Gardening is a year-round endeavor. Having finally finished (mostly) the summer vegetable infrastructure – toms, peppers, squashes, beans, tomatillos, cucumbers, and melons planted, irrigation set up and automatic timers ticking, structural supports and trellises in place, rows mulched – I spent some time planting seeds, in the hope that they will germinate and grow over the summer, ready for fall planting out in the food forest. Specifically, I planted green tea (Camellia sinensis) – the seedling I planted last year survived the winter and seems happy – passion fruit (a reportedly hardy type), mulberry, licorice, and canna – this last one will probably go into pots for the winter, but I’m curious to try the starchy rhizomes.  The camellia and canna required some sanding and pre-soaking, as they both have hard seed coats, and would likely not break dormancy any time soon without some assistance.

It’s been quite hot lately, and with the ongoing drought, I’ve scaled back on watering – it’s going to be a tough season for perennials around here, but I suppose it’s survival of the fittest…