Venus Loci

It’s been a month and a half since my last garden-focused post.  Life has been busy – the summer months are here and as a result my weekends and week nights have been full of socializing, laying by the pool, and staying active.  Unfortunately that means that I haven’t been giving much attention to my house or plants or anything that keeps me at home.  

Scorched garden.

In spite of my slacking attention, the garden continued producing & growing as much as it could.  I do have to admit, though – it has suffered.  While I’ve been sunning myself beside the pool or at Barton Springs, my plants have been scorched by the sun and the consistent 100+ degree days.  Their leaves hung limp to the stems & sometimes took on the color of the sun when fighting to stay green became too stressful.  

Fancy watering timer.

Cute metal flower sprinkler - perfectly sprinkles the entire garden!

With a few out-of-town trips for myself and my roommate looming in the future, I finally broke down yesterday and purchased a mini-irrigation kit.  I now have an electronic timer hooked up to a small sprinkler, which comes on at 6 hour intervals.  My hope is that my garden will stay moist and cool in spite of the scorching summer sun.  Just like people, when plants are in a happier state they will produce at much higher levels.  With any luck, my plants will be happy with their new sprinkler and continue to produce loads and loads of food for my belly.

Oregano flower.

On top of installing watering systems, I’ve ramped up my seed collecting habits in the past few weeks.  Many of my plants that were planted in the spring are now putting out flowers and fruit that carry the seeds of promise for next year’s garden.  My first crop of arugula went to seed last week and I’ve stored a few hundred mustard-like seeds that I hope to begin planting indoors this fall or late summer.  I’ve collected pepper seeds, tomato seeds, and will continue collecting seeds from the veggies I purchase from Boggy Creek & Wheatsville co-op.  This fall my neighbor Sebastian and I plan to till the yard space between our two houses to form a big, collective gardening area for the two of us.  My hope is that next year I can supplement my food needs by at least 50%, by planting more potatoes, greens, and other veggies like squash, broccoli & eggplant.