Our garden at last

It’s had a slow start but finally our garden is starting to give back.  After a few hot days this week (three days of record-breaking high temperatures), the plants are happily springing up and spreading out. We have green onions, strawberries, and bok choy (some of which is bolting but we’re using what we can) as well as  plenty of herbs ready to harvest.

This morning, I woke up early (before 6 a.m.) and decided to go out and water the garden before the heat of the day. I also yanked a ton of weeds out of an overgrown patch of garden we hadn’t planted in this season and discovered some very parched potatoes growing among the dock weed, tall grass and morning glory (I hadn’t wanted to water the weeds so it was really dry). They’re going to need some serious tlc over the next few days.

Now that I’ve weeded that area, I have to mix in some better soil and then figure out what I can plant now to harvest later this fall. Our other potatoes in the front yard, along with the pumpkin plants, are doing OK; I think all the squash would be happy with a couple of overcast days to grow. Meanwhile our tomatoes are loving the heat. The two we bought as seedlings look like shrubs — they’re full of flowers and I hope will produce plenty of fruit (one is a cherry tomato variety and the other a roma) — the ones we started from seed are now anywhere from three to ten inches tall — way behind but trying hard to catch up.

This is actually my favourite part of gardening — the time when it is full of potential — and while I’m not too happy about being awake so early on a Saturday morning, it was wonderful to be outside in the fresh air getting dirt under my nails.