This week just flew by. Who am I kidding? Most weeks in the summer seem to fly by, especially at this specific time. 

It seems to happen every year. Around mid-August, my poor garden looks pretty bedraggled from the heat, and I’m about ready to start giving up on a plant or two and just let the bugs have it.

 

And then there comes a week where the garden inhabitants seem to rally against whatever pest they’re battling, and the weather finally gets its act together for longer than two days at a time and – BLAMO! 
 

 

The tomatoes look like an encroaching army surrounding the defenseless zucchinis on your countertops. Every time you think you’ve picked all the green beans, you move a few leaves to find another handful hiding in there. And you’d better get those cukes picked before they get too big and seedy for pickles. 

 

 

But for now, I want to forget about the vegetable garden. (No, really, I kind of want to hide from all those veggies!)

 

As many of our regular readers know, my entire vegetable garden is on the rooftop at the back of my apartment. 
However, at the front of my home, I have a balcony where I grow herbs and flowers.

 

And it’s my herb garden I want to talk to you about on this beautiful Sunday morning. Or whenever you’re getting around to reading our fine newsletter.
 

 

The rooftop is heat, and mixing up another batch of fish fertilizer, and the storm knocked over my cucamelons, and darn those flea beetles, and the tomatoes need to be watered again.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I live for the first eggplant of the season, and I’ve just discovered the amazing wonder that is homemade tomato powder. 

 

 

There is something calming about growing and working with herbs. There is peace in running my hands over the fragrant mint and enjoying the fresh scent on my palm. It’s soothing to hold my scissors in my hand and snip long sprigs of thyme from the plant to be dried. 

 

 

Vegetables take a lot of work. Many things have to go right for you to enjoy a pantry full of vegetables at the end of the growing season. In comparison, herbs are more forgiving, usually less prone to pests and disease. And they tend to bounce back pretty easily if they get too dry. 

And when mid-August rolls around, and the vegetable garden explodes with produce, my herb garden waits patiently. It’s okay; we’re not going anywhere; you just get to us when you can. It’s this softness, this patience, these pots full of green that have me making a few more trips out to the balcony. 
 

 

Which I encourage you to do during this busy time of the gardening season, my friend. I’ve got some great articles that I’m excited to share with you this week.