In the Gardens

My one current hydrangea bloom. This bush has had a few blossoms this summer but the older shrub was eaten almost to the ground in June by the deer. 

A long evening and morning's work in the gardens and yard have things almost back under control.

Every year, the same thing happens. I keep up pretty well through June, and then July hits. And I'm on the road storytelling and when I'm home I'm canning veggies. Larry is constantly mowing and weedeating--and this summer, constantly working on mowers because we've had one breakdown after another. He manages to get the vegetables picked, and do a little tilling, but that's about all he can manage.

Something--deer, probably--knocked the top off the waterer so I replaced it with a potted plant.

So things get a little wild around here. That nasty bindweed tries to take over the world, the gill-over-the-ground gills all over the ground, flowers get stemmy and weedy-looking, or die because this hill is just so dry and there's no way we can water enough to keep everything vibrant. The hardy ones hang on but they look pretty tough. I water what I can but still...

Merchandise waiting to go to the booths--ladders, iron bedframe, metal chairs and an old bike.

The past few evenings and this morning I've been back out there with my stringtrimmer, the rototiller and the clippers. The roses got cut back, and I have no idea if this is the right time to do it but they were getting v-e-r-y tall and messy and only one looked like it might bloom. I cut back irises and lily-of-the-valley, pulled sad petunias from pots and replanted with mums, and weeded, weeded, weeded.

Before tilling and planting

We finally pulled up the cucumbers which were pretty well played out. I tilled the space, and an area of the walled-in garden and planted some late garden--carrots, lettuce, onions, and some broccli and bean seeds. The last two are iffy--they may not ever bear fruit but I had the seed, and at least the beans will set nitrogen in the soil. I still need to get some turnip seed planted but that will be the next trip to town.

I can't say it looks pretty--it doesn't. The poor flowerbeds just got worn out with this summer's hot weather, and they're ready to throw in the towel. I'll plant more fall flowers soon to brighten things up. At least it looks neat out there now.

I've been really happy with the little walled garden this year. It's been a reclamation project. Larry walled it with stacked stones but we hadn't really done much with it. This year I planted some squash, zucchini, lettuce, onions and tomatoes in there and all did very well. I believe this is the first time I have ever had squash plants last through the summer without getting diseased. They're monsters, and so are the two tomato plants.

There are also some random canna lilies in this garden--Larry missed digging some of them up and when we dug the garden the bits of root scattered and came up. I have never seen cannas winter over, so this is pretty cool.

The canna thinks the trellis is meant for it! 

We planted a grape vine in this garden last year and built a trellis for it and this year it's growing very well. The raspberry plants are also taking hold, and the asparagus is recovering after we lost a good many plants last year for some reason. The blueberries I planted in here did not survive and this is my last attempt to grow them. They just don't seem to like our soil. But the one current bush I planted a few years back is thriving.

I really love this little rockwalled space. It will be a hand-worked garden, dug by hand and mulched heavily, from now on, and I am betting it will be one of the most productive gardens we've ever had. Eventually it may be the only vegetable garden we plant if we live here into our dotage. But I bet we'll get plenty of food from it.

Larry and I both picked little flower bouquets, not realizing it. His is roses, ironweed and chrysanthemums,

and mine is pink geranium, basil, stevia and begonia.

It's like bringing a bit of the garden inside with us, and a reminder that the work is worth it.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.