Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Cooler and pleasantly windy. High temp: 83 degrees F; low temp: 55 degrees F.

Not much time to say anything but "good-night!"

I am oh-so-ready for bed tonight.

After one day back at work after a week’s vacation, Denny and I are both whacked. There was lots of jobs to catch up on, so the extent of my gardening today was harvesting 3 lbs of spinach and 8 lbs of leaf lettuce from the community garden and delivering it to a local food bank. As I head to bed, a quick check of the weather shows that it is 71 degrees here, as well as in the three different cities (two in Illinois and one in New Mexico) where my sons are working this summer. So we are all looking at the same moon as the same cool night air surrounds us all. Good night, boys.

Our new low-tech front lighting is working just fine, thank you.

Our new low-tech front lighting is working just fine, thank you.

Monday, June 17, 2013. Humid and very warm. High temp: 88 degrees F; low temp: 64 degrees F.

Almost all of our Jet Stars have tomatoes coming on already.

Almost all of our Jet Stars have tomatoes coming on already.

Compared to last year, this year at the community garden is sheer bliss. Aside from watering when we put in plants and seeds back in May, we have not had to get the hoses out once. It’s still possible to crumble the soil anywhere in the garden in your bare hands, and with just three people, we can weed the entire @3,600-square-foot plot in one to two hours.

For reasons unknown, the zucchini have not put out a week or more of just male flowers and have instead gone directly to female flowers and fruiting. Yahoo!

For reasons unknown, the zucchini have not put out a week or more of just male flowers and have instead gone directly to female flowers and fruiting. Yahoo!

And everything just looks so nice. By this time last year, we already had hoards of voles taking down our peppers, a plague of spider mites in the beans (which we replanted three times and then gave up), and a terrible sense of hot and crisp everywhere else.

After a slow start likely caused by cooler, wet weather, our peppers are going nutty.

After a slow start likely caused by cooler, wet weather, our peppers are going nutty.

We did till in 18 cubic yards of fantastic compost from Better Earth, so that has definitely helped. We can assume that our gardening skills have remained about the same since last year. What makes so, so, so, so much difference is plain old normal weather: a cooler start to the season, followed by rains spaced adequately, and now heat and rain about every three to four days. Our primary goal for 2013 is 2,013 lbs. of food, all of which will be donated to local food pantries. My own personal goal for each year is to convince one additional church/organization in town to start their own giving garden, and that goal has already been met. I don’t want to get all jiggy, but everything is lookin’ good so far.

We've never grown cabbage in the community garden before, but they are really looking nice, despite our ignorance.

We’ve never grown cabbage in the community garden before, but they are really looking nice, despite our ignorance.

Sunday, June 16, 2013. A cloudy morning followed by a picture-perfect afternoon for our Father’s Day cook-out. High temp: 84 degrees F; low temp: 65 degrees F.

We are not radish-challenged! After failures all last year, the French Breakfast radishes are coming up all over the new raised gardens. Delicious? Oh yes, yes, yes.

We are not radish-challenged! After failures all last year, the French Breakfast radishes are coming up all over the new raised gardens. Delicious? Oh yes, yes, yes.

It feels bad to be defeated by something as easy to grow as a radish. Last year and for most of this spring, that is exactly what has happened. No more, baby! Viva, le French breakfast radish! Of course, the soil in the new raised boxes could not be more perfect, so we probably shouldn’t take too much credit.

The yellow lilies are blooming in such a rich way right now that they almost look like they are melting.

The yellow lilies are blooming in such a rich way right now that they almost look like they are melting.

We walked our property tonight (glutting ourselves on mulberries) to check all of the raspberry patches, and we found A) the berries seem like they are still on hold, and B) we have some fire blight. We need a few more days and nights of warmer temps, and I think we will begin to harvest.

The raspberries are still in a holding pattern.

The raspberries are still in a holding pattern.

 

 

Saturday, June 15, 2013. Cloudy and humid, with rain this evening. High temp: 77 degrees F; low temp: 68 degrees F.

Getting electricity out by our front door and drive has proved to be prohibitively expensive, so we're going to put our many lanterns to work. I mean, why not?

Getting electricity out by our front door and drive has proved to be prohibitively expensive, so we’re going to put our many lanterns to work. I mean, why not?

