Seattle days....

I take occasional 'garden breaks' when my backside starts going to sleep after a number of hours at the studio table. Autumn seems to be coming early and in earnest this year. We're having more cool days than warm. And we even had a couple of days of rain this week. (Seattle summers - pretty much all sun. Every other season - pretty much all drizzle and rain). The garden is slowing down. Every couple of days I stroll out there and harvest a few veggies and flowers. The calendula is blooming pretty profusely, so I'm in the midst of drying flower heads and infusing oil with the petals. Harvesting various seed heads as they are ready as well. And most exciting if you are a *true* gardener - got a pick-up load of horse manure from one of my horsey friends this week! My beds need amended, so that is most appreciated! (And the upside of having the husband home, is that he is here and able to help with things like unloading truckloads of manure. He teases me about all the 'crap' I'm giving him at the moment. :-)


The garden may be slowing down, but the slugs are reaching their pinnacle of glory. I barely missed stepping on this one (HATE it when they squish between your toes!). Stretched out, it was nearly as big as my hand. I've kept the population in my yard lower this summer, but have slacked off in the past month or so, and I think all the slugs in my yard have congregated in the strawberry patch and are eating the few second crop berries as they become ripe - before I can get to them.

And now back to my regularly scheduled studio time....