Garden Update | August 2020
August 2020, in which the lady ventures back out into the garden and confronts the result of neglecting it for much of the summer. I wasn't incredibly heat-tolerant to begin with, and pregnancy made me even less so. Growing up, my family took quite a few mission trips to the island of Jamaica, where my mom was born. We could fill a book with the stories of our adventures, but coloring every memory, every anecdote, is this overwhelming recollection: IT WAS HOT. The kind of humid-hot that hit us with physical, sticky force the second that we stepped off the plane and onto the black tarmac. Just that much closer to the equator, we could almost hear our skin crisping as we slathered on the SPF 50. I feel certain, looking back, that it was indeed very hot, but there is a chance my crushing impression of the heat might be a tad dramatic. A different sort of person might have just said, “yeah, it was hot” and left it at that. But I can still taste all that sweat. It might be why I’ve wanted to start off the last three garden updates talking about the heat, when really, 90+ degrees and 70% humidity in South Carolina in August should come as a surprise to no one. (I have the utmost respect for every summer landscape crew.)
I wanted to capture the neglected August garden in all of its glory, because that too is an essential part of the story. I’ve been taking care of little Raife instead of weeding and cutting back and staking and fertilizing. I also went back to school full-time three weeks ago. I know it sounds as if I’m making excuses, and I am. But I’m also secretly delighted by the chaos; everything has gone happily off to hell in a hand basket. It’s going to be so, so satisfying to clean up when I finally get the time and the weather cools a little. And seriously, we all need to give ourselves some grace - for the weeds that have escaped our vengeance and the pants that don’t fit yet and the promises we’ve forgotten and the ways we’re different from what people expect and the questions we don’t yet have answers to.
Without further ado, here are some pictures of that aforementioned chaos and a few general updates.
Future Wildflower Patch | We are going to clear a strip between the future fruit trees and the driveway (2020 fall planting). I get a lot of questions about meadows, and I want to experiment with growing one on a very small scale from seed so I have the first clue about how to help people. There are few things more romantic than the idea of a flowering meadow, but in reality, they take careful management in order to be sustainable. I have a combination annual and perennial seed blend that is formulated for the Southeastern US.
Things That Have Tanked | Most of the tomatoes, except the ones in pots that we didn’t manage to plant out in the ground; those are doing great. It gives me a lot of hope for our future raised bed kitchen garden. Most of the perennials in the garden have gone to seed heads, and the greens that took us through the entire summer have finally fizzled. My dahlias have been attacked by thrips this season, and I ordered some protective bags for securing around the buds before they get ruined. I’m hoping that it helps, but more than likely I’ll start being diligent about that for next year’s flowers now that I know I need it.
Things That Are Kicking | I am so curious by nature that I want to try growing a huge variety of things at least once. But some things are cutting garden classics for good reason. Here’s what is still looking beautiful at this point in the summer. Zinnias, cosmos, ornamental grass, and a special mahogany hibiscus that I tried for the first time this summer all really love the heat and aren’t bothered at all by late summer scorching. They’ll always have a place in my cutting garden. And then there’s the beautiful thug, sweet Autumn clematis. Once you have her, you’ll never get rid of her - but the delicate vines smothered in blooms are so dramatic that it’s impossible to be too upset about all the seedlings that pop up everywhere. Beautyberry is also a late summer/early autumn stunner with its gradient of berries.
Prepping For Fall | I just ordered a few kinds of seeds from Floret’s fall sale - all things that are either direct sown in the garden in fall that will germinate come spring, or sown mid-winter for very early planting out. Pecan twigs make excellent kindling, and we have a huge pile just waiting for all the fall fires. Our comfrey patch is just about ready for the first harvest of leaves for compost tea to boost any new fall plantings.
September is a new month | Praise be.
