So, remember how were super-hungry and tired the day we made shakshouka for dinner? That’s because I’d been gardening all day, and Zac had been building this fantastic potting table for the greenhouse! I swear, it belongs in Country Living.

It’s quite shallow, but runs about 2/3 the full length of the greenhouse, and is exactly the perfect height for me. There’s a lower shelf for storing flowerpots, seed trays, and other big things. But the best part is the slatted section for potting, which features a drawer to catch and reuse any extra potting soil. Just another reason to look forward to winter– I’m in love!

It’s an ironic truth that the late summer– when it’s hottest and driest, and gardening interest begins to flag– is the busiest time of the year in the garden. Not only is there harvesting to be done (although the crazy heat put a damper on some of that), but it’s time for the fall garden to be put in, and there are preparations to be made so that next spring’s garden is as fruitful and floribundant as it is now. It’s a time of year to test any gardener’s dedication, and a time of year that will pay off for the longest time.

We had a couple from Texas stay with us for a farmstay this past spring who joked that the summer was their winter, and that the coming of the cool weather in the autumn was their springtime. I think it’s a pretty fair assessment and a smart way of looking at things to consider the late summer and early fall a second spring in the garden.

As such, we’re doing lots of work to get the garden ready for fall. These are those cabbage seedlings from a few weeks ago:

We’ve thoroughly enriched the old garlic bed with compost for transplanting the seedlings once they get a little bit bigger:

We’ve also got a few beds in cover crops– cowpeas and alfalfa– which will help protect and enrich the soil for the next 8 months:

It isn’t all work and no play, though! The herb garden in the front that Diane helped me plant is doing great!

The sunflowers and German chamomile are worth their weight in gold– I feel so happy whenever I see them. Zac and I are thinking of planting the whole fenceline with sunflowers next year, but I don’t know whether or not we’ll have the energy (or if Jerry will reach his long llama-neck over the fence and eat them all!).

The tiny, tiny crop of raspberries is nearly ripe:

and I have a feeling that, in about two weeks, the coronets of blossoms on our second-string tomato plants will be replaced by wreaths of fruit. We’ll be ripping out the beds of tomatoes pretty soon to plant peas– we’re hoping to squeeze in a fall crop– but these plants will stand along the garden fenceline until the frost comes.

And the brave leeks that Emily helped me plant are also doing wonderfully. The super-thick layer of mulch they’re growing in not only keeps their stalks blanched, but also keeps their roots cool and moist.

How is your garden doing in this record-breaking heat? What are you doing to get ready for the fall?