I plan my garden very strategically so that there isn’t much work to do in June and July… For many reasons… Maybe first because I was a garden teacher for so many years that I planned spring and fall gardens with very little summer maintenance. Even though I am not running a school garden this year, I now have a tiny baby and can’t really garden much at all…so it is convenient that I don’t have much to do but harvest in the high heat. It is also convenient for leaving town during the hottest, driest time of year which we all want to do.
Yeah for harvest help from our good friends from Ampersand, love you guys!!
And probably the biggest reason I plan so much for spring and fall gardening is that is when gardening in the high desert is at it’s best! There is cool air, cooler soils and real water falling from the sky! I start things outside as early as February (my pea crop was started then and yielded my best crop yet!) and am eating out of the garden till Christmas eve. Summer is for being lazy anyways right!?
So though I am still being very lazy, I am starting to think about the transitions about to happen out there, the good old ‘fall flip’. This is when I pull out all the lettuce and peas that have stopped yielding and bolted into pure bitterness that may still remain and I plant a whole new slew of cool season crops. 
Because it is only the 9th of July I can still plant a nice beet & carrot crop. Later in the month I will plant more lettuce, spinach, cilantro, and whatever other cool season greens I wish. I also have started planting big beautiful marigolds this time of year to have for autumn garlands. 
High summer I hear a lot of people say, ‘oh I am too late to have a garden this year’…but you are not! Autumn harvest is within reach. Plant now and you will abundance you will reap!!
How do we navigate one small lap when all three kids MUST be held at the same moment, or worse need a diaper change at the same moment? I admit it, sometimes one, or two does cry a bit while they learn to wait for mommies free hand and I must learn to spread my heart so wide to hold them all with it when my hands can’t reach. It is stressful and I am tired, it is true, but I am finding new tricks, like singing more, as they can all hear my song equally. I am holding them more and being even less ambitious than ever though that does kill me cause often all I want to do is get SOMETHING, ANYTHING done from start to finish without interuption…But it is getting easier everyday and we are all finding our way together. I am getting many moments witnessing the beauty of my children while sitting breastfeeding and watching them play, something I honestly rarely do ( sit that is!)
Here is a 
Here is another on with 
And lastly one about 
What a spring we have had! Erratic whether, moisture, crisp cool air, and really spring greens like nothing better! I have begun harvesting multiple pounds of Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Chard and Chinese Cabbage every week and just wish I had more garden space to plant more.
If you are doing succession planting in your garden planning, timing and leaving space for the future is everything!! You have to think about how long it will take for a head of lettuce to produce,(about 60 days in the spring) and then plan what you will pop in its place once harvested. In these pictures above and below you can see I planted Cabbage babies among the cut and come again Lettuce, so that by the time the Lettuce is bitter the Cabbage will take over.
I usually plant a lot of cut and come again varieties of Lettuce, Spinach and Kale and Chard so I don’t have to keep planting…but this year I knew I could sneak in a bunch of head Lettuce before the warm season crops needed the square footage, so now the garden is full of butterhead and romaine varieties so I can remove the whole plant and put in warm season crops the same day…..lots of salad ahead for Mama’s Mini Farm CSA!
I often raise the row cover so wind and beneficial insects can find their way in on the ends, because another set back of having your crops under constant cover is pests, namely good old aphids can take over while you aren’t watching.
Just a little reminder that 
I have written many times about growing sprouts at home cause it is just so darn easy and rewarding. I have lots of friends out there who simply can’t start vegetables indoors but sprouts only require attention for 10 days or so and really only need heat and water and a little sunshine.
Seeds & Stones 