The Turning Garden: From Spring Coolness to Summer Abundance

The garden is changing 🌿☀️

In this episode:

🧄 Harvesting garlic scapes from hardneck garlic

🌱 Succession planting spring crops into summer abundance

🍓 Preserving fresh berries

🌾 Mulching & weed control

🌿 Harvesting herbs before the heat

Because the early summer garden isn’t just planted…

It’s tended.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There is a quiet turning point in every garden year, and you can feel it before you fully see it. The mornings grow warmer, the soil no longer holds the same cold memory of spring. The peas begin to slow, the lettuce starts to bolt, and suddenly the garden asks for transition. This is one of the most important moments in the growing season, the bridge between cool weather abundance and the heat-loving energy of summer. It's a season of pulling spent crops, preparing new beds, harvesting the first real rewards of the year, and learning how to keep the garden productive instead of exhausted. Today we're talking about the traditional the transitional garden, succession planting, garlic scapes, preserving berries, harvesting herbs, weeding, mulching, and the practical rhythm of moving from spring into full summer growth. Welcome, witches, pagans, heathens, spiritualists, and anyone interested in living sustainably. This is Old Ways, New Days, where the old ways meet the good dirt. I'm Kayla, and I'm Noel. And each week we explore the sacred art of living close to the land. From compost to covens, chickens to charms, we're reclaiming self-sufficiency, seasonal living, and ancestral wisdom. Whether you're stirring your cauldron or your soup pot, this is a space for wild-hearted folk walking the homesteading path with intention, magic, and muddy boots. Well, you have a 12-pound fur baby on your lap, so Yeah, he I think he's about to fall asleep. Probably. Do you want me to open the window? It'll get really loud in here though. I'm fine. Okay. I'll just sweat. Maybe I could turn the fan back on. I didn't want the extra noise. It's alright. I'll suffer. That's kind of like I'm at work. Aww. With noisy. Oh jeez. You gotta talk to somebody about that. That was so fun yesterday. No. It was gross. I bet. Okay. So understanding the seasonal shift. Cool season crops thrive in mild temperatures, moist soil, longer cool nights. And these include radishes, peas, lettuce, spinach, and kale, arugla. But as temperatures rise, many of these plants begin to struggle. You may notice bitter flavors, balding flowers, slow growth, increased pe pest pressure. This isn't failure. It's timing. The garden moves in cycles. And successful gardens learn to move in those cycles instead of fighting them. Oh Yama, are you being vicious? No, you just digging claws in. Trying to jump down. Okay. In a very are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. You're just covered in layers of fur. I'm just covered in layers of fur. Okay. Alright, one of the oldest and smartest gardening methods is succession planting. Instead of leaving empty beds after spring harvest, you immediately replant them. This keeps soil active, weeds suppressed, and food production continuous. Replacing radishes with beans, because radishes are your cold ones, so if our listeners did radishes this spring, now is the time for beans. Radishes mature quickly, often within a month. Once harvested, that same space can support bush beans, pole beans, cow peas in hotter climates. Beans benefit from warming soil and summer heat, and because they help fix nitrogen in the soil, they also improve garden fertility. Replace your peas with summer squash. Peas often decline as temperatures rise. Once vines begin yellowing, remove them carefully. Leave roots underground if possible to preserve nitrogen nodules. Then transition the space into zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers. These plants thrive in heat and quickly fill empty spaces. Planning ahead is very important. A productive garden often has crops ending, crops beginning, crops peaking, all at the same time. This layered rhythm creates resilience and continuous harvests. So one of the early summer's hidden treasures is garlic scrap. Nope, skate. Oh. Why did I put an R in there? I don't know. Garlic scraps. I'm new here. Yeah, garlic scapes. Okay. One of early summer's hidden treasures is the garlic scape. If you grow hardnecked garlic, you'll notice a curling green stalk emerging from the center of the plant. That's the scape. Why remove garlic scapes? The plant is trying to produce flowers and seeds, but if left alone, much of the plant's energy shifts upward instead of into the bulb underground. Removing the scape encourages larger garlic encourages larger garlic bulbs, improves final harvest size, and gives you a delicious edible crop. So how to harvest it? Wait until the scape forms one full curl or loop, feels tender, not woody, then snap or cut near the base. Harvest in the morning for best freshness. Ways to use garlic scapes. Pesto, stir fry, soup, pickling, compound butter. They taste like a mix between garlic, green onion, mild asparagus. A reminder that the garden often gives more than one harvest from a single plant. I unfortunately do not have any garlic this year. I know. But northern climates are where you grow the hardneck garlic. It does much better in northern cold winters. You want the the braidable. I I don't know what kind of garlic is the soft, flexible uh top to it that you can braid. You can't braid a hardneck garlic when it's when it's harvested. But you can braid the other one, which is where you get all those beautiful braids of garlic that you see in stores. Okay. You're like, I don't know what you're talking about. I have