It always amazes me how life rolls around at its normal pace, seemingly under control, and then one small thing goes awry and it is as if a house of cards has tumbled down.
I am almost caught up.
But I did find time to spend in the yard Friday morning; it desperately needed help. Friday afternoon’s thunderstorms and rain probably did more good than I.
After weeks of rain and cool temperatures — in the 70s mostly. It turned hot just before we left for Knoxville, that triple summer threat, Hazy, Hot, and Humid. Not a drop of rain in the sky. Thunderstorms scattered all around us, but none ventured near this piece of property, as if we were protected by a giant, invisible, umbrella. I would have liked the rain. I knew there was a reason we don’t normally travel much in the summer, aside from enjoying being home this time of year.
The garden missed me. Well, that is not exactly true; the vegetable garden missed me. The new flower beds were fine.
The new stone bed under the kitchen window is blooming and looking wonderful. Ignore the weeds outside the bed. I have to dig up the entire expanse of packed clay that passes for the north end of my front yard.
The planters also did fine:
This is the first planter you see coming down the driveway.
But in the vegetable garden things looked a little worse for wear. The tomatoes were lying on the ground, limp and nearly lifeless — not something I had expected. I guess that they had not had enough time to get fully settled in yet. I had planted them late, the first week of June. It had just been too cold before that. The eggplants did not look happy either, but they were better than the tomatoes. The peppers were mostly OK and the kohlrabi seemed to have doubled in size in 4 days.
The little Thai eggplant and Turkish eggplants I had sown directly in the ground from seed died. I knew I should have started them indoors first. I wonder if it is too late to try again. I might as well plant more. Even if they don’t produce, I can watch them grow.
After watering and a day of heavy rain, about half the tomatoes resurrected themselves, I lost one pepper and 3 eggplants. It still surprises me, as these are plants I think of as hot weather plants — but I suppose a sudden change is a shock to newly planted seedlings.
Oddly enough the fuchsias, which had been doing badly in the location I had kept them in for years, looked much better after the hot dry spell. Throughout May they had been lush and gorgeous and then in early June they started dying back, dropping branches and looking very sad. When I returned they were sending up new leaves and growth, whereas I had expected them to finish the dying process in my absence. I suppose this means the front yard has gotten too shady for the fuchsias, and too damp. Time to rearrange things a little bit. They will probably do well on the north side of the house, once the deck is finished; but where to put them in the meantime?
Meanwhile the ferns, which have seeded themselves from a very small patch, have taken over the southwest corner of the front yard by the front door:
You can hardly see the small stone flowerbed I rebuilt last year. You certainly can’t see the impatiens that are planted therein. I am going to have to come up with something taller, but still tolerant of fairly dense shade for that spot.