Yesterday evening I spent two hours in the garden. It got just cool enough for me to go out there without shouting “you motherfucker” at the sun every two minutes. In fact, there was a nice breeze.

What’s happening right now is a lot of ripping out and cleaning up of spent or failed plants. I tore out all my chard plants, bug eaten and covered in powdery mildew. I tore out my Black Krim tomato because every last tomato was rotting and they aren’t even remotely close to ripening. I tore out a bunch of leggy dry allysum and have a ton more to rip out. New allysum will replace it in no time.

I cut back half of my rudbeckias and still have the other half to cut back. They are all falling over and the blooms were spent. I’m hopeful that I’ll get more blooms in a few weeks after trimming them.

I ripped out a nasturtium and have more to rip out. I trimmed back my vervain and some thyme plants.

Next up I have to take out my failed bush beans, the leggy buggy tough-as-leather kale plants, the calendula (leggy and covered in powdery mildew), and the borage.

What I want to add to the garden: penstemon, thunbergia, lobelia, lettuce, more million bells, Alpine strawberries, wild violets, beets, and carrots.

I also need to get the kiwi trellised and the mandarin orange planted in a raised box.

I felt incredibly energized after gardening last night. I think this is how some people feel after yoga.