The garden was weeks behind, so I spent every free minute catching up. Every gap in the weather was spent in and around my beds. Everything was a rescue mission against clocks set by weather and wind. When it rained, I turned the tops of the onion I’d harvested into green onion pesto and planted the greenhouse.

Note: The video version of this post gets released on Monday, July 1, 2024.

A lot of bean plants suffered in the strong rains since the hiking trip. I planted the survivors. I’d start more beans soon.

Another storm was rolling in, so I quickly set up some trellises, and planted the final pea seedlings.

I am still set on not buying a single trellis. These stakes were left behind by former neighbors. I’ll have to cut more from the hazel trees soon.

The last pea plants went into the ground around the trellises–another rescue complete.

Time to tackle the greenhouse. A few days earlier, I’d seen that the melons were unhappy in their pots. So, I decided to plant them into the ground.

Seedling starting season was over–though I will be starting some seeds very soon–and it was time to make room.

Let’s see how well the cardboard smothered the grass. The grass was dead where cardboard had been but the ground was compacted and full of grass ready to regrow.

And in the greenhouse I could not just get soil from the surrounding paths. Half an hour later, the bed was ready, though.

The melons went in first, as they were the whole reason for this particular mission.

I planted horseradish next to them at first, but as that made zero sense, it wouldn’t stay there long.

I extended the bed as far as possible into the corner of the greenhouse. I can’t move the concrete slats, because they hold the greenhouse down in our strong winds.

I moved the horse radish I’d rescued from the throw-out cart at the grocery store outside. This grass is dense but not rhizomatous, so I turned it around in a kind of mini Irish bed.

I spread the soil from the melon pots over the newly-made beds. There should still be plenty of nutrients in the soil.

The tomato seedlings we’d potted up into the larger soil blocks still hadn’t grown much. They will get a longer chance to grow in here, so I planted a few in the beds. Due to the chaos of vacation and injury, these are unknown varieties. They are likely indeterminate kinds.

At home, I turned the green parts I’d cut off the onions when I harvested them into pesto. We don’t currently have canned potatoes, so I’d chopped and soaked these in the morning. To add more of our own ingredients, my husband cracked walnuts from last year’s harvest for me.

I’ll leave the rough recipe in the written version linked in the description.

I sauteed some of our own onions while I boxed up the pesto to deal with later.

I’d pulled chamomile from around the potato beds where it was taking over. No need to waste the flowers. I made some headway on sorting the chamomile while waiting for the eggs. Then, it was time to eat.

I’d also harvested quite a few strawberries. Some were very soft from the constant rain. The best went into the eating pile, the rest into the jam pile.

One of my favorite albums had me dancing while chopping. Strawberries and music. A good day! I wish you could listen to the music with me. Though I am pretty sure many of you would not enjoy my taste.

The pile of greens was large enough to make a batch of strawberry vinegar from scratch.

I filled the pesto into jars for freezing. As I’d added cheese, this was the easiest solution. Freezing is my least favorite storage solution. It uses up a lot of energy to keep things that cold. So, we only have a small freezer. And I don’t plan to change that.

Once the pesto was properly stored, Pepper and I headed to the garden.

The small red currant bushes were in full fruit. Time for a little harvest. While I harvest more here where I am not sharing with my fellow gardeners, I leave a lot for the wildlife. Pepper gets some, too, of course. He harvest some himself, too.

This fall, we will propagate these bushes, and place some in sunnier spots. There is too much shade for these here.

As the ground was still wet, I decided to finally tackle one of the last three trash problems. Pepper kept climbing this trash pile. I didn’t know if there were hidden dangers.

Instead of dangers, I found blocks. I had planned to scavenge the abandoned gardens for these soon. I dumped the actual trash in the ruin of the second shed. That will likely be the final trash problem to solve.

The cardboard I’d removed from the greenhouse was perfect for the channels around the potato beds. The ditches will be filled up with compost materials soon.

I’d places salsify at one end of the first potato bed. The start of the winter garden. These are very early potatoes. When they come out, this will be the winter bed. I weeded, as I went. The cardboard and mulch should help.

When the rain started outside, we fled to the greenhouse to take care of the second side’s bed. The low ceiling made using the fork a bit harder than usual.

A fellow gardener had planted the tall grass for his rabbit hay production a few years earlier. Vivid strong growth was good when he mowed it for animal feed. It makes my life a bit harder now.

I continued my approach inspired by the potato beds, and turned the grass slats upside down.

Pardon the reflection. Pepper was just too cute not to share.

He didn’t like having to hide from the rain–even after eating pea seeds I’d dropped in here. While I continued ripping the tall grass out of the bed, he sat in the drizzle outside. This dog is so weird with water.

I broke the top layer up a bit to help out the plants I’d place here.

I used every bit of free space, even around the concrete slats I can’t move.

Three tomato plants had been ignored in a pot for too long, so I tickled them to separate the roots. These are balcony tomatoes, so they won’t get big. I have the same variety in a bed outside, as well.

I am sad to have killed these pretty little artichokes.. To protect them from slug, I built them a sauna… Learning is the priority here, right?

When the rain stopped, I placed the cardboard around more of the potatoes.

For a rainy day, a lot had gotten done.
Time to get the wet dog and human home for cleaning.

Hold on, a quick look at bed six and seven where we placed the cardboard earlier…
So long, and thanks for being here.

Green Onion Top Pesto

6 cups green onion tops
1.5 cup sunflower seeds
2 cup walnuts
1 cup olive oil
1 cup cheese
salt
lemon juice
pepper

all measurements are estimates only.