Mid-August in the Garden

It's hard to believe it's already the middle of August, but as I look around I see the signs. Flowers fading and going to seed, squirrels fastidiously cacheing, the shadows a bit longer. Generally speaking, I am very happy with the results of this garden, my first. However, there are definitely some things I will improve next year, first and foremost the soil! The weather was very cool during the middle to end of July and early August, and it really put at damper on the growth of the plants. The soft skinned squashes have withered and wilted. Tomatoes still mostly green. I side-dressed the squash and tomatoes with Steve Solomon's complete organic fertilizer—a recipe from Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, not a store brand—and the past week of very hot weather seems to be improving the conditions. I'm hoping to continue to get more blossoms, especially on the squash, as blossoms are the precursor to fruit. I have been very fortunate to have a couple of weeks off from work to enjoy this heaven that is summer in the garden.

This morning when I woke I could see these gossamer spiderwebs from my bed, luminously reflecting the sunlight with a spectrum of colors. The spiderwebs are everywhere! As a child I would recoil from them, probably some protective instinct. This spring I watched the eggs hatch, and the spiders grow from tiny specks. I now consider them my friends and valuable inhabitants of the garden.

It all changes so quickly. I want to document and remember the phases and evolution.

Last fall I had more grapes than I knew what to do with. This year we had to cut back the vines and tear down the trellis structure because it was very rotten and apt to fall down at any moment. I haven't yet decided yet what to do to support the grapes. Looks like we will only have a few.

The squash. It's like an easter egg hunt.

Essential botany lesson: Flowers are the reproductive structures of the plant. Pollinators or wind serve to transport the male gametes from the stamen to the female stigma, whereupon fertilization occurs. Once fertilized, the ovary of the plant swells up to become a fruit. We have commonly, and erroneously, used sweet / savory as a convention to divide fruit from vegetable. Many of the foods we consider to be vegetables are, in fact, fruit. This photo wonderfully illustrates. In the center of the blossom you can see the stigma. At the end of the squash fruit (that's right, squash are fruit), you can see the remains of that same part. Fruits contain seeds. Vegetables are other parts of the plant—leaves, stems, and roots.

Illustration courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

There are many bumblebees in the garden. The go crazy for the lavender. Sometimes I find them asleep in a squash flower. Precious. ... at least I think they are just asleep. Where do bumblebees sleep?