no idea. Maybe some people, maybe our listeners will know what I'm talking about. Assist! Um but yeah, that that is in more of a warm climate, garlic. So, I mean you can grow it here, you just can't overwinter it, the bulb in the ground like you can a hard a hard neck. Anyway, I digress. Um early summer is when weeds begin growing aggressively, and weeds compete directly with crops for water, nutrients, sunlight. Ignoring them now makes the rest of the season harder. For best weeding practices, you want to weed after rain. Moist soil loosens roots more easily. Weed young, tiny plants are far easier to manage than mature ones, and they disturb less soil. Overtilling can bring more dormant weeds, seeds, weed seeds, to the surface. Some weeds are of course useful, not all weeds are enemies. Some feed pollinators, improve soil, become fertilizer compost. The goal isn't sterile perfection, it's balance. So mulch may be one of the most powerful tools in summer gardening. A well mulched garden holds moisture longer, suppresses weeds, keeps soil cooler, and protects soil life. Best mulches for summer are straw, excellent for vegetables, grass clippings only if untreated with chemicals, leaves, break down beautifully over time, wood chips, best around pathways and perennials, and the secret of living soil. Bare soil struggle struggles in heat. Covered soil stays alive. Mulch acts like a protective blanket for the garden ecosystem beneath it. Early summer often brings the first major berry heart storm. Ah, there you go. Was that this episode? It was last one. My goodness. Okay then. Yep. There it is, people. There it is. Finally came to her. A week later. Well, we are pre-week. I know I don't. But sorry for the delay. They're listening to it a week apart. Right. Like I said, sorry for the delay. It's buckthorn. Yes, and goats. Rent there's rent a goats in town. Rent a goat. In the uh local cities nearby. They do marvelous work apparently on getting rid of buckthorn. Yeah, but we have neighbors that have dogs. I don't know how the goats would do with dogs. Just tell your neighbors I'm having goats, renting goats for the day. Keep your dogs inside. Alright, early summer often brings the first major berry harvests. Depending on region, strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, blueberries can all begin producing heavily. And berries don't wait. A single hot day can shift them from perfect to overly ripe or even crispy. Really quick. I know. Simple preservation methods would be freezing. That's the easiest option. Spreading berries on a tray first so they don't come together. Jams and preserves are a traditional and long-lasting way to preserve them. Dehydrating is excellent for snacks and winter storage. Syrups and vinegars are useful for drinks and herbal preparations. A tip would be to harvest berries early in the morning when temperatures are cooler and the flavor is strongest. It's also cooler for us. Very much so. So early summer is often the best time to harvest culinary and medical medicinal herbs. Before intense heat or flowering, flavor is stronger. Oils are more concentrated. The best time to harvest is morning, after dew dries, but before midday heat. Common herbs ready for the harvest are basil, mint, oregano, thyme, lemon balm, sage. Drying herbs bundle loosely and hang in a dark, dry, well-ventilated space. Avoid direct sunlight, which weakens flavor and color. This season teaches something deeper than productivity. It teaches release. Spring crops fade, summer crops rise. The garden constantly reminds us not everything is meant to last forever. Every season requires adaptation. Empty space is often preparation for new growth. The gardener learns to listen without panic, replant without resentment, trust the cycle. And perhaps that's why gardening feels so deeply human, because life itself moves this way. There is something deeply powerful about growing your own medicine. Not the kind that comes in a plastic bottle from a pharmacy shelf, but the kind that begins with soil under your fingernails, sunlight on green leaves, and the quiet patience of the seasons. For thousands of years, people all over the world turned to plants first. Long before modern pharmaceuticals, families kept small plots of healing herbs close to the kitchen door. Plants for fever, for cough, for sleep, for calming the nerves after a long day's work. Those gardens weren't just practical, they were sacred. Medicinal garden is one of the simplest ways to reconnect with that tradition, even if you only have a patio, a balcony, or a few containers in a sunny window. That's why we have partnered with a medicinal growing kit that's perfect for beginners and seasoned plant lovers alike. This kit comes with carefully selected seeds for classic healing herbs, like chamomile for calming teas, calendula for skin healing, lemon balm for stress and sleep, peppermint for digestion, lavender for relaxation. What we like about this starter kit is that it removes the overwhelm. You're not standing in a garden center staring at hundreds of seed packets, wondering where to begin. Instead, you start with the plants that have been traditionally used in herbalism for generations. With your seed kit, you'll also receive a copy of the herbal medicinal guide from Seeds to Remedies. This guide will show you how to turn these 10 plants into tinctures, ointments, salves, poultices, decoctions, infusions, essential oils. All in minute detail so you can follow the guide even if you've never made an herbal medicine in your life. And if you're someone who practices earth-based spirituality, herbal magic, or simply wants to reconnect with older ways of caring for yourself and your family, growing medicinal herbs