6pm.
exterior: 93°; growing rack: +100° (air), 42% humidity, 100° (soil).
Laugh at me if you must... The one on the left is the beetberry I’ve been carefully watering and cultivating. The one on the right... looks a little more like the picture on the seed package. And truth be told, it looks a little less like grass, too... Ugh. I’m going to let them grow a little longer, then pull the plug on one of them.
Water. I had to water absolutely everything today except the beans (which I’ve just mulched). It’s not as hot as it was a few weeks ago, but it’s very windy and dry. Late afternoon seems like the best time to water here. Morning is to early - things don’t warm up enough until about 11 or noon (the garden is in shade until 10am or so). And by mid-afternoon I can both water and cool down the over-hot plants at the same time. This also allows any wet leaves to dry before the sun goes down (though I do try to keep leaves and stems from getting wet, focussing on the root areas only). Since the weather is a little cooler, I have only had to water the greens once per day - for a few days it was 2-3 times a day!
Mulch. Radishes are coming up in our mulched bean bed (see photo below), but they’re not yet coming up in the area where I didn’t mulch. The beets I planted with the beans are growing much better (and faster) now that they’re mulched.
Growth... at night? Here’s a weird one: Matt and I have both noticed that lots of things seem to grow between the time we go to bed and the time we get up. Greens, squash, beans, flowers, and beets in particular. I wonder if they don’t go dormant from noon to 6 or 7, the hottest parts of the day.... And here I always thought they grew only when it’s light. I’ll have to verify this somehow and report back....
Raisin. I know, the cat again, so soon? But here’s the thing: since we are outside a good portion of the day, and pay intimate attention to the littlest detail in soil, moisture, growth, and life - we are now much more in tune with our surroundings. And we’re much more a part of our surroundings. So, a cat living beneath our house does change the ecosystem we’re trying to build outside. Our beneficial frogs, birds, bees and butterflies... these are all cat prey and/or cat toys. So in addition to taking in an animal that probably needs love, it would be to our garden’s benefit to take it out of that ecosystem (and bring it into the family ecosystem, where I’m sure it’ll be beneficial!).
Wow, what a digression. So, Raisin was attempting to get to its food bowl this afternoon, but Ellis was standing watch. So it ran to the other side of the yard and... did what cats do: played with its tail. And this is significant because it was the first time we’ve seen her underside. It’s a she! Someday we hope to actually pet our poor abandoned cat! Until then, I’m spending time outside, getting her more comfortable with my being in the general vicinity. She lets me get about a foot closer every day. Not bad. Still about 30 feet to go!
