Never enough “Thyme” in the garden…

We’re off to wrangle cowboys…I mean calves… in Montana – REALLY!

Later today “the Tribe” will board the mighty Empire Builder and travel in comfort if not luxury across the Rockies up to the far…far, far, far…NE corner of Montana.  Wolf Point is our terminus.  We’ll gather our cars at “Way-out-West Rentals” and head even farther north and east to Culbertson, a tiny town.  Believe me they know we’re coming.

Before you start thinkin’ “City Slickers,” let me tell you, this is the real deal.  Dust, dirt, blood, noise, sh*t, and (at least where I’m concerned) chaos…OK, maybe we are city slickers.  It’s my second trip – on my first back in 2006 we got rained out.  Apparently you can’t get the irons hot enough to brand a wet hide.  Doesn’t everybody know that?

What does all this have to do with “thyme/time” in the garden?  Well Seattle is in the midst of a record breaking heat wave.  Today temps are expected to hit 88!  Granted, later in the summer we get a few desultory days of moderately high temperatures but by then the garden has hit its stride; roots are deep, fruit is set and I’m heavy into the lounging and lolling-in-the-shade part of the program.

In early June, those same fruiting plants are nothing but little seedlings.  They’ve only recently gotten used to temperatures above 55 – and that’s in the daytime!  Their roots are shallow and true confession?  Many are still in their 4″ nursery pots patiently awaiting their proper placement in the garden.

I never even considered “seedling sitters”!  Cat sitters, yes.  The neighbor girls are only too happy to spoil George and feed him like a glutton for the next 5 days.  But that same generosity and enthusiasm with a hose spells an even more certain death to young seedlings than drought.  What’s a gardener to do?

Well here are my secrets to cheating the weather and buying some time in a race against the heat.

• Keep roots cool and moist.  Mulch, any mulch…rocks, compost, beach glass…anything that will slow surface evaporation and keep the soil at an even temperature is a good thing.  I’ve even started mulching with Comfrey leaves but that’s another topic for a future post.
• I’ve spent hours watering at the end of a hose these past couple of days in an attempt to thoroughly wet the soil at least 12-18″ deep.  Our temperatures have been typically cool but I noticed in today’s paper that we haven’t had rain since May 15th!  My sandy soil dries out quickly…did I mention mulch?
• Those plants still in 4″ pots got potted up into larger sizes this morning and soaked in a bucket of water.  That super-saturated (yet well-drained) new soil around the smaller root balls will hopefully act as a reservoir for thirsty roots for the rest of the week.  (see photo at top) I also placed these newly potted plants in partial shade and grouped them together to rise the surrounding humidity.
• While I did get most of my tiny seedlings in the ground last weekend, I’ve spent this week giving the rest away.  No sense letting the poor darlings die when someone else can enjoy them.  I look generous but actually I’m just assuaging my gardener’s guilt.

This morning as I watered one last time I shot some pictures.  No doubt I’ll miss some blooms while I’m gone so I decided to enjoy and document the buds, the potential and the portent of my garden on the cusp of….?  Only time will tell if my various machinations and maneuvers will save my young plants.

Wise men (& women) say…”Be here now”  I’m trying to grasp, enjoy and celebrate what I have in the garden today, not what I might miss or lose.  Easy to say now.

Now that the garden is tucked in it’s time to pack!

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’

Keep movin’, movin’, movin’,
Though they’re disapprovin’,
Keep them doggies movin’ Rawhide!
Don’t try to understand ‘em,
Just rope and throw and grab ‘em,
Soon we’ll be living high and wide.
Boy my heart’s calculatin’
My true love will be waitin’, be waiting at the end of my ride.

Move ‘em on, head ‘em up,
Head ‘em up, move ‘em out,
Move ‘em on, head ‘em out Rawhide!
Set ‘em out, ride ‘em in
Ride ‘em in, let ‘em out,
Cut ‘em out, ride ‘em in Rawhide.

Tagged as: Edibles, organic gardening tips, the Tribe