can become part of your seasonal rituals. Planting seeds becomes intention, harvesting becomes gratitude, and every cup of tea carries a story from the soil to your hands. If you're interested in starting your own medicinal herb garden, check out the affiliate link in the show notes. Supporting the link also helps support the podcast and keeps episodes like this growing, because sometimes the most powerful medicine is the kind you grow yourself. The transitional garden is not a pause between seasons. It is a season itself. A time of clearing, replanting, harvesting, preserving, preparing for abundance still to come. The garlic scapes curl, the berries ripen, the beans climb upward, and beneath the mulch the soil continues its quiet work. The garden never truly stands still. Neither do we. And maybe the wisdom of early summer is this. Growth requires tending, abundance requires timing, and resilience is built one season at a time. Alright, so before we sign off, um the contest. Mm-hmm. So I figured I would do a subscription to the um Backwoods Home. Yes, Backwoods Home magazine. You had to think of it? I did have to think of it. There's also one sitting on the floor behind me, so I was trying to look at it. Um I figured a one-year subscription to the Backwoods Home magazine would make an ideal, you know. Yeah, there's a lot of give good information in them. Oh, definitely. Like I still haven't completely gone through the one that you gave me to look through. Yeah. And it's like geez. You know. I mean, I know it's not a lot of issues per year, um, but it could be overwhelming otherwise. Right. And they are thick magazines. Right. And they there is a lot of really good information. Um, but I think in our review we talked they aren't it isn't necessarily directed towards small space gardening or homesteading. Right. Um but it does still have very good helpful information. It does. And I figured that would be probably one of a really good reward for our contest. Um, nobody responded apparently on Facebook. Which I guess happens. Um, we're still pretty low on our we're still pretty new. Yeah. I mean, we haven't even hit a year yet. Nope. Um, but I did want to give a shout out to um our listeners. So let's see, go through this. We want locations. Um, so we have to do all episodes so I get everybody. So we have uh United States, obviously, because that's where we are, uh Singapore, Vietnam, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Chile, Pakistan, Brazil, Colombia, India, Argentina, Iraq, uh, Chechia, Uzbekistan, Germany, Kenya, Jordan, Malaysia, Arab, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago, Nepal, Nicaragua, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Ecuador, Italy, France, Mozambique, Georgia. Not the state in the United States. No, the country, uh, South Africa, El Salvador, Ireland, Ireland, and Slovakia. So welcome if you're new. We love having you here. And if you've been with us this whole time, thank you. We really appreciate it. Um, should I go through the cities too? That's a lot of cities. That is a lot of cities. Um, there's 126 cities. I don't think I'm gonna read through that list of cities. You have you are stumbling on just the the countries and territories. You know, so that's that's uh everyone, that's 38 uh countries and territories total um from our beginnings, so that's not just recent, that's from when we started start. Yeah, and I and I know we haven't kept everybody, and that's okay. Um we would like to keep everybody as listeners, but you understand some of our stuff isn't for you, and you know, that's fine, you know. And life gets in the way. I get it. Yeah. It's like we don't I don't even listen to my episodes. Oops. Why my bridesmaid hasn't even listened to one of the episodes yet? I was like, what? How rude! I know. I was like, what do you mean you haven't listened? Because she was I asked her to, you know, comment and give me her opinion, and and she's and she's starts talking about the Facebook page, and I'm like, I don't have any control over the Facebook page. Why are you talking to me? Right? Are you talking to us about the Facebook page? That's our moderators that do that. I know I'm like, I I I want you to give me a you know your opinion on the give me feedback on what you want to hear about. Right. So, you know, we definitely want to hear from you, our listeners. Um, we love having you here with us every week. Uh, we want to keep this going, obviously. Um, so the rules of the contest will be uh submitted to Facebook so you can follow them there. But um, so it'd be like last time, you know, share with your friends, uh, get them to like the Facebook page and get them to listen to an episode, uh, comment on the Facebook page, tag them. Yeah, tag them, leave reviews. Yep. That'll get you another entry. Yes. So e each each step that you do will give you an entry. Um and then uh when when should we end the contest? Um, so this one is June 1st. June 1st, so I would give it right before my surgery? Yeah, why not? Okay, because then I'll have three weeks of nothing to do but but write new episodes. Yay! And Lisa will have a shit ton of work to do to edit. Yeah, she will. Poor her. I know. And Nell's gonna have a lot of reading. Yep, yep. I'll I'll I'll send them to you in advance. Good. So I can work on these big words that you throw at me. I know, I know. Everyone's Yeah. At least it's not Lollapalooza. I think you can say that one just. I know. Unless it's written out in front of me. Alright, so again, remember to like, subscribe, review, share, follow. All the all the things. All the things. And we will not see you, but you'll hear us next week. Until then, this has been Old Ways New Days. Yes. Bye for now.