Two Gardens - August 25, 2026 @goldenoakfarm
Published on HivePostify by @goldenoakfarm · Wed Aug 26 2026
Juneberry flowers - Photo by general helper
On Tuesday I was up around 6AM. I got my short post up and then went out to clean up the kitchen. Once that was done, I set up to process beans and went out about 7:45AM to pick the beans.
There weren’t anywhere near as much as I’d thought, so I cut what broccoli there was also.
My general helper and #2 intern arrived just after 8AM.
My general helper went to pick the remaining Juneberries and I got my #2 intern set up cleaning out the South Herb garden. It had been one of the first done in March and not touched since.
I went inside and set the broccoli to soak and washed up the beans and got the blanching water started. Then I came out and started on the west end of the South Herb garden. That was the white lily of the valley bed.
Photo by my general helper
There were many berries in this bed, just starting to color up. They turn bright red in the end. But they are very poisonous and I always try to pull them out because there are occasionally small children here. This year the berries were huge.
I only had a ½ hour to work in the garden before I had to go in and process the broccoli and then get everything blanched and into the freezer. I finished that just after 10AM and went back out to the garden. I only got 1 meal of each this time.
My general helper had finished the Juneberries and I had cleaned them and got them into the freezer. She had gotten all there were out there and there were very few to come. But what we did find were LOTS of flowerbuds and flowers.
So I decided to leave the netting off, just tucked under the bush and let the bees at the flowers. Last year I was still picking Juneberries in November, I think. So we are trying another experiment.
I set my general helper to cleaning out the South garden which wasn’t too bad and the walkway. I had cleaned the weeds out of half of the stones a couple weeks back.
South garden – mandavilla still alive and growing
She got it cleaned out rather well and quickly. She hacked the 4 O’Clocks back and the alyssum. The sweet peas are nearly 2’ tall now. She got the thyme cut back off the walkway and all the weeds out.
So I got her started over in the Small garden, pulling out green beans and leaving the nasturtiums planted with them. This was rather easy as the bushes were going into the compost at the end of the row.
She also cleaned up what was left of the parsley there and tried to save what the critter hadn’t eaten. We had dragged over the mulch from the driveway and she spread it on the bean row.
I had gone back to the South Herb garden. My #2 intern had gotten all the tall stuff out and was working on the smaller weeds. I worked my way down the bed, re-establishing the “no grow” zone outside the edging and getting the small weeds and missed roots out.
My helper friend had arrived at 10:30AM and I stopped to get him set up with his chores and cleaning. But one of his jobs was to take the squash to the Survival Center and I had forgotten to harvest it. So I went out and did that. I got a good many more cukes and he washed those and got them in a jar in the fridge. In 2 more days I hope I have enough to make the last batch of Bread & Butter pickles.
My #2 intern left around 11AM and I kept working on the South Herb garden. I finished just before noon and got my photos and notes. My #2 intern had cleaned up most of the equipment and my general helper did the rest when I had finished.
Not much of what I had planted last year had survived. For the first time, something had come into the garden and bitten off the huge mugwort stems about 6” high. There were only about a third of them left. Usually I was hacking this back into its area but not this year. Most of what was left are the long established plants.
Hopefully we can keep this cleaned out and next year I can get stuff planted instead of it dying in the cold frame.
I went inside and had to sit down for a while. I needed a shower but was too tired. After a while my general helper and I went out to the Small garden to see if there were tomatoes.
She had cut off the low hanging branches, again, and pulled out some of the late blight that had appeared since I’d done it. We found lots of tomatoes but not any that were ripe completely.
I had a few on the window sills so we made due with those. We wanted to make caprese but soon realized we didn’t have a car to go get the fresh mozzarella. Sigh…
After lunch I sat and dozed in my chair while my helper friend did some cleaning.
When he’d finished he still had time left so we got this big plant and put it on the dining table and cleaned it up. It had a lot of dead on it, so we cut it off. I’ve had it for a decade or longer and never known what it is. Someone gave it to me as a small plant a long time ago.
When he left I was on the couch watching a movie for the rest of the afternoon. The mulch guy called at 4PM and was dropping off 20 more bales for the barn.
The barn is slowly filling with mulch.
I eventually made supper and finally got a shower before I went to bed at 8PM. It was to be another cool night so the house was open.
On Wednesday my general helper is here until she heads back to Boston in the afternoon. I’m hoping to get the West Shed garden cleaned out as it’s the next worst one. She’s going to try to get the East Shed done. It’s not as bad. After the last few days, that ought to finish me off. It’s to get into the low 80’s but the garden I’ll be in will be in shade most of the morning. But I’ll have to close the house up for the first time in days. I also have to make the kefir cheese. For some odd reason, it’s taken all this time to turn to curds and whey.
Tags: #hivegarden#homestead#summer#life#gardens#foodpreservation#flowers#harvest#mulch#houseplants