The Daily: 12 June 2023

The weather continues be confusing. We finally got rain. It has been wet all week, though the precipitation has mostly been those sporadic misting showers that hardly reach the ground. Still, it’s stayed humid and we did get a couple good soakings, one storm complete with lightning and hail. Could do without the hail. But it has been very cool for June. There has been no sun this week, and we’ve had no highs above 65°F since that May 31st brush with real heat. Mostly it has stayed in the 50s°F. Today it may get back up into summer warmth, though this morning’s low was 44°F and it may get that cool again tonight. That is just on the outside edge of cold tolerance for basil and most of the nightshades. Potatoes excepted. (They love the cool weather.) So I’m a bit nervous, though reluctant to put row cover over the herb bed now that most of the plants are too tall and yet still too fragile to support the fabric. I hope all the plants around the basil will keep the basil somewhat warmer. But it is looking kinda peaky. It may not be a great basil year. But the cool weather is great for all the alliums, and this might be the longest I’ve ever been able to harvest spring greens before the summer heat sends them bolting to seed. So that’s been a boon of the weirdly cool start to summer.

Another boon is that we’ve been insulated from the Canadian smoke this past week. Because we’ve had all this moisture and because we’re on the other side of the jet stream for the moment, we’ve missed out on the dingy brown skies and choking airs. That might be changing though. On Sunday, the skies were clear though not blue, more a dirty grey. That could be humidity, but it’s more likely smoke. And the fires continue to stream smoke over the Midwest and Northeast. Each day New York says they’ll be lifting the smoke advisories soon and each day it gets pushed back. Manhattan, several hundred miles away from the fires, is under brown skies today. And Vermont might be in for much of the same. It looks like the air flow patterns that have so far kept the smoke away from Vermont are shifting. On Monday, we’re likely to wake to a yellow sunrise.

That yellow sunrise will be the first of the earliest sunrises of the year. The sun is up at 5:05am in my part of the world. The latest sunsets, 8:37pm, are still to come on June 21st. But central Vermont is under solstice skies now. The sun is about as far north as it gets. The days are about as long as they get. And the sun is getting up as early as it ever does for the next six days.

In spite of all the weird weather I have managed to get all the essential planting done before Midsummer this year. I planted the beans and the winter squash over the weekend. The sweet potatoes slips have leaves already, and the potatoes are going to need a first burial in straw by next weekend. The summer squash and cucumbers are also putting out true leaves. I planted many seeds in each hole to try to get something germinated in this whiplash weather, so now I’m going to have to thin out the plants. It feels good to have more than what I need when just a couple weeks ago I was starting to worry that there’d be nothing but garlic and a few roots out there this year. I still have greens and radishes, and the beets and turnips are going to be ready before the end of the month. The last round of carrots finally sprouted so there will be carrots after all. And I may be pulling garlic in June also. I’ve cut scapes a couple times and there are still more out there. I might leave the rest to make seed. We’ll see… I really like garlic scapes with cheese raviolis.

I also planted the rest of the annual herbs and most of the flower seed. I plant cosmos, marigolds, nasturtiums, zinnias and calendula in with all the veg. I also use summer savory, cilantro and dill everywhere. There are few pests who like the smell of these herbs, but butterflies and bees love the flowers. Dill is always buzzing. Savory acts as a ground cover, holding in moisture and inhibiting weed germination. It has flowers that bumblebees love, and it drives bean flies nuts. I never have problems with bean stem maggots when the beans are interplanted with savory. Plus fresh savory leaves are perfect on scrambled eggs.

Nasturtiums are one of the few plants that squash bugs don’t like. So I’ve always planted them in with the winter squash and pumpkins. There may still be some bugs to squish, but there are fewer eggs laid in interplanted beds. Similarly, spider mites, flea beetles and aphids seem to loathe marigolds, especially the strongly scented French marigolds. So I plant those with tomatoes and eggplants.

The other flowers are just to add color and diversity to the veg garden and the pots around my house. Cosmos and dill do a good job of hiding the mess of the asparagus bed in summer. Calendula makes bees and butterflies happy and creates a thick covering of strappy leaves that smother even ground ivy. And zinnias are just fun. A garden filled with their bright blooms is also filled with smiles. (I’m pretty sure the bees are smiling too…)

I haven’t quite finished the ornamental planting. I have some sunflowers, amaranth and red dent corn that I plan to sow on the back side of the hugelkultur mound, but I didn’t get that far this week. I want to lay row cover over them to keep the rodents mostly away, and there just wasn’t time to do that before the midges started their evening swarm. When those flying menaces come out, I go in. These bugs actually bite, leaving bleeding holes in your skin, and most people have a mild allergic reaction to the bites. This can last for several days of itching, swelling, and burning rashes. The first bites of the year also usually cause stronger reactions. I get an achy low fever that lasts a day or so. Son#1 has a bite on the side of his leg that is centered on a rash that reaches from upper thigh to mid-calf.

But those are mostly just icing on the cake. I do eat sunflower and amaranth seed and I love the flowers in my vase. I will use the corn for autumn decorations at least. I also want to try to dry some for meal. That might be a plan that remains a plan though. I don’t yet have a grinder that can handle corn grains, and those are pricey. I don’t know that I can swing that this year and get a wood stove — and heat definitely takes precedence. In any case, all that remains of the planting is a bit of fluff. All the meat of the garden is done.

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Garden Collage

Two views of the veg garden. Note the new water barrel!

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So now it’s the Midsummer lull between intensive spring planting and summer harvest, maintenance time in the garden. Water hauling. Weed pulling. Bug squishing. And chopping down the jungle mess. There may even be time to just sit and watch the garden grow. Before the midges come out, that is. But when that happens, I can retreat behind the window screens and watch from my comfy chair.

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Venus!

Another thing to watch — after the midges have gone to ground for the night — is Venus. Our sister planet is the brightest it has been in eight years. Even better, the Evening Star is high up in the sky right now, not setting until after midnight. So you don’t need a flat western horizon to see this dazzling jewel in the sky. And if you live under dark skies with no outdoor lights, you can take a sheet outdoors around 9:30pm when Venus is high and try to capture the planet’s shadow. This shadow is distinctly sharp edged unlike those cast under the sun and moon which tend to have blurred edges. A treat for the solstice, after sunset the crescent moon will be just under Venus, a perfect astrophotography moment!

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©Elizabeth Anker 2023