Dandelyon's Worlds

Or at least in mine. [Poll #1765418][Poll #1765419]

Lammas is the first harvest festival.  I was starting to wonder if I'd have much harvest by now other than herbs, peas, spinach and mulberries, which are by rights spring crops; the weather has been very dry after a long, cold spring.  However, finally, I have some harvest, the first large tomato and the first cherry tomatoes, the first cayenne pepper, and the first of the purple beans.  I also have a bunch of green tomatoes of various types, a few green bell peppers (still small) some leaf lettuce, and one cabbage that is starting to look nicely round, though it's also still small.  Oh, and there's still peas, a tribute to a very cool summer, though some of the pea plants are finally starting to die.

The other garden news is that we spent some time this evening shaping the mulberry tree.  In the spring, before the mulberry started to form its fruit, we bent the tree down, with the plan of eventually forming it into an arbor-like arch; this year, we just wanted the top of the tree low enough so we could pick berries.  (The parent tree, over by our garage, has no low branches, and does little but feed the birds and racoons.)

Today, now that the berries are gone, and the branches have grown longer, we went out to shape it.  First, we braided the top four branches together, tying them and re-adjusting the twine holding them to the stake in the lawn.  Then we similarly wove side branches to either side of it, tying one set to another stake, and the other to the top set of branches.  We could have trimmed off the extra branches (and we did trim a few), but we like the berries, so the primary goal was to make sure the branches are high enough for even My Angel to walk under and low enough that I can pick the fruit.  Secondary, but also important, was to have a good-lookign tree when we finished.

And My Angel says that once we get the arch trained the way we want it, we bury the tip of the tree, and it will take root there too.  I didn't know that mulberry trees would do that!

Looking at the results, it's clear that what I was imagining would be a simple arch is actually spread wide enough that in a few years, if we keep training it, it will become a nice shade canopy over part of the yard.  We will just have to keep weaving the new branches sideways, not letting them grow upward (out of reach) or down to where they would hinder walking underneath.  The silhouette is currently rather mushroom-like, which pleases My Angel considerably.  I wish I could have taken a picture of the tree after we tied it, but it was too dark.  I'll take one soon.  But in the meantime, here's a few pictures from yesterday and earlier today.
 



Photos, from the top:  cherry tomatoes over cabbage; bell pepper and purple basil; some of our many green tomatoes, with a view of the neighbor's house in the background; purple "green beans" growing above the bricks that border that patch of garden; the first brandywine tomato; candid shot of a peapod; ripe and green cayenne peppers; habanero and two lettuces, and sage with more of the purple basil.

And thank you to the people who recommended picture editing programs.  It's nice to be able to crop pictures again!