Week 29 > You are reading Week 31 - July 29th, 2024 > Week 32

The Vegetable Border

The unpredictable weather alternated between intense heat and sudden cold snaps, interspersed with heavy rainfall, and restored the vegetables to their typical growth patterns.

As expected, August brought a bountiful harvest of tomatoes and a slow but steady yield of eggplants.

The vegetable patch turned into an unruly mess, as it always does at this time of year, and in the fierce territorial battle the squash lost to the cucumbers.

In all fairness, the guidelines advise against planting the two together, and the cucumbers are thriving this year.

The beans are finally blooming, which is the reason I planted them; the Painted Lady runner bean variety has flowers that outshine the sweet peas'.

Holy basil spread everywhere and is already ripe for harvesting seeds. I can't wait to plant them and savor its delightful scent during the winter months.

The other herbs must be somewhere around. I recall planting thyme, rosemary, and lavender, but none of them could compete with the basil's impressive growth.

Late Summer Perennials

Due to a shift in the growing season, all the plants bloomed a month sooner than expected, which means the late summer perennials are already in season.

The plumbago has been in bloom for weeks, the sedums are starting to change color, the tuberoses are almost ready to open, and we're just days away from goldenrod's bloom.

Sadly, the garden skipped the July flowers and transitioned directly to September, so the hostas won't be able to showcase themselves this year: this summer, all the varieties were extremely slow and I haven't seen any flowers yet.

Due to the unpredictable weather the garden pressed pause this week, putting off bloom for later in the season.

The excessive heat caused the grass to go dormant and the rain that came afterwards had no effect on it.

The garden has already taken on a fall-like appearance, even though it's only the end of July.

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