The August Slump

 My life is like hearing the song Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows as it slowly grinds down to a halt and the world goes dark.  Well, that might be an exaggeration...but it sure feels bleak.  It's the time of the year when heat sets in, water runs low, my energy wanes, and a tiny bit of depression settles in.

The heat has spurred the weeds to grow at an accelerated rate and keeping up with them is exhausting.  How is it the weeds grow so well, yet my beautiful plants begin a slow, painful death?  My mission this winter is to pour through plant books and websites to find plants that thrive in dry conditions and bloom during the July through September heat.  Sounds like I need more echinacea.  Twist my arm.

But not all is doom and gloom; late July into early August is when the daylilies shine in all their glory.

 

 

 

 

Breathtaking.  I need to start begging my mother for some of her specimens, since she has easily ten times more varieties than I do.

Meanwhile, I've decided my energies need to be focused on the hillside garden.  I spent portions of two days on the right side, deadheading and pulling errant weeds and grasses.  I've managed to wrangle it into some semblance of order, and took away two and a half 72 gallon garden bags full of debris.

 For my next trick, I'll work on the other side.

 What a mess.  

 Speaking of messes, I've been picking away at the bank in the backyard.  Although I love the Green Mountain mulch that I was buying by the bag, it soon proved to be a costly venture.  I ended up going to our local landscape supplier and was able to get a truckload of mulch at a much better price.  

 It's coming along nicely, and the squash plants have really taken off.  I've had to cut the surrounding grass a few times; if only it grew where I wanted it as lush and thick!

July 18th

 

August 4th

July 18th

August 4th

A few more truckloads should finish this project, and once the squash are all tucked safely into their mulch beds, I should be able to spread the rest with Li'l Red and save my back.  Won't that be nice?  

Although it's still bloody hot out there, the nighttime temperatures are - when it's not a heatwave - dipping into the mid fifties.  There is a distinct feel of autumn in those nights, and it's a signal to sow cool temperature crops for a fall harvest.  Once I've tackled the left hand mess of the hillside garden, I'll try again for peas, radish, and salad crops, all of which did horribly this spring.  I'll do a second sowing of carrots and beans, as well.  I regret not growing corn again this year; I have so much to lean about that particular crop.  And hopefully if the bank area is completed, next year I can grow a wider variety of squashes and pumpkins.  I guess gardening, whether vegetables or ornamental plants, is an exercise in always looking forward.