Garden Journal :: August 2006

August 1st :: killer humidity after the floods

:: the wheelbarrow testifies to yesterday's heavy rain.

Pick last green beans and remove mexican beetle infested plants. Pick yellow zuchini and first Better Boy tomatoes, which are cracked.

Continue to eradicate orange rust from blackberry area. Remove almost all diseased garden phlox, wild violets and and redbud leaves.

All blackberry canes will have to go, even the new ones, I'm afraid.

Tomato report

This is the worst year ever. I do not get enough San Marzanos for drying, nor any Red Brandywine or Better Boys for sauce.

August 23rd

:: a bright morning to photograph marigolds that edge the sundrops, which are turning into fall reds already.

:: the cosmos which volunteers every year never fails to fill the yard with fall color.

:: the compost pile blesses us with several productive butternut squash volunteers.