Finally, some more rain

Our last bit of rain (.15") was 2 weeks ago.  Yesterday we we got another .15" in the morning.  That amount really amounts to - nothing.  That little barely makes it down the to the ground, wetting only the top of the various mulches.

But then, oh happy day, around 5:30, another squall line came through and, over the next hour and half, dropped another .6" of sweet sweet rain. (Total so far this month - a measly 1.75")

All my water barrels are filled (3 x 55 gal).  I even managed to catch some overflow from the garage barrel into a 32-gallon trash container (about 15 gallons).

But rain in a barrel does little good compared to the nice soaking the all the gardens got.  Things were starting to drop leaves, go dormant (the grass hasn't been mowed for 2 weeks).  The rain came just in the nick of time, too, as this week will see only more sun and lots of 90s.  *pant*

I'd used up all the previous contents of the garage barrel to set out most of the rest of the deck plants. There's room to swing a cat out there now and would be a nice place to visit --  if the temps weren't so torrid.

I'll foray out in the early a.m. and late evening, but otherwise I've planned no outside activities for the near future.  *sigh*  At least I can still enjoy the views from the windows while I plot, plan and otherwise dream of a better, wetter year.  You'll probably see more entries on the household and kitchen pages now. *heh*

(added later: rueful update -- Just back in from a quick walkaround, checked the shed barrels (full) and the veg beds.  The downside of long periods of heat and no rain require deeper mulching with available grass clippings.  The .75 total yesterday did not reach the soil under the mulched vegs.  With little forecast for future rain, the mulch is better to have than not.  At least when I DO water the plants, what they get won't evaporate away.  There's always pros and cons when it comes to mulch. But in my book - there's always more pros. )

(added even later: -- There's a chance for more rain tonight.  So I got busy... (CLICK HERE))

Nursing the nursery

I decided that I did not like having those dwarf bearded iris in the crabapple bed.  I don't truly appreciate the pale yellow blooms with dark brown beards.  No do I enjoy the long spiky foliage.

So out they went.  Oh look.  There were a couple of primrose behind them.  Hmmm.  Now they are going to be in blasting sun.  I'll have to relocate them.

There.  I like the iris not being there.

There again.  I like having more terra cotta colored pots in the bed.

Some of you sharp-eyed followers may have also noticed that the Golden Jubilee agastache has had a preemptive hair cut.  Last year what with all the rain, those plants topped out near 60".  They were messy, tended to blow over, and totally blocked my view of the arbor bed from the deck.

This year they will (WILL!!) stay at the 2-foot mark.

Now, regards to the post title:

There is a little owner-operated corner nursery that sell annuals, perennials, occasional trees & shrubs and mulch.  They also have a selection of local produce (the strawberries are in and they are heavenly!).

Thing is, Nancy (who's had the place for 33 years) is trying to run the place by herself!  Waiting on customers, scheduling mulch orders, buying, maintaining the premises, watering.  She's about at the end of her rope, since her daughter no longer wants to help her out.

A while ago, when Mom and I stopped to get her some annuals, I insisted on helping the owner.  It was blasting hot and the wind was dry, so I got the hose and just started watering.  I got about half the tables when her grandson came to help.  Nancy loved the way I watered and asked if I'd show her grandson what I was doing.  So I did.  I also left my name and number with the owner if she needed any kind of help.  Nancy tried to sell out last year, but the a$$hat she was dealing with left her high and dry with no final response, setting her back on getting things ordered for THIS season.

Anyway, the place is the FOUR SEASONs NURSERY just south of the intersection of Market Ave N. and Easton in North Canton.  She's right across from the Market Ave. N. driveway into Walsh College parking lot.  If you need some late plants, good produce, or some mulch, stop by and give Nancy your custom.  She could sure use some visitors.  Just not all at once. LOL  She's spread pretty thin.

To that effect, even though I start all my own plants, I stopped at the nursery Wednesday and loaded up on a tray of annuals.  (All 25% off right now.)

So, rather than planting up the new pots in the crabapple bed with my own Thumbelina zinnias, I just potted up from my new annuals.  There.  I've got three combo pots in the crab bed while the rest were planted around the birdbath.

I'm going to stop in at Four Seasons more than usual now that I know what's happening there.  Fortunately, I drive right by the place back and forth from Mom's house.

Maybe I'll bump into you sometime. ;-D

Beds, blooms & books

Some surprises in the garden, in spite of the continued heat, drying winds and lack of rain.  As you may remember I WS'd 2 varieties of hosta 2 years ago (WS Spring 2010) (Bressingham Blue & Sunpower).  All those baby hostas are blooming this year back in the vegetable garden.  They get blasting sun until 2-ish, then all shade.  I've not watered them, but apparently they are established enough to tough it out.  And, no, none of them look like their parents.  The ones in the foreground (half of the bed) are BB's, while the back half are SPs.  But they all look the same, no sign of any parental genes.  (And no, there was no cross-pollination of the original seeds.  The BBs were from my yard and the SPs from my mother's.)  Oh well, they are of medium color and texture.  I'm sure I'll be able to find some nice spot(s) that need filling.

At the privacy fence, I'm stunned by the magnificent display of self-seeded annual delphiniums "Frosty Skies".  I'd grown them for a couple of years (WS'd), but they were never more than short-ish and sparsely bloomed.  I put a handful of WS'd seedlings behind that section of fence last year and just let them go, not even deadheading or cleaning them up in Fall.  Well, just look at all those volunteers busting their britches this year.  The plants are over 5 feet tall, thick-stalked, lush and bloomiferously beautiful.  Not only are they blooming white, pale blue and deep blue, there are PINK blooms.  Now where did THEY come from?  I've never had pink before.  And I can only imagine that "Frosty Skies" meant shades of blue and cloud.  But what a delight to see the pink amongst all that sky stuff.  I'll most definitely grow these again, so much so that I'm going to sprinkle seeds behind another section of fence further toward the center.

