Sun & rain: six-on-Saturday garden update

The day started with a low gray drizzle, mist over the southern hills and the sound of dripping echoing in the drainpipes. Mid-morning, however, the weather cleared. I spent the afternoon outside, doing something I think I’d intended to do way back in maybe December: cutting down & digging in my first attempt at cover-cropping.

Here it is, to start off six-on-Saturday in my garden this week:

1. Cover crop in the largest vegetable bed. This is Kodiak mustard, planted late last fall.

This took me about two, maybe two and a half hours altogether, including a bit of weeding before the cutting. That feels pretty good, as I suspect last year it would have been more like six hours. Partly I am just more practiced, I think, and partly I think my new workout routine is paying off in increased not-getting-tired-ness, as well as more upper body strength for shovel-wielding.

2. Arugula going wild as usual! The two varieties I planted, ‘Runway’ and ‘Runaway’ do seem to differ, despite my initially wondering if one was just a typo of the other. One has flatter, broader leaves; the other is spikier. I prefer the broad-leaved variety. The flavor is wonderful, and it does a better job substituting for things like lettuce, which so far I have been completely unsuccessful at growing.

3. To transition this post from edibles to non-edibles, here’s a maybe-edible: this season’s regrowth of the wild artichoke (or possibly cardoon), growing in the lawn. It isn’t producing any buds as yet.

4. Also non-edible, despite the soon-to-be amazing fragrance: jasmine blooms, just beginning to pink up.

5. Mystery daffodils. These were here when I moved in, so I don’t know what kind they are, but they smell amazing! They seem to come up more enthusiastically some years than others. Water? Weediness of the garden bed? Not sure.

6. And last but not least, more mystery flowers-from-bulbs. I always forget these are going to come up, and then – there they are. (The dove statue was previously attached to a precariously concreted-on birdbath on the corner of this bed. The birdbath broke, but I saved the dove.)

Happy Saturday & happy gardening to you! For more six-on-Saturday garden blog posts, check out The Propagator’s blog.