“August’s harvest is rich…”
Bob Thomson The New Victory Garden
Well let’s deal with first things first: in August a big issue for a lot of gardeners is what to do with all that zucchini. You could drive around and put it in your neighbours’ mailboxes or in any unlocked cars you might encounter. But I think a better option is to pick it when it’s still small and grill it.
I have been doing this for a few weeks now. I cut the zucchinis in half lengthwise and add a few peppers to the mix. The resulting mixture keeps well in the fridge and is good reheated or served cold as a side to almost anything summery. Problem solved.
For years now I have been growing Summer Surprise Mix from Vesey’s. This year I planted four seeds and got three surviving plants: two of the pale green and one dark green. Three plants isn’t too overwhelming as long as I am vigilant and don’t let any of them get too big. We will see if I can stick to this and avoid the hidden zucchini that becomes a weapon overnight.
The pale yellow Martini cucumber (from Vesey’s) is also on my list of vegetables that I have been growing for a long time. This year it’s very happy and productive with all the early rainfall. I have only recently had to water the cucumbers and other vegetables.
Tomato plants have been on the small side. Possibly they didn’t like all the early rain. I’m hoping that they do better in August.
The very tall opium poppies are finally finishing up flowering and the foliage is turning brown and scraggly. They’re not that attractive at this point but they need to stay in place until some of the seed pods dry and drop their seeds for next year. Although opium poppies are annuals, they are prolific self seeders.
Once the opium poppies are done and the huge plants pulled out, there will be more breathing room for the hot peppers. The poor peppers have been overshadowed by the poppies that grew bigger than my wildest dreams. Hot peppers have always done well in the flower bed beside the west wall of the house. It heats up on hot days and is much warmer than the vegetable garden. And I have always liked the look of vegetables and flowers all mixed up together.
This year the rain has been very kind to the purple phlox. I have a lot of this in the wild garden and it has seeded itself in the field behind the vegetable garden. It survives in dry years but in years with a lot of rain it’s truly glorious.
Perennial sunflower has also seeded itself along the side of the vegetable garden and out into the field. Along with the phlox it makes a riot of mid summer colour. Unlike the phlox, perennial sunflower doesn’t seem to care if it’s on the dry side.
Pole beans have almost reached the tops of their poles at this point in the summer. This year I planted the beautiful purple Carminat and the peachy flowered Sunset. And, of course, I planted a few morning glories with them for even more colour.
Seeing the morning glories is my reward for early morning weeding. They are gone by noon so even if I’m not energetic enough to weed I try to walk down to the garden in the morning to admire them.
Shirley poppies, another prolific self seeder, are bright spots of colour in the vegetable garden. I usually cut back a few of these by about two thirds and they will keep on blooming into the fall. As with the opium poppies, it’s important to leave the plants until they have dry seed pods and drop their seeds for next year.
Finally, for the first time ever the phoebes didn’t return to the side porch and have a second family. I was relieved that they didn’t come back since one of them managed to fly into the house at the beginning of the season. That caused all manner of chaos. It also managed to knock one of the eggs out of the nest so possibly it wasn’t the smartest bird in the flock.
Let us return to the zucchini where we started. It won’t last forever. Summer’s lease hath all too short a date…
By Jill Williams