Summer Cold

Summer on the Central Coast is never the steamy, sticky hot summer of the Northeast or Central U.S., nor the sizzling hot of the Southwest. It's cold.  It's gray.  It's damp.  

The garden still grows and still needs attention.  Because of this weather we don't have the weeds that I observed one summer in Minnesota where I stayed with a friend and weeding was truly a daily chore, otherwise her garden would have been taken over.  She didn't have to worry over much about watering either (we're not talking about this year of dreadful drought).  

Here we practice selective watering.  Rain is not expected between May and October, so our weeds are comparatively skimpy.  This year has been unusually sunny, not terribly warm, but sunny.  We are now into August and earnest summer.  Our section of the country is blanketed by the white-gray of the marine layer.  Some days it won't let up until late at night when we are able to view stars for a couple of hours before that dense layer eases back in.  It is high summer, and mid-morning, and the temperature is 56 degrees F.  I am about to head out to do some serious cutting back of spent blossoms and wilting leaves and I am having to bundle up to do so.  If we're lucky we might get some sunshine later in the afternoon.

The corn is coming along, though it might be sweeter if it had a little more warmth.  The tomatoes are ripening.  The beans are slow but tasty.

Summer here doesn't inspire thoughts of picnics or backyard barbecues.  But, of course, we wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  We do have our Indian Summer coming.  The best is yet to come.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v