On Sunday morning I went out early and harvested all the calendula I could find.
I also had this nice ripe Kapija pepper to dehydrate.
Once that was done, I headed outside. I had the mess in front of the woodshed to clean up as I planned to mow later in the day. I had to move a lot of wood up into the extra wood pile. It took me about an hour to clean all this up. Then I headed to the New Herb garden. I intended to finish it!
I’d gotten Row 4 half weeded on Saturday, but the other half was a lot worse, especially in the walkway. I found a lovely Golden purslane near the heliotrope and left it there.
The lovage had died back and the heliotrope, while small, was flowering nicely. I found peppermint runners in the walkway and beds, so I guess I missed some of the roots the first time through.
The snapdragons were doing really well and the balloonflower was in full bloom. I didn’t deadhead it, I forgot. I am surprised at how well the winter savory has done here the last 2 years. It’s normally a zone or 2 farther south before it survives. I guess my mini English walled garden is the reason.
The walkway on the other side of Row 5 was just as bad. It took a long time to get through this mess. The ashwagandha is much smaller this year, but doing well. It has a Golden purslane volunteer growing in with it. The hyssops, as always, are huge and doing very well, lots of flowers. I’d really cut the sage back last time and it has rebounded beautifully. Now I just need to harvest it…
The rosemary had lovely color, but is still pretty small. There’s another Golden purslane near it. The plantain came back really well, another one I need to harvest.
Once I got to Row 6, it got a lot easier, as the weeds hadn’t gotten such a foothold. Only a couple of the borage I transplanted made it, and they are just starting to flower. The sunflowers look pretty silly, all twisty, but they are flowering well. They would have done a lot better to have been planted in June. The thyme lost about half of its plants. Six of them died and 7 are either doing pretty well, or hanging on by a thread.
There’s lady’s mantle in this row doing well and the chives. The chives are blossoming again.
By the time I rounded the corner to the last walkway and the last half of Row 7, I was really starting to flag. But I was bound and determined to make the most of the cool, not humid, day. I had to find posts and tie up the echinacea as the last rainstorm had knocked many down. The oregano had come back really well and should be harvested. I was surprised to see the garlic chives flowering again. There’s perennial onions in this row and they had come back from the monsoons and looking much better.
At the end of this row the marjoram had also come back well and was flowering again. The yarrow must be resting for another onslaught, as it had stayed in its bed.
So the New Herb garden is back in shape and that’s one less thing I have to tend to before the Memorial Party on Labor Day weekend.
I still had a couple hours of mowing to do, so I just got on the mower and got it done. I was pretty wiped out when I got inside and rested for a few hours. I still had the calendula to get into the dehydrator and eventually got that done.
I decided to pick some marigolds and put them in too, to fill it up some. I had some supper and then spent an hour editing all these photos. I sure was glad to get into bed and it was to be a very cool night, so good sleeping!