It’s about this time every year that I vow to move North at the earliest possible opportunity. The temperatures hover consistently in the 90s with the smothering humidity pushing the heat index over 100. In short, it’s just not very fun to be outside most days unless you’re submerged in water. This year these sentiments remain as true as ever, with the added variable of figuring out life with a newborn. In a more temperate climate or a different time of year, I’d be strapping Raife to my chest and getting to work together, but the ambient (plus body to body) heat has us both miserable in about three minutes flat with that arrangement.

So even though I just haven’t spent much time outside in the last month - again - Brian has kept everything running. We joke that I’m constantly creating more work for him to do, and that’s not far from the truth. We’d have a lot of dead plants, neglected animals, and systems that didn’t function right without him. Everything at Welcomecroft is truly a joint effort and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Water Collection Part II | The potting shed water collection system is now fully functional! In June, we installed a metal roof with gutter on the shed and set up a vintage cast iron sink inside. This month, Brian fitted our 30 gallon barrel with a dual spigot - one side for direct fill and the other one piped through the wall for an on-demand hose option at the sink. Any grey water drains right out into a planting bed. It has been so convenient the last few weeks, and we already want to set up more barrels off the house and barn in the future. It feels good to know that we’re recycling water, even if it is on a very small scale.

Eggs | At the end of last month we got our very first egg! The last four weeks have seen production increase to an average of at least 4 eggs a day. It’s so fun to go out every day and check to see how many and what colors are waiting for us. We’re still figuring out whose eggs are whose, and one of the girls is laying without a shell (membrane only). Hopefully this will resolve itself. Regardless, it’s a huge bonus because we didn’t expect to get any eggs at all until August.
Veggie Harvests | The carrots we sowed early spring took a long time to start growing and were finally big enough to pull and eat a few weeks ago. I planted garlic cloves at the end of last summer, and we now have a whole tray of approximately 60 bulbs drying in our cellar. I’m hoping not to buy garlic for a long time. We’ve been picking and eating okra a few at a time, the tomatoes are producing well, and we are still going strong with kale and some of the last wave of lettuce seedlings. From our “eat our own greens all year” experiment, we’ve seen that kale is easiest to grow through the summer heat, loose-leaf lettuce is next, and arugula bolts almost immediately. With shade cloth and misters I feel confident we could do more, but with no special allowances, we’ve still been able to eat salad all summer so far, whenever we’ve wanted it! The surprise flop has been cucumbers. I tried interplanting them with some other things to climb up a trellis, and they’ve sulked all season and not really grown much. I’m not sure if it’s root competition or shade or a combination of both, but I’ll give them their own space next year.
Orchard Planning | Whether in summer or winter, it’s a gardener’s solace to plan for the next time when he or she will be able to get outside and plant. In winter it looks like seed catalogs, but for me right now, it’s researching fruit tree varieties online and deciding how many and where to plant them come fall. We’ve decided to temporarily leave our current mini-orchard where it stands for the privacy benefit and plant new trees along the edge of the meadow lining the driveway. My current plan is a combination of paw paw, Asian persimmon, Asian pear, and perhaps an experimental peach tree. Peaches are extremely challenging to grow organically in the SE, but this in-depth article by the brilliant folks over at Tyrant Farms gave me hope that with vigilance, it just might be possible.
Final Seedlings Out | Last month I started the final wave of seedlings under lights, all foliage and texture plants. Most went offsite to another project, but I kept a few of each kind for the cutting garden. I’m interested to see how the amaranth, orach, and ornamental grasses perform with a later start. It’s my hope that they’ll reach their peak in September and October when the garden really needs a boost.
Tomato Rotation | I shared earlier in the summer about how I took cuttings from our tomato plants and started round 2 for when the first wave start to die out. The dozen or so baby cuttings are now 3’ plants that we’ve started pulling to replace any fading ones in the garden. I think next year I’d stagger even the cuttings, because by now the “bench set” is so big that it’s challenging to keep them watered while they wait their turn to go out.
Wildlife Sightings | In addition to the constant hum of pollinators, we’ve noticed some other fun wildlife this year. There is a vagabond groundhog who lives in the culvert at the edge of our backyard. We named him Frank, and Frank has recently taken to lurking near our compost area. I’ve seen quite a few small lizards, and our birdbath and feeder area have attracted a family of bluebirds and goldfinches along with the other more common songbirds. I hope to plant a few more things in upcoming seasons to cater specifically to hummingbirds, but they’ve already found the garden and there are few things more delightful than watching them flit from one bloom to the next.

Garden Update | July 2020