Laura Young
news@greenepublishing.com
Without a doubt, this has turned into a cucumber summer. Since we are right now in the middle of the two hottest months of the ye ar, the phrase “cool as a cucumber” comes to mind as I'm growing and eating the bounty in every way. Somehow, the inside of a cucumber stays about 20 degrees cooler than whatever beastly temperature surrounds it. That's why when we say someone is “cool as a cucumber” we mean they stay cool-headed, calm and relaxed in the “heat” of a difficult situation. I don't know if eating cucumbers helps one develop “cool as a cucumber” personality traits, but you never know how far the “you are what you eat” idea might go.
Our language is full of colorful phrases using vegetables to figuratively describe all kinds of things. Here are some of them that I think gardeners can especially appreciate:
• You're “in a pickle” when you're in a situation you can't get out of. We've all experienced the effort it takes to get that first pickle out of a packed jar.
• When we say someone “spilled the beans” we mean they revealed a secret. I imagine something like dried limas pouring from the bag into a pot, tumbling quickly (and somewhat loudly).
• Giving a “carrot” means giving someone an incentive, a sweet enticement to do what you want them to do. Carrots could be “influencers” of the oldest type.
• “Small potatoes” means something not very important, by comparison. Anyone who has dug up potatoes knows you get some that fill your fist and others tinier than a pinkie fingertip. Some clever marketer has, however, found a way to turn this phrase on its head by tagging the little guys as “gourmet” and jacking up the price for a smallish bag. It's rather nice, as a home gardener, to get all sizes of potatoes in the harvest to enjoy equally.
• Saying two people are “like two peas in a pod” means they are very similar in looks or interest. The pea's uniformity of harvest would seem to be the opposite of the potato situation.
• To “veg out” is a positive phrase meaning to just relax, not pushing oneself to be productive. I like this one a lot, imagining how a vegetable just hangs around, taking its own time to get where it's going in a relaxed way. I do have to wonder about some of those outsized veggies and fruits you see in the store, which definitely look like their growing process was not very relaxed.
I read about these veggie phrases at a site called EllaLanguage.com, where you can also find info on horse idioms, cake idioms and tea idioms if you like. But enough about talk, let's see what we can DO in the garden this month.
What to Plant in August: I'll be sowing lavender seeds for the first time ever this month, thinking ahead for the honeybees. Lavender has a long planting season, so I'll keep on sowing into November, hoping to have a nice swath of flowers that lasts through spring and into next summer. Meanwhile, it looks like I'll be feeding the bees sugar water for just a few more days, until the winged sumac out in nature breaks into bloom.
Seeds you can plant in August include all types of beans (taking care not to spill them), carrots, cucumbers, bunching onions, squashes and turnips. I'll be out there working up a good sweat as I clear the corn patch to make room. As space opens up in other parts of the garden this month, there will be spots to tuck in transplants of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, endive, eggplant, kale, peppers, tomatillo, tomatoes and tropical spinaches.
With heat advisories a common occurrence now, I'm concentrating my gardening activity during the morning hours, taking regular drink breaks and jumping in the pool afterwards.
What's Coming Along: The sweet potatoes sure are lookin' lush. To keep them happy from now until harvest, it's important to regularly pull weeds, which are also thriving now; water consistently and deeply to increase yields; fertilize or side dress with compost every few weeks; and let the vines run. Everything else I have growing right now is pretty much in the harvest stage.
What We're Eatin' in August: The okra plants are producing well, and I'm just slicing them longwise to roast alongside potato wedges and chunks of green peppers. This makes a great garden blend with a burger topped with ripe tomato and homemade pickles. The cucumbers have been so abundant that I've taken to filling up a tall glass of water with fresh slices of them and a sprig of peppermint. Same goes for the carrots. On a hot summer day, it's such a treat to reach into the fridge and grab a quick, cool, crunchy bite. Sometimes I guzzle down the subtly flavored water and refill.
What's Tempting Me: Lavender flowers don't have to be just for honeybees; they are edible for humans, too, and can be enjoyed in salads, dishes, desserts and drinks. Since setting up the beehive, I've begun looking into more types of flowers that can form meadows for foraging bees as well as tasty petals for my kitchen. I'm hoping to learn mostly about native varieties to encourage and reintroduce as a restoration project. This could be a case of one temptation (getting the bees) leading into another (making flower meadows). I don't think bringing more blooms into the world is such a bad thing, though.