Unlike the people in places like Arizona and Las Vegas, who would head outside despite the temperature being over 100-degrees, I’m pretty much stuck inside until the temperature cools, which I’m pretty sure is never. Even in the last few days, as the temperature soared above 90-degrees, I am stuck inside. If I need to head into the garden, I must do it early in the morning – before 10 AM – or after 6 PM.
Meanwhile, the blinds in my room will remain shut.
Even since I was diagnosed with skin lupus, the sun – particularly the high UV rays during the summer months – and my skin hasn’t been getting along, especially in the recent years. This sucks because I’ve constructed and planted this beautiful garden and I can only view it from before a window. It also means I must now take extra precaution if I head into nature – wear a hat, SPF 50+ sunscreen, and other means of sun protection or risk getting burn by the sun.
The garden is always changing. I recently removed the insect protection cloth from this raised bed because I couldn’t remember what I was protecting it from other than the evil white cabbage butterfly even though the bed does not have any brassicas in it.
The slumped over mess are the potatoes. I put in 8 potatoes back in March – 4 Yukon Gold and 4 All blue potatoes – in this 8-by-2-feet raised bed. The plants are starting to die back, meaning it’s almost ready to harvest. I’ve promised myself to be patient and harvest when the plant is dead completely. I harvested too early and wound up getting itty-bitty potatoes. If the leaves are still green, there’s a chance the potatoes are still sizing up. Who knows? I might be wrong.
The other mess are the snow peas. I’ve installed a trellis in the middle of the bed to let it climb. Even though I sowed the peas in March, which is a month earlier than in 2023, I’m just now getting peas, which is around the same time last year. You would think I would be getting peas a month earlier if the seeds were sowed a month earlier. This proves you can hurry Mother Nature.
You can also see a teepee trellis made from bamboo stakes in the back. That’s for the beans.
Finally, I have been catching up on my podcasts this week. I don’t know how but I’ve fallen behind on three weeks worth of podcasts. On one of the podcasts, the host interviewed a researcher who would go to places called “the blue zone” – places in the worlds where people are living 8-10 years longer than the average lifespan.
Some of the things these people have in common were that they have a garden, they live minimalistically with minimal amount of electronic in their homes, and they spend quite a bit of their time outside in nature.
I definitely felt inspired after hearing that.
This is Another Story 
Hello Yinglang,
Great article! I wish I had the skills and patience to grow my own garden. I grow tomatoes every year.
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Hi Cendrine, to be honest, I thought it was hard until I’ve done it. I am trying to grow less tomatoes this year but ended up with 10 tomato plants. I guess I just couldn’t help myself. 😀
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10 tomato plants? I have three and it’s the most I have ever done. LOL!
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I think I had 11 last year and 15 the year before last. So 10 is quite a low number for me. I also grow them pretty closely, so it doesn’t take up as much space.
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I’m going to harvest my potatoes soon as well. There are already some that can be harvested, we did it and they’re delicious.
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I harvested some purple potatoes a few days ago and made some smashed potatoes. It was surprisingly delicious. I promised myself to be patient and wait until the plant die back completely before pulling it out. Hopefully, I’ll hold myself to this promise.
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When the plant dies, they’re ready for harvest, try to stick to your plan. 🙂
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Always love gardening stories! I also have fallen behind on podcasts this month. I wonder if it’s a world wide phenomenon? Anyway, great story as always. I’m even behind reading blogs I follow. Cape Town is crispy cold. Lost my potato plant and I see the gardener has cut the mint to nothing. I hope it will resurface in time. It’s such a bizarre plant. One minute it looks totally happy and then like it’s dying. I’ve been inside more because it’s cold, so I didn’t see it dying. But it get the sane care every week so I don’t know why it died so badly. Anyway, nice to hear all your news.
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My excuse for falling behind on podcasts is I have an increase in the number of work meetings in my schedule. So I don’t think it’s a world wide phenomenon.
Oh yeah, it’s winter there, right?
That gardener did the right thing. Mint needs to be cut to soil level in the winter and, yes, it will come back in spring. It doesn’t really like the cold even though it does survives it. I used to grow mint in the ground and it would die overnight when the temperatures gets too low. I have ripped that mint out a few years ago and now grow them in pots. Plants are like us in some ways. They don’t like temperatures that are too hot or too cold but unlike us, it has nowhere to go so it sheds its leaves and go into survival mode. 😀
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Glad to hear about our mint. Nice idea to grow mint in pots. Hmmm
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