The Gopher Continues to Strike

Since saving what was left of the Lamb's Ears, I've lost one borage plant, two nasturtiums, and one sorrel. I have one beautiful borage left which I expect to go any day now, and some blanket flowers, what's left of the marjoram and cat mint, my newly planted and now blooming camomille, and one other mint-like herb I can't identify at the moment.

Since I don't expect much to be left standing that I can see from the kitchen window, I planted a lot more borage seeds there today, some coreopsis, and some more blanket flowers. And I planted some old zinnia seeds that probably won't spout, but might as well put them in the ground as through them in the trash.

In a corner of the raised beds I planted some more lettuce. I also prepared some ground for planting a fall garden of greens, and transplated some chard into some empty pots. I should have more than enough chard for fall, since I also have two or three plants near the artichoke plants by the kitchen. Although they are all in the ground in that bed, so far the gophers have left them alone. The picture above shows one raised bed as it was a few days ago. That lettuce on the bottom appears to be in a corner, but it isn't. Those are newpapers around it which I'm using as mulch. I removed them today when I planted more lettuce. I also removed lots of purslane which you can see between the lettuce and the chive plant behind it. The bright orange spots on the left are nasturtium blossoms, which show up regularly in our salads. The lighter orange blossoms on the right are marigolds. The green in between is more purslane, which also acts as a mulch. We throw some of that in the salads, too. The yellow just outside the bed in front is wild mustard. I'm leaving it for the added color. The large green plants behind the flowers are tomatoes. Just out of sight in the front right corner is a very large dill plant. I'm following some book's advice about having a dill plant, a marigold and some basil near each tomato. But most of the basil is with the tomotoes in the other raised bed -- the one with the peppers, basil, one chard, and a nasturtium. No dill there.