I've been neglecting the garden/yard for a while, now. The weather this time of year... I just can't muster the will to get out there. It's miserable. If I made myself put on mosquito repellant and get out there very early, I could do a little every day... But I don't care enough, to tell the truth. Maybe next year? Maybe if the yard as a whole was in better condition? (And if we/I do some of the things on The List this autumn and winter, it should be better.)
...So, an update. I can't remember what all I mentioned in the last update, and I'm too lazy to go back and read it. (Laaaaaazy.)
VEGETABLE GARDEN:
The food garden is pretty much DONE for the year. I just picked four more bell peppers today, and there may be more, if the plants keep going. The green (bunching) onions and chives are still fine, too, but the tomatoes are pretty much all done, and nothing else has hung on this long. Something got some of them. Other things (tomatoes) probably needed better care from us. Cost-wise, the tomatoes were still a success, but it sounds like you can get your tomatoes to live longer into the summer (in our climate) if you "baby" them a bit more-- watering, fertilizing. I've read about other people (no idea where they live) putting in two plantings of tomatoes. One for early harvest, another to ripen later.
We're planning to move our raised beds somewhere behind the garage, this winter. That is, if we discuss it and decide we want to put in the work. (We probably will. You forget how miserable July is when you're a couple of months away from it.) Maybe we'll install some soaker hoses, this time. In any case, I think that having the beds inside the yard will keep more attention on them. Less effort to water. Easy to pull weeds when they're small or catch other problems, because we'll be walking past them every day, anyway.
(The downside is that the dogs may pay more attention to them, too... We'll have to make sure Luna, in particular, doesn't dig it up and/or eat the produce before we can pick it. She's made a habit of picking the cherry tomatoes from the two plants we grew inside the yard, this year. Naughty, naughty dog!)
FLOWER GARDEN:
I just weeded and fertilized the pots of baby daylilies this morning. (Taking advantage of an uncharacteristically pleasant morning with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60s and lower humidity.) Most of them seem to be doing alright. We may lose a few, but the bulk should make it through.
Our morning glories this year have been one disappointment after another. The first batch died after a late cold spell. (Covering with plastic pots wasn't enough protection.) The second batch (Grandpa Ott) were blooming early but never putting on much growth-- and then something ate through each and every one of them! Whatever it was (rabbit?) didn't eat the whole plant-- just the part that connected the roots (in the pots) to the bulk of the plants (on the fence). Frustrating!
My cleomes are looking pretty weedy and sad, now, so I'll probably go out one morning and pull them up. (I just want to let them drop as much seed as possible for next year.)
The new roses are doing well (imho-- though someone who fertilized more often would probably have them looking even bigger and better), as are most of the other new plants. The passionflower has filled in the trellis wonderfully, and even the ivy seems to be growing-- though more slowly. I've been impressed that the lavender has hung on this long. Through combined heat and humidity (which it apparently doesn't tolerate well), it's still lush and flowering regularly. I think having it in a crowded pot really does help.
...Well, that's enough of an update for one day!
