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On Saturday morning I had a hard time getting up and getting started. I got my post up and finally got outside to pick beans at 7:30AM.
I had nearly filled a big bowl when my general helper arrived at 8AM. I’d barely picked half of the half row I’d planted. A lot were too big or old but I pick everything so that the plants keep producing.
Our first job was to go to the barn to get the truck. We’ve put so much hay in the stall, I can’t fit down the aisle anymore. So I had my general helper get in there and pull out the bags of shavings leftover from construction. I use them in the cat’s litter box.
We got the truck and headed over to the neighbor’s as she’d called and had some bales and loose hay for us.
We put the bales in the pile in the driveway. They were 1st cutting and I would save them for use in the New Herb garden, if I ever get back to it.
She started down the north side of the mesclun, cutting it back off the plants on that side. I started down the north side of the kale weeding and cutting away bad leaves. Then I came down the south side and did the Walla onions as I went. They need to be harvested and frozen or dehydrated as they will not store. But they will keep in the garden for a while.
Next I worked on the tomatoes, taking off leaves too close to the ground and tying them up again. Very little signs of blights and lots of tomatoes! Then I had to cut down the hollyhocks as the rust had killed them.
When she finished with the mesclun, she started down the east side perimeter pulling out the grass and weeds. It was pretty bad there.
We had reused as much of the mulch already in the garden in the spring up to the tomatoes. It was already part broken down then. We put it down thickly, but it has degraded enough to not work well any more.
She made it down to the comfrey on that east side, and then tried to get the comfrey back behind the retaining strings and off the storage onions. She also got a lot of the weeds out of the artichokes and celery.
I had to keep taking breaks in the shade and finally quit at 11AM. She kept working until 11:30AM. We had gotten most of the middle third of the garden cleaned out.
There was still deadheading and a final weeding to do.
As I sat under the trees in the shade, looking at the tomatoes, I thought that having a lunch of caprese would be nice. So when we sat under the trees and talked and enjoyed the pleasant weather, no bugs, birds and insects on the plants, I mentioned my idea.
We ended up sitting there for an hour. I don’t remember ever sitting outside that long without starting to weed, or being pestered by bugs. It was so pleasant!
Turns out that’s one of her favorite meals. So I sent her to the co-op for fresh mozzarella and really ripe tomatoes while I cleaned up our mess. Then I picked some basil and went inside, got cleaned up, and got the table set for our lunch. She got the shot of the pretty plated caprese.
She left around 1:45PM and I sat and rested until 2:45PM. Then I got busy with the green beans. They have to be carefully washed because the mulch hay sticks to them terribly. A lot of them were too old but I got a full big colander of them to process. I finally finished at 5PM.
My brother had gotten snow crab legs the night before for his supper but couldn’t eat them all. So he stood there and cleaned them then heated them in butter and we had that for supper.
Later I made some more caprese and some fruit to finish the meal.
I went to bed at 8PM and slept well. The new med works well for sleep and pain relief.
On Sunday my general helper is back and I’m hoping to finish the Big garden. We have to take down the pea fences, weed the area, and mulch it. There’s still a lot of weeds along the north perimeter to get out too. I have to tie up the peppers. I don’t expect to be able to work all morning. In the afternoon, I’m going to a classical concert nearby.