Our week of vacation is ending tomorrow, and nearly none of the things we had planned has happened—no fishing trip, no camping, no canoe excursion, no time away from the house. We have bounced between visits to the ER and doctor’s appointments with a family member, to having a giant excavator tearing up the yard, to trying to live without basement steps (another result of the plumbing problems), and many related issues. We’re expecting family for a Father’s Day cook-out tomorrow, so we have had a day full of cleaning, grocery shopping, yard work, and now, rebuilding the steps. I am pooped.

I bought a few annuals today, my very first this year.

I bought a few annuals today, my very first this year. But I also planted a big bed of tall zinnias and a lot of canna bulbs. Tubers and seeds are so much less expensive.

But Denny and I have gotten to spend a lot of time together, every moment of which I appreciate: When you have one first-shifter and one third-shifter in the house, finding time to be together is tough. We are both glad that we have gotten so much done, especially the raised beds, which are fully planted as of today.

 

Thursday, June 13, 2013. The sort of sunny/cool day that makes you want to live by a lake. High temp: 83 degrees F; low temp: 56 degrees F.

Good night, sweat peas.

Good night, sweet peas.

For those of you keeping score, our week of vacation has not been going well. It started with an excavator and a giant, expensive hole in the yard, closely followed by two trips to the ER with Denny’s dad. Even little things like a trip to a local strawberry farm (unexpectedly closed due to lightning) and a very nice steak dinner at home (nearly spoiled when the top of the salt grinder came off, blanketing my lovely dinner with a drift of coarse salt) have been going awry. So we played hooky today and went antiquing. We found the perfect shelves for our new outdoor kitchen, so score one for us. :)

Wednesday, June 12, 2013. Very hot and humid, with a baking wind. High temp: 94 degrees F; low temp: 64 degrees F.

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From the garden tour: I love how this gardener took advantage of the most mundane of spaces—a simple enclosure created in the space between two trees—to create a cozy spot.

We’ve been waiting for rain to come in all day long, and unfortunately, the percentage chance continues to drop. After today’s wind and heat, we really need it.

After the garden tour last week, I’ve been trying to figure out what made some gardens appeal to us more than others. Two traits in particular stood out: paths and hidden corners/areas. So I’ve been looking at our yard with new eyes, trying to find spots that might be transformed thusly.

A simple arbor, made from a previously scraggly, chain-link corner. As the vines grow across the new roof, we may make the space deeper by adding more garden fencing and branches.

A simple arbor, made from a previously scraggly, chain-link corner. As the vines grow across the new roof, we may make the space deeper by adding more garden fencing and branches.

Today, Denny and I created a simple sheltered seating area on the pool deck for exactly no cents. One of the real challenges of the yard closest to the house is the very unattractive (and legally required) 6-foot-high fence that surrounds the pool. On the far end, I had planted an autumn clematis some years back, and it has thrived, covering both the inside and outside of the fence. We simply lifted the vines on the inside of one corner, cleared out a bunch of dead stuff and birds’ nests, and installed a “roof” of sturdy wire garden fence that we already had—wiring it to the top of the chain link fence on either end side of the corner. For support beams, we inserted some one-inch-thick branches, threading the ends of each branch through the chain link fence. Then we draped the lifted vines back across the top of the new flat roof.

The view from below. Sturdy branches rest on top of the fence and help support the fence.

The view from below. Sturdy branches rest on top of the chain link fence and help support the clematis arbor.

If the construction works, we will extend it outward with more wire fence and branches.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Hot and humid. High temp: 94 degrees F; low temp: 50 degrees F.

After yesterday's photos of death and destruction, I felt I owed you some pretty. The lilies are blooming so nicely.

After yesterday’s photos of death and destruction, I felt I owed you some pretty. The lilies are blooming so nicely.

Today’s highlight: My lunch was composed entirely of the sweetest mulberries picked off just the tips of branches, eaten in the pouring rain, with a grumbly thunder rumbling overhead. Thank you, June.

I was up at 5 a.m. in order to beat the heat, but after the aforementioned rain about 1 p.m., it just got more hot and humid. We finished at 7 p.m. today, after a gazillion chores and finally getting the potager boxes filled with soil. All of the strawberries and rhubarb are planted—what a relief. That was followed with a lovely shower with an crunchy, air-dried towel and rug that reminded me that I was still alive.

The coreopsis is going insane.

The coreopsis are going insane.

We spent some time evaluating the Crappy Clay Mountain range now running down our hill from yesterday’s plumbing project, but inspiration did not strike. There has to be a new garden in there somewhere…

 

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