I went out early, around 6AM, to harvest the last of the green peas and whatever I could find of the sugar pod peas. There were no green peas, the critters had gotten most of what was left. But the sugar pod peas had a huge revival and there were tons of them. I picked 3’ and had enough for a meal. So I offered them to friends. It was very foggy until about 9AM.
Then I pulled up the green pea vines and mulched the row.
I started by the dumpster weeding and worked my way north. I got the lima beans off the artichokes and the pumpkins off the basil.
The green peas had fallen on the basil from one side, and the pumpkins had grown over it from the other. When Tom was harvesting some later in the evening, he found some supports and stood up the floppy 2 plants.
The artichokes are slowly rallying, but no buds yet. The broccoli is pathetic, but it spent far too long in the cold frame in far too small seedling pots I had bought. It was covered with gone by tiny heads, so I cut them off. Maybe it will grow side shoots that I can use.
There are 3 hills of pumpkins, 2 Howdens and a white pumpkin. They have grown way out into the yard, through the fence. The ends got mowed when I mowed the lawn today.
The kale is the ⅓ mark of the garden. The lower leaves were pretty bug eaten, another casualty of too small pots for too long. That’s one reason I don’t usually buy plants. I start mine in nice big pots. The newer leaves are much better.
This area is where the 2 southerly rows of garlic were. I hauled in the mulch and got the rows covered. I had to move the pumpkins on the right, and the squash on the left to do it.
Big garden ⅓ weeded
The McIntosh apple had a branch that was very low over the garden. I got the pruners to cut it back only to discover the reason is that it is covered with nice looking apples! Looks like another bumper crop this year. I’ll be making vinegar for sure and giving away apples like mad.
I got 3 hours in the garden before the 96% humidity wiped me out. I showered, cooled down, and rested a while. I’d planned to try to get some lawn mowing done. It’s not been done for nearly 3 weeks and with all the rain, it was going to be a bear to do.
I decided I would not do the push mower in the high humidity. So I got the worst of it with the rider. I had to stop every circuit to unplug the chute to the bagger. It took so long to do that towards the end the grass was dry enough to just go into the bagger. I got the area up at the barn done as that was over a month since it was last done.
Another shower and a rest and I made some lunch. Egg noodles, peas from the garden, shrimp, homemade butter, garlic powder, homemade celery salt, pepper, and our own parsley. All mixed together with a bit of lemon juice. Yum!
When Tom was harvesting his collards, basil, and sugar pod peas, he discovered a small woodchuck was in the garden! I had seen a woodchuck near the gate 2 days ago. When it saw me it ran at the gate headlong, and then took off in the other direction. That was a bit worrisome, but the hinge area is small, and I didn’t think the chuck could get through.
I was wrong. If you look to the right of the upright, you can see the path. It has a hiding place under the quince. I will have to wait and see it outside the garden again, then block the hinge area with a stone or something. One doesn’t confront chucks, they are fierce fighters.
I checked the weatherman’s site and he said the haze is from the smoke from the West Coast’s fires. This happened last year too.
The sun was deep orange-red from the smoke haze as it set in the northwest.
Wednesday it’s to rain all day. I have appointments and boring inside stuff to do, like process the shallots still sitting in the pantry.