Here is where I am able to spend my mornings reading and having breakfast, that is provided it is not raining at the time. We have had a very nice amount of rain the month of June and even into these early days of July. I emptied another 1/2 inch of rain from the gauge this morning, though not sure when the last time was that I dumped it, perhaps on Thursday or Friday. The temperature has not gotten to 80 F yet today. I am guessing most of that is because of the haze that we still have from the fires in Canada. Today was yet another day that we could smell the smoke. I can’t imagine what it is like in northern North Dakota. At least by the time it passes through that state and gets to us, it dissipates a bit.
The table is beside this pillar. The morning glories are starting to climb their lattice. I didn’t plant anything with them this year, and this is the best year I have had with them. Funny, I put my vegetables straight into the ground and my flowers in containers. I guess!
So, I don’t put all my flowers in containers. The lily area is right in the ground. The day lilies probably need to be thinned out a little. The oriental lilies are blooming in the background. The little lily of the valley are being choked out by the weeds. I may have to move them in order to save them. I really, really, really need to get the grass out of the iris bed, and it might not hurt to take out the two Ash trees that have volunteered to grow in there.
Here is where I really need to get to work. I just found a petunia in the sage. I didn’t plant it there, so that was interesting. I also need to get the basil to grow. This will be the third planting. I think perhaps better soil is in order. I won’t be making any tomato-basil soup this year if I don’t get on this. Of course if you checked out the tomatoes, they might be the other part of that problem. There are some hollyhocks in the area behind these pots just to the left of the left owl. These are the shortest and slowest in town. I noticed that the neighbors and even the ones at my mother’s place stuck in the corner are up and blooming. I am wondering what it is that I am doing lately to make things come up so late. I must need a bit of fertilizer or something. Perhaps it is time to dump the compost on the gardens at the end of the fall. I am thinking that it can’t hurt. If you have looked at the zucchini in the corner of the vegetable garden, you will see that is huge, and we did dump quite a lot of the compost on that area last year. Hmmmm!
This wasn’t supposed to be a garden area because it is on the north side of the house and because we didn’t want to plant that close to the house. It turns out the drain tile wasn’t enough to keep the walls clear, so we put in some bushes to soak up any water that ran drained under the rocks. James had put down the black liner under it, but after enough years that has eroded. I love the colors back here, though I am not sure it was so smart to put the raspberry bush in this area.
I trimmed up the raspberry bush again this spring, trying to get it away from the house. Little did I know that I only keep encouraging it to grow more.
The plant below is at the northwest corner of the porch on the west of the house. Again another plant that has probably outgrown its area. I am a bit afraid to move any of it. The last time I moved a hosta, I killed it. Not interested in doing that to this one. We shall see how the year goes. Happy Gardening!!
lucindagardens 