It’s only the end of July and the red alders are starting to drop some leaves. Trees can produce more leaves in the spring than they can support when it gets hot and dry during the summer. And so the extra leaves fall.

It’s early in the morning and I’m cleaning the onions I just pulled out of the ground for today’s Bow Little Market. How do onions do it? How do they make all those thin layers without them sticking together? How do they make that last thin skin? With what fine brush do they paint the thin green lines on their white flesh? And they do it all without any hands. You need to be a gardner, a farmer with their hands in the dirt, to be full of joy and wonder at what a special place we live in this infinite universe.

We’ve sent Voyager more than 20 billion kilometers from earth. We’ve peered far into distant galaxies, and we’ve yet to find another home where onions grow. Our precious earth is a treasure beyond compare. Making sure that for generations to come, people can wonder how an onion grows is something we owe our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, and on and on and on. Nothing is more important than pure air, clean water, soil free of poisons and teaming with life. It’s what keeps us alive and happy.

What is pink and fuzzy in a summer garden? Mint in bloom. In a moist climate like here in the Pacific Northwest, mint will grow and spread with wild abandonment. If you want just a little keep it in a pot. It is such a vigorous grower that you can use it to make low hedges. No matter how many times you trim it, mint will spring back quickly.

This is mentha suaveolens, also called apple mint, pineapple mint, woolly mint or round-leafed mint.

It’s time to study. Two books that I’m studying are Rebsie Fairholm’s The Lost Art of Potato Breeding and Carol Deppe’s Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties. I’ve learned that a reason you only see seed potatoes and never potato seeds for sale is that due to the genetic complexity of potatoes, potato seeds don’t grow true. Which means, that when you plant potato seeds from one plant, you end up with a whole variety of different potatoes. It does mean that developing varieties of potatoes perfect for your specific garden is possible. Plant enough potato seeds, see which of them do best in your garden, and then keep replanting the tubers of those selected potatoes, and you will have your own unique variety of potatoes no one else has.