Update on the Farm

Stopped out at the farm today to water.  Things look good, though the flowers were a bit wilty.  Behind them are the Romanesco broccoli.  I hope it'll have heads once the weather cools down  . . . which won't be for a while!

The no-till approach seems to be working fine.  I'll probably mow it again this weekend.

Brussels sprouts don't seem to mind the heat.

I have watermelons!  There are 5 fruits altogether on my 3 hills.  Each hill has 2 plants--I couldn't bear to to thin them to 1 plant each, and they're doing fine.

 Eli's gourds are happy.  They like hot, dry weather.

Neighbors are doing well with beans, planted thickly.

This neighbor did well with pumpkins.  Next year, we'll just plant our pumpkins directly.  We started them in pots this year, and we think they did not survive because of the transplanting.

Lucky/Unlucky day at the Farm

Lucky:  got up at a reasonable time to get out to the farm (our community garden plot at a city park) before it got hot.

My plan was to mow the half of the plot that had pumpkins in it--they all died--so that we did not have to cultivate it.  Then I'd water the gourds, watermelon, Brussels sprouts, Romanesco broccoli, and zinnias.

I got the water, hedge trimmers, and mower into the van and off I went. Pulled up right near our plot.

Unlucky:  Really, I thought this button said "unlock"
but I have presbyopia.  So when I went around to the trunk, it was locked.  And, oops, so was the van door.  And my keys were inside on the seat.  I stood there outside the van thinking "ummmmm . . ." for a while.

Lucky:  I was there in the morning, so lots of other farmers were there.

Unlucky:  No one had a phone.

Lucky:  the third person I talked to said "I don't have a phone, but there's a guy from Darrah's towing over there.  He can probably get your door open."

I went over and found the guy, who was trying to start a car that had been stalled out at the garden.  He said he could get my door open for me, but had to get the car up onto his flat bed tower.  Not only was the car dead, but he was allergic to bee stings, and there was a swarm of insects flying around under a tree near the car.

I assured him that the insects were not bees, but cicada killers, but he was still worried.  So I shooed them away while he pushed the car out of a ditch and then got it up on the flat bed tow truck.

Then he came over and got my car door open!  Amazing how quickly he did it--with a device that looked like a blood pressure cuff and a long wire hook.  I couldn't use my AAA card, but he said I could just submit the bill to AAA and they would pay it.

I thanked him and told him that it must be my lucky day!

Unlucky:  The mower battery was dead. :-(

Lucky:  All the plants (except the dead pumpkins) looked fine despite the heat.

I clipped back weeds with my hedge clippers and watered everything.  I'm going to leave the weeds/crabgrass as a kind of lawn/mulch.  I don't think the grass will use much water, and besides, it'll be nicer to walk on than dirt.  Plus, I think it looks nicer than this!

All around, most of the gardens look good.  My neighbor's sunflowers are pretty.

Another neighbor has corn interplanted with beans.

There are some cabbages back in there, too.

I'm going to try the mower again tomorrow.