The month of July had just flown by, hasn’t it?

I feel like I struggled quite a bit in July – mentally and physically – and I think the summer heat had something to do with it.

The weather in July had been weird and awful. For the first half of the month, it was dry, hot, and windy. The wind would always come during the evening hours and often times, it would cause everything that’s not held down by bricks to go flying. I remember seeing my half-bucket of new mulch that went flying, causing the mulch to get lodged in the rocks.

The weather in the latter half of the month was humid to say the least, which was uncharacteristic of where I live. The air often felt thick and even when I went out early in the morning, I could feel my skin becoming sticky. It was monsoon season, as I was told. The sky threatened to rain every day but it rarely delivered. I could only remember a couple of ocassions when it rained and it was a welcome relieve.

I spent most of July trying to protect the garden from weather disasters. Most of the garden is under shade clothes and when 40-50 mile/hour wind threatens, I have to either take them down or secure it. Right now, all the shade clothes are either zip-tied to the trellis or secured with bungee cords. I’m just glad the garden survived. I hope the weather will be better in August, though the weatherman seemed to be forecasting a repeat in weather pattern.

In July, I have begun transplanting and sowing fall vegetables. I normally do this in August but since I will be traveling for 3 weeks in September, I have to do this a month early because I want to make sure the plants can be self-sustained when I leave. All the transplants were started mid-June (again, a month ahead). I actually learned quite a bit like brassicas and leafy greens will restart growing again after the solstice. The weeks before the solstice, they seemed to just sit there and do nothing, similar to the winter solstice.

Anyway, I transplanted kale (red Russian and Siberian), sorrel, perpetual spinach, and red mustard green. I started a new tray of seed a few days ago of more brassicas but this time, it was mostly fast growing bok choy varieties and spinach. I am also using my own mix of soil – homemade compost, perlite, worm casting, and coconut coir – which I hope will help the seedlings do better.

About a week ago, I also sowed the first round of snow peas and as of yesterday, I’m already seeing germination. They are not usually this fast. I will need to protect them from the evil grasshoppers. Aside from peas, I am trying French Breakfast radish for the first time this fall. I only had it once at a restaurant and it was quite delicious. I hope it will better homegrown.

I finally prune the romas yesterday as well as remove the lettuce that had bolted beneath the plant. I was surprised how big the plant is, given that this is a bush determinate. I don’t think it’s supposed to be this big but as long as it’s loaded with delicious romas, I’m okay with it.

August will no doubt be another busy month. I not only have to prepare the garden for my trip in September but I also have to finish training my co-workers on my tasks before I leave. Meanwhile, my mom has been saying we must go somewhere in August but where? I want to go up to the mountains, somewhere away from the heat but she doesn’t want to. Whatever…

There will also be more planting in August. I want to make sure I have winter handled before I leave, otherwise, it’ll be too late by the time I return at the end of September.