Saturday, August 18, 2012

August Happenings

August is usually the time when I begin to peter out.
It's been a hot summer!
I have used the sprinkler more days than not and I closed my eyes as I opened last month's water bill.
This past week there were a few days where the humidity dropped and I jumped at the chance to regain my stamina and catch up on what I have let go in the garden.
Some weeding, pruning, edging and pulling out to make room for new plants soon gave my garden a new cleaned up look.
Let's go on a little tour shall we?
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We only have 3 Bartlet pears this year but they are large and beautiful. They look so pretty there hanging on the tree. Every day I keep my fingers crossed as I walk out into the garden that they will still be there. It's a dual between me and the squirrels.
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If Black Eyed Susans were edible we would have enough food for the winter. They seem to take over in my garden and I find myself digging up large clumps of them at this time of year to give away. We do enjoy the gold finches and chickadees that feast on them and I would love to experiment with using them to make dye.
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After digging up the Susans as well as a few other plants I made a list of new plants to fill in the gaps. This is the time of year that local nurseries are trying to clear out.  Over the next few weeks I plan to try to find some good deals.
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The front garden is taking off. The full sun has given us huge stems of swiss chard and baskets of tomatoes. I still need to fill in with perennial herbs. I will be keeping my eye out for them at the nursery as well.
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The mint totally took over on top of the rabbit hutch. I pulled it out and dried a bunch to make tea. There is still plenty growing in other areas of my garden to use fresh.
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We canned San Marzano tomatoes this week (some from the farm and some from our front garden).
It was just the beginning of our preserving. I am looking for a chest freezer. We can't keep up with all of the kale and swiss chard we have growing and I would love to chop it up and freeze for the winter months.

What's happening in your garden this August?

5 comments:

  1. How peaceful! Thanks for the garden tour.
    I just started canning tomatoes yesterday! I'm hoping we'll be able to pick some corn soon. :)

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  2. Such a beautiful garden. I just made some jam yesterday with figs from the tree in my community garden - seems like each day there is a bounty of ripe figs on the tree! Thanks for the tour of your garden, and for the inspiration!

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  3. ooh longing for some summer here, that front garden looks amazing!

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  4. Beautiful garden, and so bountiful! Thanks for the tour!

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  5. You have a lovely garden but what really caught my eye was your pantry. I now have pantry envy. :)

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