In the potager…and OUT!

More going on that it looks!

With the recent cooler spell, most planting has come to a halt. However, there are still lots of jobs to do in the potager. This single photograph has a lot to say. First of all, the north half of the potager’s interior border was being taken over by feverfew. I love feverfew for it’s tidy foliage, medicinal qualities, and dainty flowers, but enough is enough and when it crowds it’s neighbors, some need to be relocated. So, several clumps were dug and replanted near the flowering quince at the end of the Lavender Slope, close the the Cutting Garden, where their flowers can be used as filler. The Asiatic lilies and emerging seedlings of cilantro can breathe easier now.

That also made space to bring more color to this edible flower border: calendula, dwarf snapdragons, and tall snapdragons were added earlier in the week, along with a few “Blue Bedder” salvia seedlings to join those that returned. I always grow a few from seed in case we have a hard winter and none survive. Some extra Anise Hyssop plants were dug up and potted for the garden club plant sale, along with volunteer winter savory and “Lemon Mist” thyme plants near the triangle beds. Several clumps of Caraway thyme and golden oregano were also dug and potted for the sale. And the area got a quick weeding, although there were only a few baby dandelions to pull. With raised beds, weeding can always be done despite the weather.

In the raised bed also shown above, overturned web flats are placed to protect the newly transplanted baby seedlings of purple kohlrabi. The flats help reduce the wind, and also give a little shade until the seedlings recover from being separated and planted outdoors. The peas to the left of the flats are getting big enough to see easily. As soon as they are about 3″ tall, another succession crop of peas will be sown in another bed.

Bags of composted cow manure shown in the foreground are ready to side dress the garlic and strawberries, which can also be done even if the weather is not warm enough for seeding other crops. And, this week some leeks and carrots were dug, cleaned and bagged. The plastic-covered berry box was moved closer to the strawberries, which surprisingly (and much earlier than usual) are beginning to bloom. With frost predicted, those early berry blossoms may need protection again this week.

Wintered-over under a plastic-covered berry box, and still wonderful!

And a bed of spinach was thinned.

Spinach with a volunteer purple mustard before thinning!

If you look center left, you’ll see the small pile of weeds pulled from the bed and path while I harvested spinach. Amazing how weeds can hid amid the plants. Once I sit down on my little stool, I try to do anything that can be done while I’m there. The harvested spinach was later cleaned and bagged and put in a box along with the carrots, leeks, and a bouquet of daffodils. And then, we took the box, a bottle of wine, bread, and some appetizers and drove to actually see LIVE PEOPLE, friends we haven’t seen for well over a year who haven’t ventured out much at all except for absolute necessities. They are in their upper eighties, and no longer able to garden so they loved receiving our fresh produce. We had a lovely visit IN PERSON! It was terrific to be OUT! Life almost seems normal again!

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