesting.
And thus begins another heat wave, though I don’t think it will be as hot as the one the week before last. I watered in the morning, as I usually do, and did a quick twirl through the Vegetable Garden Cathedral. I found two zucchini squash to pick. Then the activities of the day took me out of the garden until I returned in late afternoon to take some pictures to post on my blog in a few days.1 Around suppertime, the delivery guy brought my new Play-Doh Bloom kit. I look forward to trying it out.
Day two of the new heat wave. I went out early and watered, then headed out to the Vegetable Garden Cathedral, where I picked a few cucumbers, two squashes, another handful of green beans, and a couple of little peppers. From the patio tomatoes, I harvested a dozen cherry tomatoes. Then, before it got too hot, I filled a trash bag with weeds2 and prunings, mostly from tree seedlings (redbud and mulberry).3
Hazy and hot.4 I went out early, around 7:30, and watered containers. With my neighbor’s permission, I cut down a small mulberry tree growing in the corner of his yard next to mine.5 There was more to that tree than I realized as it filled half a trash bag. To finish filling up the trash bag, I also cut back my American wisteria, which has been growing rampantly and wildly, even after being cut down to the ground last fall. It’s even blooming now, a bit late. During my quick walk through the Vegetable Garden Cathedral, I picked a handful of green beans and checked out a few tomatoes which were almost ready to pick. Who will get to them first? Me or some critter? Hopefully me!
After making the usual morning rounds to water everything in containers, I went out to the Vegetable Garden Cathedral and decided to go ahead and pick the first big tomato, which was a variety simply labeled ‘Beefsteak.’ I beat the critters to it, though it wasn’t quite ripe. No problem. I’ll let it ripen a few days on the kitchen counter, where at least it’s safe from critters. I also picked more cherry tomatoes, two cucumbers, and two squashes. Then I pulled out a few weeds, cut back a handful of honeylocust suckers6 and deadheaded a big hosta. That was all I had time for before beginning the activities of the day outside of the garden.7
I decided our air quality wasn’t too-too bad, so after watering the containers, I mowed and trimmed the lawn. I started early to beat the heat and was done and inside by 10 am. While mowing I noticed some areas of the lawn looking more tan than green, but I think I know why. It might be a new-to-me lawn fungus.8 Other neighbors around seem to have it too. Anyway, after getting cleaned up, Dee and I recorded a new podcast episode. Then later in the afternoon, a few raindrops fell on the garden but it was hardly a trace, more like a tease. We definitely need some rain now, or I’ll have to turn the irrigation system on in front!
Once again, I watered all the containers in the early morning, then headed out to the Vegetable Garden Cathedral to see what there was to harvest and decide if I should water the garden again.9 I picked a handful of cherry tomatoes, a handful of green beans, a couple of zucchini squashes, and one cucumber. Inside, I watered all the houseplants and thoroughly cleaned the house.10 I actually tossed one houseplant, a succulent, because it had grown itself out of its pot, and I left it too long without water. I suppose I could have taken some cuttings.11
How many different ways can I describe getting up early to water containers in the morning? That’s indeed what I did this morning before getting cleaned up and going to church.12 I didn’t bother checking the rain gauge because I knew we’d only gotten a trace of rain yesterday. I also forgot to turn on the irrigation system yesterday so will have to do that for tomorrow morning. As for further gardening? No. The air quality has gotten worse, so it was an inside day.13
One gardener’s problem is another gardener’s dream. While my sister was calling me for advice on how to get rid of the Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) running rampant through one of her flower borders, I was looking at my own Black-Eyed Susans which are mysteriously wilting and fading away in an area that is getting shadier every year. I’m pretty sure I won’t have those Black-Eyed Susans for much longer—they are dying out—so I’ll clear out what’s left of them and plant some shade loving plants in that area later this fall or early in the spring.14 My sister, who is jealous that my Black-Eyed Susans are just up and dying on their own, is going to have to pull out all her robustly-growing Black-Eyed Susans, then try to keep that bed clear and weed-free before she plants some different sun-loving perennials that are NOT Black-eyed Susans.15 As I said, one gardener’s problem is another gardener’s dream.
