Harvest Season in the Garden

Dear Friends and Family,

We've been very fortunate all summer long to have community volunteers who have passionately put their gardening skills to use in the Perfume Camp Libby Patterson Organics Scent Garden in Pescadero. From cultivation, transplanting, weeding, watering, and harvesting we have been having a great season. We've added some space under the willow trees in the back of the garden for some treasured + cherished parma violets. We created two 8 x 4 raised beds for these flowers which will bloom when the wet season begins. We added another small sunny mound on the right side in back where we planted some self heal herbs that will act as a good ground cover to hold in the moisture and agrimony and clary sage starts from local Steadfast Herbs ally. From local Fly Girl Farm we got more Dahlia bulbs which we planted in some new raised beds up next to the barn which will bloom sometime soon. The gopher problem this summer has proven to be very challenging so the solution is a few raised beds. The sad news is that the gophers have taken almost all of our kale, swiss chard, tomatoes and padrones, zucchini plants that we put in this year. WE definitely have been strategic about using gopher cages where we can, but even with that, we have been finding things are disappearing. The other day a Love in A Mist seed pods plant was being shaken by the gopher. So, I harvsted.....and we're drying the pods in the barn.

We have been able to clear + weed successfully this season, plus harvest! We still have some lavendar left to harvest this season. Costmary is almost ready to flower, always a gorgeous site and we have two big rows. We use for teas and sachets for lingerie drawer.

We are working on strawflowers for wreaths, and we successfully replaced our purple statice in the garden which got eaten over the past four years by gophers.

We have a healthy population of sweet peas this summer, and will have seeds for you once we harvest them....likely September. You'll be able to start them in November for some early spring beauty....

We lost 24 lavendar plants over the past two winters from gophers. Originally we had thought the frost had taken them out but we finally dug out the corpses this summer and found they had been chewed at the root. We're hosting some starts of french and munstead lavendars to replant but will cage the new plants.

We added some more anise hyssop herb and skullcap, also from Steadfast Herb locally who provided the starts. Happy to be adding more and more of the herbs we use in our teas.

With all the focus on recovery after gopher decimation, we have suspended bouquets for many months but plan to have some this month in August for you again. Glad of this!

Make sure you visit the Farmer Market in Pescadero on Thursdays through the end of September for the best produce from Simms Organics, Rodoni Farms and flower bouquets from Fly Girl Farm. Left Coast Grassfed also is at the market every other week. 

Plan ahead for PAFF (Pescadero Art and Fun Fest) later on this month and the Barn Sale in September.

Sign up to Make Your Own Perfume on LibbyPatterson.com and shop with us Fri - Mon 12 to 4.

Thanks for all of your support. It really means so much.Libby