Beet That

Last year I couldn't bear the thought of thinning my beets during the winter. There was something heartbreaking about ripping out all those plants that I'd sown from seed. Of course, at that point I didn't yet know how scrumptious beet greens were.

Now I am wiser.

Dave and thinned the beets twice before the spring heat came and enjoyed the harvested baby greens with browned Polish sausage and tomatoes over pasta. That dish is becoming our traditional beet harvest meal.
Despite the 90+ degree weather last weekend, I worked in the garden while Dave finished laying the pavers under the clothesline. (Now when I drop wet clothes while hanging them out to dry they won't get muddy. This makes me soooooooooooo happy because I can be quite clumsy and hate to rewash stuff.)

After removing some more soil, Dave shoveled in some aggregate base, and then tamped it down.
He topped that with some sand, which he leveled before placing the pavers. He got lots of help from the pooches (they were trying to steal his shade). After a while he made them move--Ruby chose to lay on top of the honeysuckle and Potatoes hid behind a chair. They are such weirdos!
I decided to harvest all the beets (roots and greens) and then till the entire garden yard. We're decided not to have a summer garden here in Davis this year since I'll be too fat/tired/hot/preoccupied to deal with it and we already planted a nice garden up in Gualala. So I worked on preparing the garden, essentially, for next winter's crops.
In total, I think we ended up with a full 5 gallon bucket of beets (nice fat ones) and 6 gallons freezer bags of greens. Not too shabby.

The rhubarb and strawberry plants will be moved to a new bed I created under the baby's window. These are perennial plants and it'll be easier to deal with the seasonal garden if they are out of the way. Plus we can now run a single irrigation line along the house for both this bed and the perennial herbs that are under the master bedroom window (rosemary, sage, lavendar, and lemongrass).

It was sooooooooooooooooo hot outside while we were working but made sure to take plenty of breaks in the shade (especially after shovling) and drink lots of water and lemonade. Dave actually felt ill from the heat and took appropriate breaks under the fan inside. For whatever reason I felt fine (just hot) and kept working throughout the day. Knowing we were going out on a date that night to see a movie probably encouraged me to keep at it. =)