Well, what do you know?

It’s August!

I think I (and probably a lot of people) have made it through the worst part of summer and August feels like it’s all about winding down and looking forward to summer ending and autumn arriving.

Looking at the weather for the next 7 days, the temperatures feel dramatically cooler than July even though we’re still in the low 90’s.

I woke up this morning to cloudy skies. After checking my phone, I quickly went into my garden and took down all the shade clothes this morning as the forecast is calling for rain and wind later this afternoon and after watching with intense worry during the wind events in the last 2 months, I simply can’t take anymore worrying that the wind would rip and blow the shade clothes out of my backyard.

I think August will be a busy month, not with work but with the garden. It’s the month to start sowing fall garden veggies – lettuces, broccoli, baby bok choy, cabbages, and other cool season crops. I think I’ll skip peas and just focus on low-lying leafy greens.

I am looking forward to harvesting, hopefully, watermelons and cantaloupes. So far, there is one watermelon and one cantaloupe, which I successfully hand pollinated. I hope it will turn out well. So far, I’m protecting it like it’s my pride and joy.

I have been hand pollinating my squash and cucumbers instead of relying on pollinators all summer and so far, my cucumbers have been the right shape (long and slender) instead of getting a skinny tip due to incorrect pollination. My pollinators have not been as reliable as I had hoped this summer. I’m guessing more flowers need to be planted next year.

Oh well, errors made and lessons learned.

Are you looking forward to anything in August?