No big updates to report. The monster zucchini is still going strong, but everything else is just kind of "existing" in the triple digit temps. I did plant some bush beans a week ago and a few are coming up, but the grasshoppers have gotten so bad lately that one seedling was eaten, and the others may be next if the pests find them. I've only had to
water a couple of times, mainly because of the bean seeds and the most recent transplants that haven't gotten a good
root system going yet. I also need to fill up the
compost cage again, since a lot of it was broken down with the last rains and intense heat/humidity (and soldier fly larvae).
It would seem that all of the organic matter making up the
lasagna layers of the bed is holding moisture and nutrients, because the weeds, especially crabgrass, have gotten thick and tall all around the bed (and probably filling it with their seeds *eye roll*). It seems like I clear around the diameter and a few days later the crabgrass is already dangling new seed heads over the border and into the bed. The rocks I put in the "keyhole" are suppressing it a little in that area, but the weeds that do grow in there are hard to pull out *eye roll again*. Of
course, the grasshoppers don't care about that; they are just wanting the good stuff. The two comfrey plants in the ground outside of the keyhole are thriving, but not really suppressing the weeds.
Summer Observations/Notes:
Maybe divide and spread the comfrey around the bed for future mulch as a way to put leached nutrients back in the bed.
Also consider a deep layer of
wood chips to keep crabgrass in check until I'm able to buy a weed eater, scythe, or something to cut down the weeds.
Depending on how the current,
perennial herbs in the bed do, I may make it into a semi-permanent herb garden. I need to move some potted lavender and rosemary over there to see how they tolerate the afternoon shade.
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