On Monday night when I checked the forecast, it was to start raining at 5AM and all day Tuesday. So I told my new helper to come at 8AM and we’d work inside.
When I got up at 4AM it hadn’t started. I went outside at 6:30 for something and it was misting. I went out at 7:30 to do chores and it had stopped and was nice out. I was of 2 minds about going outside so I checked the weather and it said no rain until 10AM.
So I abruptly decided we’d try to get the Small garden finished if we could. I went out and collected the equipment and she arrived shortly after and we started planting onions. We did the Walla Walla Sweets first and got them mulched. Then she started down by the raspberries with the Cortland storage and I started up by the cold frame with the Dakota Tears. We ended up having plenty of both and the Wallas. We started to mulch with the remaining bales in the truck.
My helper friend arrived at 9:30 and he lifted the heavy wet bales out of the Big garden. While we were doing this, I noticed a clump of cleomes that had sprouted just outside the garden. There was a space in the Big garden near where I usually plant them, so we dug them up and planted them in the Big garden.
He was to finally plant the white rose cutting he had brought me a couple weeks ago. Some of it was still alive after living in water. We’ll see if it makes it.
While he was doing that we spread the mulch hay only to find we were a couple bales short of finishing. So my helper friend and I went up to the barn with the truck to get them. There were 2 bales left after. I will have to call to see if the farm I bought mulch hay from last year has any. I will need it for the New Herb garden.
While my new helper and I finished the Small garden and cleaned up, he was finally picking the garlic scapes, 2 weeks late.
You are supposed to pick them just as they start to curl. The stems should be smaller than a pencil and you can see most of these are bigger than that.
I had decided I’d make 1 batch of scape pickles, about 4 - 5 pint jars. I took the less fibrous ends, cut off the blossom ends because they had gotten too fibrous, and let my helper friend take the bigger ends he deemed not too fibrous.
My new helper took the too fibrous ends for her rabbits. We cut the good pieces into 3” - 3½” sections so they’d fit in the jars. We’d just finished the cutting when it was time for my helper friend to go at noon. My new helper was to go at noon too, but she stayed another hour to help me stuff jars. I was beyond exhausted at this point.
Once they were ready to can and we got them in the canner, she left. We’d cleaned up most of the mess before that. There would just be the canner to wash up.
I ended up with 5 jars and she took the extra scapes home, planning to make pesto. I gave her my recipe.
I’d taken a shower when I came in from the garden as I was wet and filthy as usual. When I took my watch off the strap broke. This will be a PIA until a new one arrives. Finding and ordering a strap was all I did the rest of the day.
Wednesday is to not have rain until noon. I hope to get out to the flowerbeds in front of the house and weed. That’s my reward for finishing the 2 vegetable gardens.