Risks and Rewards (a July Update)

We left our garden alone for two weeks. You won’t believe what happened next!

Zinnias are in full bloom in the cutting garden

I think it’s fair to say that gardening is incompatible with summer holidays; neglect the garden at your peril. You can’t apply two weeks of water all at once. No amount of advanced planning will make your produce ripen before it’s ready. Plants are going to do what they want, when they want. 

So it was with some trepidation that we set off on a two-week vacation during the second half of June. The garden was in good shape. The greenhouse tomatoes were actually getting too much heat, so we moved them outdoors. All of the seedlings had been transplanted, and both saplings and vegetable crops were progressing nicely. Yes, some mischievous chipmunks had planted corn in the White Garden, but we did our best to thwart their efforts. We weeded and pruned, invested in some drip irrigation and timed sprinklers, and left detailed hand-watering instructions for the house-sitter. And then we did our best to keep gardening thoughts at bay while enjoying our holiday. 

A near miss

We were lucky. Three days into our trip, a major storm brought strong winds and rain, and a 5-hour power outage. We remained blissfully ignorant of the fallen tree branches strewn about the property. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds and was easily cleaned up. But it was a miracle the largest limb didn’t take out a section of the new fence behind the White Garden. 

The fruits of Farmer Chipper’s labor

The White Garden was threatening to become a cornfield, thanks to the “critter crunch” a certain someone had been tossing onto the terrace. The emerging stalks were easily removed, but I suspect we’ll be battling this all season.

Vegetables basking in the July sun

But these were minor setbacks. The vegetable beds were practically bursting. We’ve been awash in leafy greens since our second lettuce sowing matured quickly, although one variety bolted while we were away. The beets, which I thought had failed in May, just needed more time. We harvested our first peas before leaving, and while we missed eating the rest of the crop we now have plenty of seeds to sow next year. The outdoor tomatoes and chili peppers have begun bearing fruit. The relocated greenhouse tomatoes are less productive. It appears they were on the edge of the sprinkler’s range, but fortunately a good soaking perked them up.

And after a bit of weeding, the White Garden was once again resplendent. Last month we added Echinacea purpurea and Salvia nemerosa and they immediately rewarded us with mid-season blooms. The hydrangeas are springing into bloom, and thanks to a recent trip to the garden center, we are expecting more flowery goodness over the next few months. Watch this space.