The Garden in August

August is usually a difficult month in my garden. By August, even the really deep rooted plants are not getting much moisture from underground. Even the moisture from fog is decreasing--or maybe the air is more dry during the day. Things are starting to look really tired. Many years we took some vacation in August, and every year I went back to work in mid August. So neglect happened to my garden in August. Neglect made me feel guilty, which made me more likely to avoid my sad, thirsty, tired, and neglected yard.

I'd only gotten a little better about this over the past few years. This year, though, feels a little different! Even though the lawn is pretty crunchy in spots the rest of the yard is doing pretty well. (It's difficult to keep up with the summer water needs of a large lawn with gray water from the washing machine. Don't even ask about the front lawn! Besides trying to be environmentally conscious, it is just hard to remember to turn on the sprinklers!) But back to the nice things in the yard...

The vegetable garden is actually green!
No straggling ugly tomato plants, for one thing. (The three tomato plants are in an upside down planter on the patio--and it doesn't look like we will have fruit before maybe January they are so slow in this cold summer!) The plants I did put in did great. Cucumbers!!!! I had success with this prima donna of veggies! I have two huge trellises full of cucumbers (a little more crowded than the seed pack said since I planted about 35 seedlings and almost all of them made it!). I have a smaller trellis with cukes on one side, too. They replaced the peas that were pretty much a flop earlier this year.

I also have beans! It turns out that beans are a great habitat plant for the leaf cutter beas! The leaves look like lace, but the beans are coming fast and furious. They are all along the back fence, and on a branch teepee structure. They look pretty and they are prolific.

What else is there? Sunflowers! I planted nearly 100 sunflower plants (again, too close together probably) and they are just starting to bloom.
This year, there is a bright spot in the yard in August!