Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
A pause, in between.
This is the view to the right of my garden bench at the moment: safflower at the end of its bloom (which I pulled off for eating), a late sprouting broccoli and a tree of kale. No kidding, it’s got a trunk at least 2 inches in diameter now! I think it’s probably time for some serious harvesting and green-drying. Or, I could use my friend Kyla’s trick of turning all greens into pesto for freezing. Handful of greens, some garlic and oil and basil (or mint) and you’ve got instant nutrition by the spoonful in any soup or stew or pasta sauce.
I have three kale plants in the garden this year though (never mind the swiss chard), so I probably have enough to dry and to pulp into pesto.
My garden is in a weird in-between stage at the moment: My greens have all bolted and the new greens aren’t quite producing yet. My beans aren’t quite done, but I think I’ve only got one more crop coming from them. And although I ate beets and carrots early in the season, my late-summer and fall crops aren’t ready to pull yet. I’ve got cherry tomatoes, but the regular ones are just starting to ripen. My cukes are coming but I’m giving them more time before digging in. Until I learn proper succession sowing – I’m just lucky that we’ve got a great Farmer’s Market on the way home from work!
At the same time, it’s all beautiful out there, with things growing and bolting (I’m working on my seed saving this year) and being all crazy with promises for the later summer and fall. Not to mention the summer flowers emerging: acidanthera a few weeks ago, now my rose-of-sharon, the cosmos, the nigella and cornflower. Plus, it’s a very low-maintenance time: with the exception of sowing for later crops, and watering, I haven’t done much out there in the last couple of weeks.
Late August and autumn do promise another glorious round of radishes, peas, greens, beets, carrots, cukes, tomatoes and my dried beans – not to mention more Kale and Chart, and even turnips (which I planted on a whim two days ago). It’s really nice to pause in the middle and just soak it in, before the grey days of late fall turn it back into greens and mud again.
Red Cedar 
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