As for getting the annuals planted out, I'm still avoiding most of it.  Without rain, I'm sure that most of the seedlings wouldn't have a chance.  But I DID get the front of the privacy fence planted out.  I put in my burgundy cannas to the left of center, my striped green canna just to the right of the center and filled the back of the right with salvia subrotunda.  All these plants are tall Tall TALL and will do well against the fence.

Then I filled in the whole front of the bed with cut'n'come again zinnias for color and bee forage.  There are also a couple of tough little Bolero marigolds right in front of the gazing ball.  And that's it for that bed.  I'm still not ready to commit that bed to perennials.  There's always next year.  And (hopefully) there will be a lot more fence to have to 'deal' with next season.

Finally, back at the new 'butterfly bed', I'm not going to commit much there at all this year either (due to the heat and drought).  But for eye candy I've arranged some plastic terra cotta pots to look at. (Each time I look at them, I imagine different plants in each pot.  The mind eye sees color, while the rest of me likes not having to water. *heh*)  The butterfly bush, though blooming away, has not attracted any butterflies at all.  But, oh gosh, does it smell wonderful.

Temps near 90 right now and sticky humidity.  I just can't handle working in that, so I've been (*GASP*) READING these torrid afternoons in the cool of the house.  Ever since I got that iPad, I've enjoyed downloading electronic library books.  Not only do I like being able to adjust font & size, but it's fun to link out from the text to the dictionary or even Wikipedia.  The best part is that the screen is so bright that I don't have to park myself under a reading lamp anymore.  I read where I want.  And I don't have to even go to the library to check out or return books.  How spoiled am I getting? LOL

With the hot weather and no rain, this may just be the summer that I get to catch up on years of suspended reading.  Thanks, again SS, for this terrific tech toy.  It makes having to stay inside so much anymore not such a bummer.  :-D

Other pages

While I've not been posting much here on the MAIN page -- I've been updating my linked blogs.  

There's been activity on the Vegetable blog.

And there's been a lot of liftin'/totin'/(even some cussin') going on posted in the Garden Projects blog.

The links are on near the top of the sidebar.  (The dates indicate the last update to that blog.)

So if I'm not on this page, click over to one of the others. 

Seeya there.

Wonderful wonderful rain!

After 24 dry, hot, windy days, the weatherman finally delivered the goods.  Since this morning we've received half an inch of rain.

Last year we got 8.7 inches of rain in May.  This year only 2.65 (and that was within the first 8 days of the month).  Since then all that lush growth from the early warmth, suffered much.  *I* suffered much.  When I know we need rain and the days go by, I feel a little spring inside me tighten.  When rain does come to the general area but it refuses to fall hereabouts, the spring tightens more.  I find myself tense and irritated, seeming to channel the plants.  And good grief I have a lot of plants.

I even put off putting out the vegetables this year until May 31st - in spite of the 'lovely' weather.  After all, it's MUCH easier to keep so many plants watered while the are all sitting on the deck.

But I took a chance yesterday on the rain reaching us today, so I pulled an 11-hour day getting the vegs out, mowing/bagging & mulching, staking tomatoes, etc.   (And jeez do I feel it today!  *woof*)  I'll update the veg page soon.

Right now, I sit in the sunroom and listen to the soothing / healing drum of rain on the roof.

Wonderful, wonderful rain.  Ahhhhh.  I can finally exhale.

Frack you, Blogger

This morning I finished up my 300th post.  One that I'd been working on for 2 solid mornings.  It was filled with pics and links to updates on my other blogs.

It was delightful, chatty, and included some tricky image distribution.

Hours of work, tedious formatting.  Everything you'd want to publish in a 300th entry on the main blog.

Then I submitted it.  PUBLISH

And it all went away.
Gone.
Though I'd saved it often, it doesn't even exist in DRAFT.  It's just freaking GONE!

I'm no longer chatty and cannot be described as delightful.

Here's a pic from the kitchen window this morning were I gazed out, furious, drinking coffee and trying to calm down.

Screw it, I thought.  I'll just go from 299 to 301.  No one will notice.  No one will even care.  It's not like the blog gets traffic anymore except for 3 steadfast readers (you know who you are and Bless You).  Maybe I'll just quit for the summer.  *sip*

Ah heck.

Here are links to this past weeks adventures.  Click them for the full stories.

More work staining the privacy fence.

Update on the flower beds.

Putting the new Snapper (Mulligan) through its paces.

Then there's the whole pickle problem.

I'm going to make another pot of coffee....  Happy 300th to me. Bah.

All decked out

I love sitting on the deck this time of year.  It's like lounging around in a nice nursery and knowing that it's mine - all mine.  LOL

Click on the deck pic to read the last entry this year on the the Propagation page.

In other news - the bench I told you about on the Garden Projects page found a home in the bee ring bed.  It's nice and shady over there in the morning and I enjoy looking at it from the deck while I sip my coffee.  (Sorry for the furry pic - I was shooting into the sun.)

Some day I may even go over and sit.  But for now, the birds and squirrels are sure getting use out of it.  Click the pic if you missed the story.

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P.S. Hello again, Edinburgh.  Hope you'll leave a comment on a current post.  Be friendly.  Say "Hi".  :-D Enjoy