We rehabilitated the front and back planter boxes, mixing in plenty of composted cow manure into the sandy soil. I like being able to feel the soil changing character as we mix more organic matter into it, pulling out roots and raking it back to a fine texture.

I planted edamame. We’ll see if it makes it in before frost. I also planted lots of basil. It’s a bit late to be starting things from seed, but none of the vegetable plants in the home centers looked particularly good, so we figured it was worth an experiment.

Lavender did so well in the part of the front garden near the stairs, so we replanted the front box with more. We paired it with some yellow flowers, also perennial.

I’m going to set aside more time to enjoy tending to the garden.