“And that,” I thought to myself, as he shut me in, “only goes to show that even the wisest people don’t know everything.” - Rachel Field, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
Until next week,
With a shared love of gardening and reading,16
In addition to purslane, I also pulled out handfuls of mulberry weed, which usually shows up about this time. Thankfully, it’s easy to pull out, and you definitely want to pull it out as soon as you see it because it is a prolific self-sower. A champion self-sower. It can quickly blanket an area of bare ground with its seedlings!
I continued to listen to Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (2005) while working in the garden this week, and finished it on Friday while mowing. Those sheep took a long-time to solve the mystery!
The hazy part of the forecast was from Canadian wildfires, though I barely noticed it here. The city called for a Knozone Action Day midweek which basically means try not to do anything that adds to the poor air quality and if you have problems breathing when there is poor air quality, stay indoors. I checked the weather forecast and we may get some rain later in the week, which might keep me from mowing, which I’d like to do early Friday morning. I almost mowed on Wednesday—I have an appointment so I can’t mow on Thursday which is my preferred day—but I wanted the lawn to grow a bit more between mowings, and besides, the air quality was, as noted, poor. Note, we didn’t get any significant rain all week.
My neighbor thought it would be nice to let the mulberry tree grow to produce fruit for the birds. I explained it is a highly invasive tree and there are better options, like serviceberries, for example. He said his landscape guy priced a serviceberry for him last spring and it is wss $500. Yikes! He’d like me to find some seedlings from my serviceberries to transplanted into his yard. I’ll see if I can.
Honeylocust sprouts/suckers come up all over my garden, and I cut them back whenever I see them. My honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos ‘Sunburst’) is a thornless, seedless variety that dominates the back garden. Because the leaves are smaller, I don’t really have to rake them in the fall—they just disappear into the lawn and flower beds—but I do have to cut back suckers all over the place. It truly shows me how far those roots are from the “mother tree.”
Maybe I had a bit more time on Thursday morning to garden, but I needed to shower and get cleaned up for a hair appointment, which was followed by lunch out, then two zoom meetings before heading out, finally, to play trivia at the local pizza place. At trivia night, we were sixth heading into the final question, but we got the last question correct, wagered the maximum 20 points that we were right, and ended up once again in third place! For the most part, the questions we missed we had no clue on so we didn’t feel too bad not getting them right. All in all, a good night!
I got an email from the lawn service that takes care of our neighborhood common areas about them seeing an unusually high number of lawns affected by Ascochyta Leaf Blight. And I quote: “This fungal disease thrives during periods of hot, humid weather, especially when temperatures climb above 85°F. Ascochyta can spread quickly, causing grass blades to turn tan or straw-colored, often making it look like your lawn has been scorched by the sun.” I’ve never heard of it but I think that might be what’s causing some of my lawn to look more tan than green. The best thing to do for it, according to their email, is to water the lawn several times a week.
Yes, I could smell a bit of smoke in the air when I went out Saturday morning, but there are places that are far worse off than here. Later in the afternoon, it rained for about 15 seconds, so I’ll need to water the lawn soon.
While working around the garden and house on Saturday, I listened to and finished Hitty: The First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (1929). I had read about half the book a year or so ago and never got back to it. I enjoyed catching up with Hitty and finding out what became of her and where she ended up, which was… oops, no spoilers. You might enjoy reading or listening to this book that received a Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1930.
I dug that succulent out of the trash and took some cuttings to see if they’ll root in water.
On Sunday afternoon, I did a complete reset of my little microgreen farm. I harvested all the microgreens, emptied all eight containers, washed them thoroughly (to thwart gnats who like to lay eggs in the wet soil) and then sowed seeds for spicy salad mix, basic salad mix, broccoli, radishes, and cilantro. I need to do an inventory of which seeds I’m running low on and place an order for more.
I think my Black-Eyed Susans are wilting and dying off due to lack of water and too much shade, though it could be a disease of some kind. Hmmm… I think I’d better do a bit of research to find out if it is a disease as that could affect other plants in my garden!
My sister even asked me about solarizing her bed of Black-Eyed Susans using plastic covers to make sure they were really gone. But there are some peonies in that same bed that she wants to keep so she’ll go with the “grub them out over and over again” method of getting rid of them.
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