Will Seed For Food: The Furlough Continues! - Harvest, Weeding, and Observations

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The Furlough Continues! - Harvest, Weeding, and Observations

I took a break from practicing my Mr. Mom impression to head out to the plot for a bit this afternoon.

Given that it rained yesterday evening, I thought it would be a good time to put another piece of plastic in on the fence line. Another one down, a few more to go.

I spent a fair amount of time doing weeding; the original walking onion bed, radish beds, all of the tomato beds, the lettuce/snow pea bed, pathways. While in the walking onion bed, I saw a number of bulbs sprouting. I transplanted some to bare spots and harvested a few to give to Mom #2 who wants to give them a try.

I was also excited to see both flowers on the snow pea plants, but also our first fall snow pea!

The basil has all been cut back considerably. I considered removing them entirely, but some were showing signs of new growth. I cut back to near the new growth to see what would happen thinking that maybe there would be new shoots. Maybe not, but given it's near the end of their season and there are few butterflies and bees now that I see no harm in making the attempt.

A lot of time was spent deadheading marigolds. While poking around the plot searching for wilting marigold flowers, I also saw that there were some fledgling borage plants adjacent to the borage box. Apparently, some of the seeds took root after the flower heads fell off.

On one of my trips to the compost bin to dispose of dead marigold flowers, I noticed a volunteer starting to grow along the fence line. I have no idea where they came from, but they're definitely Four O'clock plants. The seeds could have come from anywhere. We're always amazed at the places we find our Four O'clock volunteers in our yard. They must really be susceptible to wind currents.

Throughout my work at the plot, I was kept faithful company by a Tigerswallow butterfly. Initially he was skittish at my attempts to take his picture (my phone camera is the same lousy one, unfortunately), however, he came to be more accustomed to my presence after some time and let me take his picture.