Welcome to August fellow gardeners! It has been a brutally hot & dry season so far but I am enjoying fresh herbs, tomatoes, and flowers. There are fires all around but the amazing crews here have managed to act quickly on many of them and keep them confined. The really really big fire is to our east; the Bootleg Fire. Northern CA saw explosive growth of numerous lightning started fires in the last couple of days and the wind brought that smoke into the valley Thursday but it cleared out overnight and we are back to good to moderate air quality. The heat continues with next week forecast to be another scorcher.
Here is a look at things as they are now on my magical little patio:
I moved some stuff around and ended up putting the fennel in the corner and the fronds now play behind the corner shelf letting their little yellow flower heads dangle above the other nearby plants.
The Japanese Lantern is fascinating to watch as it goes from flower to pod. They will turn red/orange in autumn I think.
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My mini rose is giving me some lovely second blooms now!
The Raspberry Ice dianthus I got at the beginning of the summer seemed to be doing nothing for the longest time but buds started appearing a couple weeks ago and now they are blooming nicely. I am impressed by how strong the fragrance is on this variety! Very strong spicy, cinnamon-y scent!
The heat unfortunately did in all the creeping thyme I had in the blue bowl with the hens & chicks. I’ve been planning to re-do what’s in there and I’ve got some thyme seeds started that I hope to put in there. Something/s are munching away at the Jerusalem sage. There are holes in the leaves so I suspect some kind of leafcutter ants? Need to get it repotted and see if that helps. I do have a good organic pest spray if I need it. Most of the time I just use water with a drop of dish soap mixed in. The purple salvia at the top right of this pic is on it’s second flush after I trimmed the heck out of it.
My sage and rosemary are getting big now. Catnip keeps on keepin’ on and the lavender got a trim and is settling in.
The veggies are growing strong so far and my tomatoes are giving me fruits already. The cucumbers are getting started and I harvested my first little one this week. My peppers are all very leafy but no flowers yet. They should be loving this heat though so patience. . .patience.
Got a cage around the Sun Gold now as it shot up quick. Purple ruffle basil underplanted with it. Back row is cucumbers, Early Girl Bush Hybrid tomato, Cherokee Purple, bell pepper, and the Alpine strawberry off to the right.
On the metal rack I have this Czech blue lavender, rose geranium, and tarragon on the top. On the ground is a black window box with lemon basil. Next to that on the left: Coleus on the top shelf of the corner shelf. Purple ruffled basil below that.
Small harvest of early tomatoes:
The Early Girls are very bright and juicy. Slightly acidic on their own but salt makes them sweeter. Haven’t tasted the CP yet, was not sure they were ripe but they were getting soft so I picked them and brought them in. The heat wave we got so early on followed by continued high heat is making it hard to know what to expect. Guess that is part of climate change that we are all feeling.
Gardeners are good at adapting and at being resilient. We persevere.
Because a fresh home-grown tomato sandwich on lightly toasted bread with mayo is worth every minute of it;)
So that’s a taste of life here in my southern OR garden. How is your garden doing? What rewards are you enjoying this season? Share what’s going on in your garden in the comments! I’m not the earliest of risers so I may not be here right at publishing time but I’ll be along in due time with coffee!