Approaching Solstice

Its been a pretty joyful month. My first Open Farm Day on the 10th of June gave me a handy tidying deadline. It proved to be a delightful day of making new friends and visiting with old ones. Although its been much too dry, the perennials are coasting on the remaining soil moisture from winter rains and looking fabulous. The migrating birds and bees hang out nonstop at our ‘pollinator baths’ and the potential electricity of summer-to-be hangs heavy in the air.

I gathered a few buckets of early flowers for a wedding the first of June. The bride-to-be wanted a ‘wild’ look and I assured her that was all I had. Yellows of Oregon sunshine and chamomile, whites of valerian and arugula , oat and rye seed heads, and the first bachelors buttons, foxgloves and a handful of roses.

I’ve never grown tomatoes in a hoophouse before. This year I planted the same varieties inside and out to really make note of the difference. I’m also planning to trellis them up a string and to do a bit of tomato sucker pruning. I’m not that fanatical about it, so we’ll see what difference it makes. As for the row of snow peas planted between the rows peppers in the other bed pictured to maximize space? Next year I should remember to try a dwarfing pea variety instead. While I don’t think its damaging the peppers long-term, they certainly would prefer to have the behemoth pea plants off of their heads.

June feels like the garden is filling, and yet, you can still see the whole depth of field, because the taller crops haven’t climbed up yet. Summer is on its way, but not yet arrived.

For the first time in ages, I got my act together to brew and spray comfrey tea. Comfrey is a magical powerhouse of a plant that acts as a general fertilizer, and especially promotes flowering and fruit production. I cut the comfrey leaves at the end of May and stuffed a trashcan full, topped off with water. I stirred the contents as many times as I could (best practice is a few times a day). Then after three weeks of delightfully stinky brewing, I filtered off my tea and sprayed all the growing crops with my fancy new backpack sprayer (Craigslist score). Comfrey is also anti-fungal so if downy mildew is an issue in your area, I highly recommend it.

What else did June bring this year? Check out the photo gallery below and let me know how your garden is growing. Its a beautiful time to be an earth tender.

New trellis system for cucumbers

I’m trying out a jute netting trellis for my cucumbers this year. 100% biodegradable but with a 3 year lifestyle. Folds up small, and strong enough for row crops. We’ll see if it lives up to the hype.

Plant propagation

Check it out! I took a bunch of hardwood cuttings from 1-year old growth of native shrubs way back in February and stuck them in pots. It’s June and 90% of them took. I call that a success!

The food forest

The front part of the yard is a much more dynamic mix of perennial fruits, herbs, flowers, and more. The magic happens here in every square foot.

Companion plants

Tomatoes and lettuce fill each others spaces nicely. The tomato shades the lettuce and the lettuce acts as a living mulch to cool the soil. You can’t see the basil on the other side of the tomatoes that lore says makes tomatoes taste better.

More pretty

Layering lovely plants. Bottom of the totem is lavender, mid-level are matagon lillies, and soaring above is a full-grown lovage. Wowza.

No-till sunflower

This is really meant to be a no till fall brassica bed but I desperately needed a place to put my sunflowers. So while the brassicas germinate in the greenhouse, I planted a row of sunflowers down the middle of this bed. Previously a winter cover crop mix of oats, fava, clover, radish and more. I cut the top growth to serve as mulch for the peppers and then weedwhacked to ground level to kill off the stubble. The roots will slowly decompose, feeding the soil, and in a couple weeks the fall cabbages will be big enough to transplant in.

Edible flower mix

The local market started offering $5 tokens to every child under 12 every week to spend on fresh fruits or veggies. There’s not always a ton of kid-friendly options, so I’ve been working on my edible flower mix to rise to the occasion. What do you think?

I think that’s all folks. Thanks for reading. Coming up - summer is fast approaching and that means cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, oh my! Let me know what you’re thinking about and if you’d like to visit.