Last week was my garden plot's annual review. Sueli came around and looked at my plot. Before that happened I did a lot of cleaning up. I tore out the corn stalks, bean vines, and spent tomato vines. Started organizing the grape vine thinning.

     

The neighbor told me that I needed to put something over the spinach to protect the plants while they are getting established. I call this fabric covered support my "cloud cover". The ground inside that tent does stay damp compared to the rest of the place.

To the right of the cloud cover is the row of Kale plants I planted a week or so earlier. They seem to be doing okay.

I went to OSH and got a six pack of cauliflower and a six pack of cabbage. Unfortunately I forgot which  plants were which. People tell me I'll have no trouble figuring out which is which soon enough. In the mean time I keep them all watered.

  

That's what's left of the two wheelbarrows of composted horse manure I got from the pile by the entrance last week. I've been putting offerings of the stuff around all the plants I care about for a couple of days now. You can see it in all of these pictures.

     

I feel like the new barrier I just installed to keep out the bark in the pathways is like my Dutch sea wall. I ran the line for it down the property line. In the middle I reclaimed a strip most of a foot wide from the red bark and wood chips of the path. It's so wide I'm thinking about planting a row of carrots or onions or something like that between the collards and the wall. Very pleased with the sharper look to the place to.

I like those collard greens a lot. My mouth waters when I realize there is enough there that I can afford to harvest another serving from the plot. I've been harvesting everything that could be construed to be shading or shaded, depending on how I feel about that plant. Marci thinks I should leave each plant at least five good sized leaves. Let them catch as much of the sun as they can is her idea.

Pleased to see that the artichoke is coming back from the dead! I'm hoping it's the first plant I get a second harvest from. I'm watering and fertilizing the thing and hoping for the best. Last year I got a few artichokes from it. I'm hoping the fertilizer and water make it more prolific this year.

I just moved a couple of strawberry plants to next to the artichoke. Put cabbage and cauliflower where they used to be. I'm not liking the success I've had with strawberries. Works out to a few earlier in the year, but not much lately. Probably I'm not giving them whatever it is that they need. I just don't know those plants!

  

I think of that explosion of green in the far corner as "my jungle". It's a square meter of land or something, mostly roses, oregano, and horseradish. I have lots of other things I want to do before I tackle that mess. I like it the way it is, but I'm probably going to chop back the oregano soon.

My harvest that evening was a handful of collard greens. With the leaves left over form my previous haul, they made a delicious supper.